Ok I have played 6 matches on the Online Demo Code, very kindly sorted for me by Mart and Evo-Web. I'll make this a first impressions as I have just got back from Turkey and need to give my girlfriend some sexy time. Once I've given the game a few more days solid play I will report back with more.
The pace of the game is very, very good on default, and slower and more complete than possibly any PES yet. It suits what Konami have strived to achieve, a passing based game with a huge emphasis on midfield build-up play and battles
Passing - Superb, ultra freedom as promised and stat related, I can only use the default Master League players as I havent bid for anyone yet, but even with ther current players you can see a difference. I really need to play with an accomplised passer and teams to really note the differences.
Tapping X is great for little deft touches, I'm a D-Pad man but that is now gone for good, Analogue give so much more angles and freedom. Anything longer than a tap and you bring up the power bar, which suprisingly, I really like. Small triangular passing Spanish style can be replicated beautifully once you get the grip. Accuracy stats play a part.
Manual pass with L2 does exactly that, and puts it into a space, power bar assisted, but I didnt feel stat assisted. Also many directions are available, and the difference between just holding down X and L2 and X is that the normal pass will generally go in the direction and towards the player subject you aiming, but can fall short with error. It looks to pick an area, to feet, left or right, or slightly more either way, L2 manual doesnt. This gives you even more freedom of passing, very well put together. A pinged ball along the deck now gives you that extra zip to evade a potential interception.
Lobbed pass with Circle works very well, with excellent power and distance options at your finger tips. Lobbed Through Pass has some lovely 'clipped' animations and the ball moves beautifully in the air. I tried a 60 yard diagonal Manual high pass and the ball went to the area I'd aimed, although with a little too much power, but I did max it out.
Passing has never ever been this good, this free, or require this much skill. People with a good footballing brain will excel at this.
Shooting looked very varied, in 5 games I'm yet to score, and have only had a handful of shots, none hit with any real authority, but this will be down to my poor stats. I've seen some cracking strikes against me resulting in goals.
The Keepers have been superb in my 5 games, with my own keeper pulling off some incredible saves, but also not fumbling anything or flapping at high balls like they do in PES 2010. The goals I have conceded have been great goals, no arguments.
The referees have been equally excellent, I've not seen one bad decision and he has given a few Yellow Cards for cynical challenges that although didnt look like much, really did play spoiler tactics and disrupt a good move or chance.
The dribbling is the best yet, very risk V reward and really does replicate real life technique. Lesser players have poor close control and sprinting usually ensures if your not careful, you show your opponent too much off the ball, resulting is dispossession, or the physical battle, which is handed very realistically on player build, size and strength. Watching a big defender out-muscle a smaller weaker player off the ball is brilliant to watch and feel.
The tricks are suprisingly alot better then I thought. It is harder to reach for them, ensuring it's a risk, it also requires excellent timing. The worry of people abusing the tricks is null and void for me, it's like real life, you run a much higher risk of losing possession than you do beating the man. That said, when you time a trick right there is a huge sense of satisfaction, it's deserved, and you know it.
My one worry was that all players can do all the tricks, that isnt the case from what I saw. The defenders attempted only limited feints, and the success rate was lower as the technique affects the timing. I do need to look into this more. Some players didnt even attempt tricks when I tried, but that could be me.
The biggest step forward in PES 2010 was the emphasis on the first touch and how it varied from player, brilliantly mimicing real life. This system has now been improved even more, much more. The theorys are the same, but the animations make is work so much better. One of the main reasons is the new dribbling system, but more so, this new 360 movement. Now you really have so much more control of the players limbs, which creates infinite first touches and a massive amout on angles. With the stats having a huge effect, it really is very, very clever stuff.
The jumping over the ball animation is very good and automaticn, its initiated when you miss out a player with a harder pass and one of your players is in the way. The AI knows what your attempting and clears the path in a very pleasing way. The Ai itself seemed very good indeed, and I'm sure it can only be Regular by default. There will be no more sprint whoring go on in this game, those tactics can be stopped very efficiently.
I have only seen two suspect animations so far that didnt sit well with me. One was an attempted volley when a header was the better option. It just looked very wrong, and didnt connect. Also, a goal scored against me didnt look right, it was wrap round shot, but I didnt think it looked realistic. In saying that, most of the animations look superb compared to 2010, very smooth and relevant.
I've also seen players picking up a ball in open space and using their hips to feint one way and take the ball in the other direction. It gives a much more free feel to even collecting an open ball. High passes can be zipped and pinged in, and the ball feels very nicely weighted, and the odd floated direction predetermined pass is long gone. The physics of the ball are also massively improved, with alot more variation coming into play because of the excellent and varied First Touch.
One thing that instantly jumped out at me is the burst of speed and the relevant animation, very impressive. It really gives you the feeling of what your seeing and the relevant inertia is better than anything PES has done before.
Thanks
Jimmy G-Force
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