At E3 I played PES 2015, as you may already have gathered. What you probably don't know is that I did so in a booth that was made to look like an English pub. There were beer mats and everything. It was a very quaint scene, created no doubt with the aim of recapturing some long-lost magic that people half-remember. This, of course, as the traditional narrative goes, is not unlike PES itself.
Which is all bollocks, really. PES has been excellent as recently as of the 2013 iteration, better than its over-produced rival FIFA in almost every regard other than licenses. Although I myself didn't love last year's version as much as some, PES 2013 was the best entry since the late golden age of 2006. The series needs to keep building on its modern successes, rather than the hazy nostalgia of PS2 entries, which were made in a world where The Streets were still a thing. Think about that.
So, then, what of 2015? Well, it's early days: as we've written about before, sports games change in feel and pace with seemingly every new build. On the basis of the E3 code, PES has some beautiful moments, as well as some glaring faults. It still has the best "goal-feel", as the developer puts it, of any football game. And yet, worryingly, it seems insistent on over-egging its animations, particularly ones associated with passing and midfield play, a key fault of FIFA.
The widely-publicised switch to the Fox Engine has brought with it improvements to the general look of the game, especially now it's on PS4, but it also has lost some of the quickness of movement and turns that made PES as good as it was. Players take too long to get in and out of animation loops, and sometimes even forget to interact with the ball entirely, making for some interesting midfield encounters as team members dance around the ball.
It's incredibly frustrating, and anathema to what PES has traditionally been about. In this build, at least, the easiest way to get a passing move off was to use the 1-2 button, essentially automating the process. It gives the game a robotic feel: free-flowing moves are too unreliable, and so it's easiest to default to simple passes along fixed lines.
As stated, these early versions are subject to rapid change. But this was a problem that, for me, was also present in last year's released version, albeit to a smaller scale. Hopefully Konami can mitigate it, because in other areas – namely scoring – PES 2015 absolutely nails FIFA.
EA's game, via its lovingly-long animation cycles, shows you how you scored, but only PES makes you feel like you actually did it. Interviewing Konami last year the developer told me that this was down to the team not animating all of the strike, instead leaving your brain to fill in some of the blanks, 'creating' at least some of the goal personally. I can't say for certain that this is the exact reason scoring feels so good in PES, but there's no denying the satisfaction of finally sweeping the ball into the net. Whereas FIFA feels over-prescribed, or over reliant on the same old tactics - finesse shots, etc, PES goals felt natural, instinctive, and even surprising.
With another build due in the next week or so, we'll be able to see how much has changed. With only two teams on offer at E3 (Bayern and Juventus) it was easy to appreciate the differences in team tactics and unique player animations, if not how the game will play when not being contested between two of the biggest teams in the world. If the midfield problems can be fixed, then this will be a truly excellent game of football.
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