Soccer Gaming

Lionel Messi- Should be a nightmare to defend against in PES2011

Whilst we’ve yet to get our hands on the early previews of PES2011, a number of reporters have, and there’s plenty of insight that we can gather from their collective musings. Although the game is far from finished, there’s plenty to be said about the little that’s been revealed.

Off of the pitch, the game is said to have been overhauled in a positive manner, with an improved interface and front end. A more useful advancement, however, is that tactical changes and substitutions are mapped out for players with the assistance of a simple pitch diagram. If you make a substitution, you’ll see it represented on the diagram, making it a little easier to review your decisions. This is a welcome change, as the current substitution interface is a little bit hard to work with, despite being suitably effective once mastered.

Once matches get underway, a number of other improvements should be visible. We’re informed that stadiums, lighting effects, camera settings and player detail have all been revamped. Apparently, Konami have even gone out of their way to ensure that the Ivory Coast’s skin-tight World Cup kit appears in all of its glory, which is…erm…committed, to say the least.

The graphical changes sound pretty intriguing, but the real issue at hand here is the gameplay. We’re assured that Konami’s attempt to provide ‘total control’ has been fairly fruitful. Passes will now be influenced by a power bar, which from early screenshots that we’ve been able to see, is not an intrusive feature. To add to this, early reports suggest that the power bars allow for better control of the game, and should be a step in the right direction.

Unfortunately, there seems to be problems with the defending system. Holding the X button will now allow you to either hold up, challenge, or close down the attacker, depending on what you choose to do with the analogue stick. The trouble occurs when holding the stick towards your goal (which triggers a jockeying manoeuvre). Apparently, when making challenges whilst doing this, it’s far too easy to end up sending passes backwards against your will into danger zones. If this isn’t eradicated for the final version, it could be a source of immense frustration.

Another area that has undergone a facelift is the dribbling. Dribbling manoeuvres have been limited to sixteen directions for the past fifteen years of PES, though now, a number of players will be able to move with greater freedom. There are likely to be no more than twenty of such players, and their ability to turn at high speeds is designed to cause defensive woes for their opponents. Also, there will be new tricks, feints, and dummies in PES2011, and the developers have stated that they intend for these to be an effective element of attacking, rather than a means for showboating.

Playtesters reported, however, that the tricks were largely ineffective, and that human controlled players responded poorly in shoulder-to-shoulder run-ins with AI controlled players. Also, the notion of having games yet again dominated by a select few players with superhuman abilities is a cause for concern. We’ll have to see the finished product first though, before casting any criticisms towards Konami. If executed effectively, these features may turn out to be a real blessing. The important thing is that Konami appear to have listened to the fans. Further evidence that Konami have responded to the outspoken PES fanbase is provided by the fact that refereeing decisions and goalkeepers have been worked on for PES2011.

Reports suggest that the goalkeepers for PES2011 are good at closing down angles, but are not so good that they appear to be unrealistic. A good start. Despite this, it was said that ‘keepers occasionally failed to react to shots, and made some ugly blunders as a result. The referees are apparently much improved, and will now book players more regularly for bad fouls, and will hopefully actually give penalty decisions now. The refereeing in PES2011 was so atrocious that it often defied belief. Two final points to leave on are that penalties have been adjusted, and that there were no revelations provided with regards to the master league and in-depth management options. The penalties will now require players to get their timing right on a composure bar, much like the system used for free throws in basketball games. This sounds like a great idea, though hardly, if at all, dissimilar to the shoot-outs found in the FIFA2010 World Cup game.

To summarise, it does sound as if this year’s Pro Evo is going to be a completely different experience from previous years. The developers have expressed that they are happy to take things apart and rebuild, to see if they can get PES2011 to where it needs to be. It seems as if Konami have acknowledged that they can do better, and the PES2011 project is being treated with great care. However, they’ve still got a long way to go at the moment, though assume that the glitches found in playtesting will be smoothed over, and that the game that finally reaches the shelves will be better than the preview in many ways. PES2011 is shaping up to be an exciting game, though the final judgement, as always, will be saved for the finished product.