PES 2014 thread - "Messi on the pitch, messy off it"

NickSCFC wrote:]

glowy69 wrote:

HSH28 wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:

HSH28 wrote:What it looks like close up really doesn't have much to do with anything, its not even really representative of what the game looks like when you play it, let alone how good the game is.

Relax, some of us like to watch close-up replays and appreciate accurate player faces in these games. It's a big part of the experience for us footie fans.

I'm a football fan and I couldn't care less about it.

I can't understand the importance placed on that kind of thing by some of you. They way the game plays is what should matter to fans of the game. If the game plays well then it can look like gooseberry fool for all I care.

No you aren't Hugo.

NickSCFC wrote:Watch it in HD, Boateng puts his right hand on Robben's left shoulder, before that there is absolutely no change in pace.

Apart from Ribery's weird run before Alaba gets fouled I can't see anything wrong at all in that video.

Luke_25 wrote:People just seem to love hating on Pro Evo these days, it's weird how quickly the fanboy mindset can take over. Every year when new PES screens and videos come out everyone dissects them and picks out flaws that mostly aren't even there.

NickSCFC wrote:It's probably down to them being used to playing the same FIFA 11.2 or whatever each year that they're not noticing the huge flaws in their own game. For me each FIFA trailer/demo just feels like a bunch of string puppets kicking a sponge about. The puppets themselves look absolutely nothing like human beings, god knows what goes on n these face modelling vans they've been sending out to clubs because the results are frankly piss-poor, the player body models are even worse.

As for the gameplay, it's very smooth, but again it never feels like you're controlling a human being in FIFA, the players feel like they're skating about in sheer disregard of their own momentum or the law of physics. My favourite trick is to come in from the right wing and zig-zag through defenders up to the penalty spot and score with Pennant. It's about time EA addressed their core problems instead of lumping features on each year.

Animations

I want to start on what I felt was the best improvement, and a reason why 2013 just doesn’t cut it anymore. Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 captures the natural, free-flowing feel that a real football match provides. The brand new set of animations play a massive part in this. Gone are the days where a run and a pass were two separate entities, now the pass flows naturally off the run made by the player, just as a shot will, or a cross. For example, in a match against our own Suffwan, I went 1-0 up with a delightful, dinked chip. The chip was one of the best finishes I have seen in a PES title, as it looked as natural as a real life game, think a Messi style finish. When I went back to PES2013, I could see a massive difference, I could really tell that each action you chose was separate from the last one. Another thing that was extremely impressive were the animations when receiving and taking the ball under control. You can’t take the ball under instant control everytime, it can happen but not on every occasion, sometimes players needed to take a few touches, even with their knee. Along with that, there are many many more new animations that help the game flow. PES ID will play a big part in animations for specific players, such as Robben, who had his own shooting, dribbling and passing animations. Tackling as well has had an overall, with tackles looking more natural and diverse.


Game Speed & Strength

I believe an area of the game many fans will be pleased with is the tempo of matches. I found the tempo to be much more realistic to it’s real life counterparts, providing a more calculating match, where you can’t just bomb down the wings and out pace your opponents. The pace is much slower, however to address a concern of a member of our forums, this does not mean that players them selves are just slow. I found that using players who are fast, translates across to how they play, meaning that the slowed down tempo wouldn’t remove advantages that stats provide. Of course pace and speed still play a part in how you will play but so too will strength, and in a big way. In the games I played, I found the strength of players to be very accurate and this helped dictate games. For example if you use Yaya Toure, he will do very well when powering through opponents in real life, however use Giovinco and you will not be so successful. What is fantastic though is the fact that these smaller players don’t necessarily lose the ball as soon as they come up against a stronger opponent. Many times with Neymar I was able to hold off defenders to get my shot away, and the animations in replays I watched, really showed the struggle between the players fighting for the ball. This should be good news for those who picked up on the fact that players like Messi didn’t have a lot of strength in the past game despite being very difficult to get the ball off off.


Heart

Heart is a feature that has been mentioned a lot since it was first announced. I did notice that when I did a trick with Neymar that came off, the crowd made more noise and the team pushed on to try and build on it. However, I felt that in what I can only describe as the most understated way possible. Heart was there, but it didn’t stand out, I never at any point felt like heart was taking over. That is the way it should be. When you feel it takes over is when the fears of scripting becomes a reality. I am very happy to say that that was not the case and I only noticed it was even there when I really thought back to certain moments.

Poser wrote:Can't they just give me ISS Pro Evo II, with new graphics and updated players?

I also feel a return to the happy/sad faces from ISS 98, to represent player condition, would be a positive step.

As soon as the referee blew his whistle to begin yet another season of Pro Evo, I realised that this new game was unlike any other current-gen PES title. Compared to past releases, the improved graphics and brand-new animations were superb. Clearly, with the arrival of a game-changing game engine, Konami are playing a totally different ball game now.

I remember repeatedly saying "wow, this is amazing" every time my players - big and small - managed to shrug off challenges and leap like salmons to win attacking and defensive headers. It really is an amazing moment when you first see your holding midfielder climb up and win an aerial ball on the edge of his own box, and then two seconds later, to see him dribbling past the half-way line after he's just thrown himself into a 50-50. I actually found winning these type of challenges just as enjoyable as beating an opponent in a 1-on-1. Yes, defending is fun again.

And what's more, I didn't see any bugs or 'fails': no players constantly falling over each other in a seemingly endless and unavoidable loop, no players levitating - like The Gentlemen from Buffy The Vampire Slayer - through adboards and into the 2D crowd, and most importantly of all, Geordie strikers and Polish goalkeepers kept themselves to themselves... which should always be the best route to take when making a football game. The new system, called MASS (short for Motion Animation Stability System), looked realistic and it worked - at the first time of asking, too!

Staying positive, I was particularly impressed with the increased amount of freedom. The improved passing system is challenging, enjoyable and rewarding. And much to the delight of every PES fan, crosses have been totally overhauled and are now, once again, unpredictable (in a good way). To get the rewards, you're going to have to show much more thought when playing your passes now - resting on your PES 2013 laurels will get you nowhere in this game.

Konami told us they are still looking to make improvements - through positive and negative feedback - so don't be surprised if there are a few changes between now and the game's final release. Nevertheless, I have played pre-release PES for the last three years and it's encouraging to know PES 2014 is the game that's left me with the most amount of optimism and the least amount of concern.

NickSCFC wrote:Some gameplay + commentary