Game link : https://pes.konami.com/
Steam link : http://store.steampowered.com/app/250870/
Another year, another brand new instalment in everyone’s favourite football game from Konami: Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) 2014.
The current gen has not been very kind to PES, with the FIFA series increasing its lead over PES both commercially and critically. By combining the mega-budget power of EA with a multitude of football league licenses, FIFA’s produced a level of polish and authenticity that PES just can’t match. This year PES has even less licenses, so once again players are forced to edit their data files manually or strain their brains trying to figure out that West Midlands Village is actually Aston Villa.
But the strength of the series has always been the gameplay. More realistic than FIFA’s faster paced and more arcade-like style, the joy of PES has always been mastering its deep and intricate control system so that when you finally manage to produce that delicious six-move interplay of passes culminating in a sumptuous finish, the resulting sense of satisfaction is tremendous.
PES2014 is based on the constant movement of players on-and-off the ball and switching positions, which mirrors the approach to modern-day football. The game sticks to its DNA, pulls it off again in terms of on-field gameplay mechanics, built closely upon its previous iteration. Short passing remains swift and crisp while lofted balls can be put to much greater effect. It truly captures the essence of passing and movement and slotting the ball into space never felt so real. The gameplay requires genuine soccer sense and vision, apart from a mere combination of a well timed button press. Thus, making the game purely skill based.
The new 'True ball tech' makes everything physics-driven as it centers everything around the ball, giving players total control when determining their body angle to receive the pass. It means, that the ball can be chested or flicked passed an opponent, nodded into space or on to a team-mate. It also allows closer control and dribbling appears to be much tighter than before. The ability to nod the ball ahead while sprinting is a really cool mechanic when taking on players, specially in one-on-one situations.
In theory, the new Advanced controls are very powerful- you can even place a curved through ball by manipulating your crosshairs around and behind the defenders- but in practice it can get very fiddly controlling your player on the move while also trying to aim the ball behind the defensive line. If you muck it up you produce a very flaccid ball, and being a long-time PES (or should I say Winning Eleven) player, I found myself very frustrated at times when I couldn’t direct a snap pass on command, and found myself pining for the old system. Fortunately, PES allows you to toggle between the two systems, so old PES veterans can revert back to the old pass/shoot control system if they so choose.
With my first few games, I found myself having considerable difficulty maintaining possession and getting into a passing rhythm- and that brought a smile to my face. That’s the joy most staunch PES players get from the game, the challenge of mastering and bending to your will what seemed so difficult at first.
The control system is so complex: for example you can pass the ball and at the same time manipulate the passer to run off in a certain direction allowing you to create intricate off-the-ball triangles, and all this takes considerable time to learn. You can’t just sit down and immediately pull off advanced (or should I say, effective) maneuvers or ball movement without investing a good chunk of time into the game, and this is where the game either hooks you into it, or turns you off completely with what I will admit is a fairly unintuitive and overly complicated control system.
Even with the new engine, the game suffers from a lot of serious bugs and glitches. There’s a lot of choppiness and stuttering during gameplay or cut scenes, especially when a shot blazes wide of the goalpost. You have players dribbling around aimlessly while the game waits for a player to throw the ball in after an out-of-bounds. There’s the very prominent “catch-up” bug where lead-footed defenders magically surge forward to barge your forward off the ball even after you’ve placed a great ball through. The defensive line AI can also be shambolic at times, and in general it seems entirely too easy to dispossess players by simply physically barging into them. This coupled with a lack of fouls and the CPU tendency to stay on their feet while tackling can result in some frustrating matches.
Nonetheless, online features aren't as alluring as FIFA, apart from Master League Online, PES2014 doesn't enjoy the privileges of game modes its rival has at its disposal. It lacks in terms of gameplay options off the field, with most of the modes largely unchanged offering minor improvements.
Unrivaled in its pursuit of soccer gaming excellence, PES has made a return to being more of a deep simulation of football, contrary to being a high-tempo game, with plethora of online gameplay options, something you can just jump into with your folks and have a kick about. There's still so much Konami needs to address to make this an irresistible alternative.In the end I would give this game a score 8 out of 10.I recommend this game if you have a machine capable of running this(of course it can).It was wonderfully built game. So what do you guys think, why don't you share your thoughts in the comment section down below.
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