A few years ago, a tragic event happened. No no, I’m not talking about that time where that tosspot Jamie Oliver decided it would be a good idea to get turkey twizzlers taken off our supermarket shelves (they were bloody lovely though). I’m talking about the time, near the beginning of this generation of consoles, where Konami and Pro Evolution Soccer lost their way. When the grip on the best football game title was lost to the enemy….FIFA *spits on the floor*. Pro Evo, as ISS (International Superstar Soccer) did before it, will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m now a FIFA man (my past self will hate me for that fact), and I haven’t tried a new PES game in years, through fear of being let down for yet another season. But, after playing the 2013 version of the game at Eurogamer Expo, I felt the warm feeling I used to back in the day. Had Konami finally done it? I was eager to find out more. And now, thanks to the XCN, I have.
Booting up PES you are met with around 15-20 minutes of options and tutorials before you even get to the main menu. From choosing your difficulty from 6 options, to the many assistance options (passing, shooting, through balls etc) and choosing an ‘avatar’. The plethora of tutorials is mind boggling. You soon realise that if you want to play virtual football, you need to learn a hell of a lot. That’s not saying that you can’t pick up and play straight away, because you can, but to truly get the most of PES 2013, you need to work, and work hard.
The game play is slow. Measured and tactical thoughts are constantly running through your mind in order to figure out the next best move. It makes for quite a realistic game engine, and tweaking with the setting will allow you to find the controls that suit you. And for a while the game play was a breath of fresh air. Playing against friends was a brilliant experience. And against the AI watching what you thought of 3 passes ago come good as the ball is dinked over the keeper inside the box is a genuine rush. I found myself jumping out of my seat on a number of occasions, and cursing as defensive errors led to silly goals. But I soon felt that most games became mundane chores with only sprinkles of what could be a beautiful game.
By putting in so many different controls for so many intricate passes, skills, tackles etc , it has left areas of the game very fiddly. Defending is a prime example of this. ‘A’ is used for both standing off the man, aswell as tackling, and using it in combination with sprint will make your defender lunge. It’s all very confusing, and on too many occasions I found defender either diving in to tackles when there was no need, or standing off when I wanted to get stuck in. Shooting also feels very tame. At the end of a beautiful attack, aiming for the top corner and seeing the ball ‘float’ haplessly off the players boot is disappointing. The ball may well end up in where you wanted it to, and into the back of the net, and the players will go off celebrating, but there is a sense of ‘that was a tame shot’ that comes about all too often.
Licensing has always been an issue that Konami have had due to the financial muscles of EA. But there are some fully licensed teams and tournaments present. UEFA Champions League and Copa Santander Libertadores are here, along with all the competitors. With League 1, Liga BBVA and Eredivisie fully licensed along with other partially licensed leagues (all Brazilian teams are authentic, but the name of the league is not). The commentary team provide the standard Channel 5 level of coverage we come to expect of PES.
There are plenty of game modes here to keep you busy. Along with the usual tournaments and leagues is the ‘Football Life’ option. The classic Master League is here, along with an online version of the classic game mode as well as ‘Become a Legend’. Master League, as always allows you to either take control of a made up set of average-at-best players, or control real players. The fun and challenge lies with the former. Attempting to build a team from the bottom up, signing new players, talking to the boardroom and getting your team to the top of the footballing world is the goal. It features bland cutscenes that aren’t really required, but are present to make it feel more like the ‘real world’. A nice addition is the items that are available to ‘equip’ to players, with a view to improve them – boots, energy drinks, bananas and running machines, it’s another punt at making it more realistic.
Become a Legend sees you take control of your own created player or an existing player, to guide them through their career, a nice idea which is poorly executed in game. The non-existence of a button to call for a pass is a cardinal sin in this mode. You’re a spectator most of the time making runs with no idea if the ball is going to come to you. It’s up to the AI when they pass or shoot, and I felt like a spare part for the majority of the games.
Online Master League features the same as the offline mode, but the goal is to reach the top of the online leaderboards. With games being played against similarly ranked players – although I’m pretty sure the people I played against had much stronger teams that myself, so it may need tweaking. The transfer market is a dog eat dog environment with your rivals potentially vying for the same players as you. Talking about online, it’s an area where Konami have struggled to master in the past, but every game I played was smooth and lag free. At the end of each game you can give your opponents a fair play thumbs up which adds to their fair play ranking. This rank can be defined in the search parameters so you, theoretically, should be able to find someone that will give you a fair game. You also receive items at the end of a game that can be used in Master League and Become a Legend modes.
The first touch system that has been put in place trumps FIFA’s. Players miscontrol the ball if it looks like they should, as well as being able to trap the ball well. It seems a lot less random that the EA system which seems a bit too OTT at times. Visually, it is a triumph. Players run around in a lifelike fashion all the while you can see them calling for the ball. Facial likenesses are also top notch on a lot of the players at the top clubs. They do look a bit psychotic when shouting in the close up shots though.
PES 2013 has come so close yet so far. There are moments where the beautiful game is on full show, and you can only sit back and smile at what has been achieved. But it is blighted by a steep learning curve, which needs to be conquered to get the most of the game, and a game speed which is a bit too slow. The depth of PES is evident with its Master League mode, but it can’t compete with the amount that FIFA has on offer these days. With a few alterations to the controls, and slight tweaks to the gameplay, I can finally see the light at the end of what has been a very dark tunnel for Konami. I’ve felt the buzz of old, and it felt good. It’s just a pity it couldn’t last longer. 7/10