Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 is available as a demo, PlayStation Store and XBox 360 Marketplace and Games for Windows. The full game is released on PS3, XBox 360 and PC on September 20.
Let me get something straight right off the bat. I haven't owned a PES game since the 2008 edition, the one that had Michael Owen on the cover. I've always been a FIFA fan, largely for licensing reasons (I like having atrocious Korean sides to destroy when choosing random teams), although that's not to say I'm an EA fanboy. I did switch to PES for a few years when it undeniably produced the superior gameplay, to the point where I put up with meticulously changing club names and kits and even player names.
Yes, I'm a bit obsessive.
Anyway, while perusing the PS Store earlier I came across the new PES 2013 demo and thought I'd give it a whirl. After all, maybe Konami had found the motivation to kick back to the top of the pile and avoid becoming something of a Blackburn figure, briefly topping the league but slipping back into obscurity and, yes, ridicule, while casting envious glances at the Manchester United of FIFA.
So, has it outdone FIFA? Well, I haven't played FIFA 13 yet, but I think the safe answer is a resounding no.
Now, don't get me wrong, FIFA isn't perfect. Its physics engine, in particular, is just short of woeful. But playing PES genuinely feels like playing a PS2 game. And not a good one. Something like This Is Football or Red Card. The gameplay is just bizarre. It's a lot quicker than FIFA generally is, which is nice when it gives the game a good flow and keeps the excitement up. But it's let down by the appalling control of the players and the sheer clunkiness of the passing and movement.
You pick up the ball from a pass, back to goal and a defender up your jacksie, and rotate the analogue stick expecting a swift spin around the centre back towards goal. Instead, your player moves a step away from the defender before pulling a 90 degree turn, then another 60 degree turn as the attempt to leave his opponent standing. Inevitably, you plough straight into him.
You probably like this fella as much as I like this game
And as for getting it to the striker in the first place, the passing system seems precise, yet amazingly haphazard. Sometimes the ball runs straight to your team-mate's feet, others it's just sort of 'over there', with no obvious reason why one or the other has occured. This particularly irks me since I like to get the ball on the floor and play a slick passing game, and I played as Italy to give PES the best chance to allow it to happen. If Pirlo can't manage a decent pass, something's badly wrong.
The games themselves are hard to judge, since the demo only gives you a 5 minute match, but I only played on Professional difficulty (the third highest, behind Superstar and Top Player), yet conceded 9 goals across three games with only 2 in return. Most of which were simply down to the awkward controls meaning my defence parted at the slightest hint of impending Lukas Podolski.
And then we get the biggest thing that struck me. 2 of the 11 goals scored came from comedy deflections, leading to the always brilliant stat of "Shots on target 0 - Goals 1" at half time of one game. These deflections plagued my whole experience. It's like Konami have just learned that they could actually make deflections happen and have drawn attention to it by making them as ludicrous as is possible. Or indeed impossible.
To go back to the defenders, they didn't help matters, either. The AI just seems so dim-witted. I brought my keeper out on one occasion just to have him plough through the onrushing striker with reckless abandon. There's no accomodation for dodging out of the way of a ball coming at you that's clearly not meant for you as there is in FIFA, which mixed with the inbred AI encourages even more of those freak deflections that ruin an already unpleasant gaming experience.
I should probably end on a positive note, which is that the licenses it does have (for the demo this stretched to England, Italy, Germany, Portugal and four Brazilian sides in a Copa Liberatadores mode) are very well represented, as are the players themselves, although Wayne Rooney is a notable absentee from the England side. Ostensibly this will probably be down to him not playing in the game the default lineup was based on, but it's more likely because of his strong links with the competition.
Graphically, the standard match view is good, although the steady pan from right-down-on-the-touchline to standard hovering camera at the kickoff is somewhat disorientating, but the real gem is the replays, which have just enough motion blur to look dead on lifelike while still showing off the level of detail. Ultimately, I can't help but think Konami need to focus less on presentation and get the gameplay right again. They've shown they can do it, but somewhere along the line it's slipped and just... broken.
Overall impression: Do not buy this game. Even downloading the demo is a waste of energy.
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