Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 Review (PS3/360)

[LingeringRegime]

I like the presentation for the most part.

Nothing like playing in the Champions League, Europa League, and now the AFC Champions League.

The pre-match pageantry is second to none.

I have more of an issue with the commentary, they need to be allowed to freestyle in a both together instead of talking over each other at times.

[roolz]

Poor review when gameplay is supposedly king and this blows FIFA out of the water - especially offline.

Online, football games are spam fests, who can button bash the fastest... theres no realism, theres no excitement... its pick the best team, run the same moves to score the glitch goal that EA have left in there again.

As for modes, Master League might not have a scouting system etc, BUT its far better than the EA offering... even more so on PC once the game gets fully modded.

Side by side for a game of football, anyone who knows their eggs will say PES.

FIFA is for arcade gamers, thats why it has stupid card collecting modes and players like AKINFENWA... BEAST ffs. Seriously a league 2 heap of shyte who can run riot.

Rant over.

[roolz]

Regards commentary, PES has always had **** commentary... its like a tradition. If they made it any good, it wouldnt be PES.

[LingeringRegime]

I used to say it too, but I don't think it is fair or correct to pigeon hole everyone who plays FIFA as arcade players anymore.

There are some great sliders out there that really turn the game into a simulation. See Orion's.

[Profit89]

I use the arabic commentary.. I don't understand a word and therefore it never gets repetitive. It improves the game immensely psychologically.

[Profit89]

Fifa is scripted.. Same play over and over, it's repetitive. PES feels organic. No two goals are ever alike. And every game feels unique.

[lnin0]

I am buying one or the other tonight/tomorrow. I've been playing the demos and am so on the fence. Roolz had me in the PES camp after his rant but LingeringRegime pulled me back again.

how is the frame rate?
how is the online play - lag/griefers?
how is the player switching (demo seems to be a bit off or do odd things on turnovers/loose balls. I use setting just below full manual switching)?
can you switch camera angles online?

[KG]

A few things I'd really like patched:

When the CPU has a breakaway they tend to hesitate allowing my defenders to catch-up

The keepers need to do a better job at parrying shots away from trouble as well as react to 2nd shots faster. Keepers are always a sensitive subject in PES but they're not as bad as people make them out to be. IRL keepers make huge gaffes, just see this weeks UCL matches. I saw Buffon and a few other experienced keepers make some idiotic mistakes. It happens, just need to be cleaned up some.

Fouls. I feel like the contact animations for fouls are there, they just aren't called consistently. There are some cases where the fouls are called but the ref is off the screen and plays the advantage (at least using the camera angle I play with)


A few things I love:

The pace of play is really spot on. At times it's frantic but at other times it's slowed down. IRL, matches have phases of domination and I think it's pretty accurately represented here. As Chelsea in a league mode I traveled to the San Siro to take on Milan in the UCL. They came out like gangbusters and I called on Cech to bail me out. After about 15mins we settled down and were able to get a few goals. We eased up on the gas, gave up a goal and they seized momentum.

When good players are on good form (arrow & heart) they are a joy to play with. They close down faster, make better runs, etc...

The learning curve with the new dribbling system is steep but very rewarding since it's so player specific. I can tell the difference between Mata & Hazard.