While at Gamescom 2013 this year I was given the opportunity to sit in on a mini group-interview with Naoya Hatsumi, the Senior Producer of the upcoming PES 2014.
As we know there are two major football (soccer for you heathens) games coming in the next few days and the endless battle between FIFA and PES will rise once again.
It has become increasingly obvious that EA has been able to pump a lot more money into the FIFA series than Konami can with the PES series and as such the usual comparisons utilising licences, graphics, player likeness etc all fall solidly into the FIFA camp. Even more worryingly for Konami over the past few years has been the amount of investment EA has pumped into improving their gameplay, always a PES strongpoint, to the point where it is now debateable that FIFA has the more realistic gameplay experience.
So what does Konami have to bring to the party to try and compete against the financial juggernaut?
Well to start Konami isn’t giving up on the gameplay competition with the new version of PES utilising the analogue sticks to control where the player shifts his weight before moving or shooting. Obviously shifting the weight to skip to the left and then trying to take a straight shot is going to end badly for you. But while the gameplay can be exceedingly difficult to control the game isn’t being pushed out of the hands of casual gamers who can simply turn off these advanced controls.
When questioned about whether they will be having any famous players motion captured in PES the lack of funding was once again apparent. As Naoya confirmed that they unfortunately cannot cover the costs of a long running mocap session with AAA footballers. However they do use the mocap technology on younger up-and-coming stars.
Konami however do have a trick up their sleeve with the upcoming PES as they have the very valid point that the vast majority of football fans aren’t actually players and are more lovers of the game than hardened athletes.
And so Konami has put a lot of effort into adding emotion and heart into the game where the game is no longer about the big superstars and famous clubs, but more about getting your hometown club up into the big leagues and working within your means to break through to international super stardom.
It’s a nice touch and something I personally did in the last FIFA and thoroughly enjoyed. I took a team from the bottom leagues and I’m currently in the champions league trying to take that trophy with my useless side. FIFA however doesn’t get it right as I can’t get anyone to sign for me even though I won the premier league with no losses and no one will sponsor me. So if Konami can fix that then it would be a nice feature for the game to have.
Unfortunately though in the end I can’t see many casual fans picking PES over FIFA and that’s not good for the genre going forward.
Last Updated: September 6, 2013
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| was reviewed on PC | |
eltsac
September 6, 2013 at 13:44
shit review
Gavin Mannion
September 6, 2013 at 13:58
Agreed… if it was a review it would be the worst I’ve ever seen… but it isn’t.. so.. yeah
Alan
September 6, 2013 at 18:04
What is the “champion league”? This is what happens when non-football fans talk about football….
Jonah Cash
September 6, 2013 at 21:40
Which platform do you play on? Do you play Fifa or PES? And most importantly who do you support?
aditya mangaldas
September 7, 2013 at 13:49
fifa street also pes 2013
Gavin Mannion
September 9, 2013 at 07:31
Champion League is a typo, really it’s just missing an S so it’s an easy miss.
I’m a massive football fan actually, it’s one of the most important things in my life 🙂 #YNWA
Jonah Cash
September 6, 2013 at 21:40
Here I am again on a Sport article and yet again I will be the only one to talk about the features… And getting down votes from PES people… The idea of taking your hometown club through the ranks is actually very cool. Fifa’s career mode has become a bit flat for me, it feels almost exactly the same as it was in 2010!! There are small tweaks to it, but not enough for me. And like Gavin said, you can be the best club in the world and still won’t be able to sign anyone…
PES’ controls makes my head spin, and the idea of trying to balance my player with the analog sticks before I shoot sounds very difficult to me. Maybe I just never gave PES a fair shake… one day perhaps I will give it a go again…
aditya mangaldas
September 7, 2013 at 13:36
what a hell pes 2014 rs 3999 and gta 5 for only 2799
tired of playing football games like fifa street pes 2011 2012 2013 2014 will come now
pranav mehta
September 7, 2013 at 13:48
which player do you like in real madrid and barcelona i like messi and ronaldo with stars ronaldo 97 points and messi 99 points
which platform do you play?fifa street or pes
how will be the features good or bad of 2014 pes
if you have pes 2013 play with hardest player me in ps3 my official id is realsoccerdude1
best i have rs 2000000 million with pls agree me and play on my id realsoccerdude1 i lost i agree i win i will not agree my number is 9820766567 come on time on 11;00 am to 12;00 or on 2;00 to 4;00
or on night time 9;00 to 11;00
jjones112
September 9, 2013 at 01:18
this is a very poor article
Gav PES FIFA
September 9, 2013 at 10:59
A lot of people are judging a game based upon a 75% build. People need to remember that PES was the most popular football game during its hey day and it had no licences then. Konami are starting to show their hand now, implementing something as brave as the Fox Engine shows they want to get the gameplay right first. If Konami can create the game people want to play the licences will follow, simply because more people will buy it. FIFA is not the football game of choice in Asia, Middle East or South America PES is the bigger game in those areas.
Already Konami are showing it can create a next-gen equivelant game on the PS3 whilst EA’s dire FIFA 14 (current gen) and lack lustre next gen version trundles along. EA know they have to come up with something big for FIFA 15, hence the fact they’ve had teams working on it for some time now. I have said for years on my blogs that when football is captured at its finest (still yet to happen) it will be Konami who manage it. Konami are a company who show more passion for the game in their presentation and now, it would seem, gameplay. PES 2014 is a game changer and I see only a bright future once they step up to the PS4/XBone next year.
PES 2014 (4/5) FIFA 14 – Current gen (2.5/5) FIFA 14 – Next gen (3/5)