Home Gaming PES 2014 Preview – This one’s a keeper

PES 2014 Preview – This one’s a keeper

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By Rob Valentine

Every time I hear the Fox engine mentioned I get a little shiver. I’m a long-time fan of the MGS series so when I heard that Konami were going to be using Fox for their upcoming PES title, I was actually pretty keen to give it a spin.

I need to preface this review with a small warning though – the review copy is: A) early and B) crippled, only allowing a simple exhibition match and locking your team choices down to the absolute bare minimum. The much talked about “HEART” system didn’t make it into the preview either.

A lot of fuss has been made about the use of Kojima’s engine and immediately, I can tell you that it’s reasonably well deserved. While you’re not going to faint at the suddenly amazing graphics (they aren’t really), the in-game mechanics is where the most work has been done.

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Most talked about, TrueBall and MASS have made a significant difference in the gameplay and (possibly most important) the feel of the matches.

With TrueBall, the ball and player are now completely separate entities – now, this may seem intuitive to those of us who play other games but apparently it’s a totally new thought for Konami. That said, there’s a clear difference in the way things operate – the ball no longer hugs feet and player animations have been given a little more freedom.

On to MASS then – basically, it helps to render players as actual objects that interact properly with each other rather than a clump of pixels with no discernible physical properties. This means that tackles make more sense and the game AI is a devious little sod that knows to make use of open spaces and actually give you a run for your money.

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Speaking of the AI, after an embarrassing 8-0 defeat (my controller was misconfigured OK?), I can happily say that the AI gave me some pretty decent competition. Previous iterations haven’t exactly blown the audience away with insightful play and amazing tactics.

Some things remain the same though – a slide tackle that isn’t executed absolutely perfectly will get you carded faster than you can say “Aargh, my ankle!”

There’s also been a lot of talk about the increase in Player ID that Konami have managed – while PES 2013 had only 50 players mapped, the new version has close to 100 recreated which means you get to see Ronaldinho in all his… glory. Unfortunately, any player that hasn’t had the Player ID treatment looks like a slack-jawed yokel with dead eyes. Still, you can’t have it all I suppose.

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The world of football sims is pretty much sewn up by either FIFA or PES fans and general feeling around the interwebs is that this may well be the year that people switch back to PES and I can see why.

Last Updated: August 21, 2013

27 Comments

  1. Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

    August 21, 2013 at 15:05

    Screw Fifa, I’ve always been a PES man!

    Reply

    • Lardus-Respect the beard

      August 21, 2013 at 15:18

      Both are soccer/football, so http://9gag.com/gag/amXzQej haha

      Reply

      • Jonah Cash

        August 21, 2013 at 15:20

        Really????? Two days in a row you bring out the football cheating minions to win at all arguments!!! Really???? No man, shame on you again!!

        Reply

        • Lardus-Respect the beard

          August 21, 2013 at 15:24

          Lol, actually that first one was also posted TODAY! So twice in one day haha http://9gag.com/gag/amXzQej Make that 3 😛

          Reply

      • Vampyre Squirrel

        August 21, 2013 at 15:26

        Hahaha, that’s epic!!

        Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      August 21, 2013 at 15:19

      Uhmmmmm….. OK so for once me and the big banana don’t agree on something!! This is awkward…. Fifa is the one, and the only foozball game for me!! I don’t get PES and all these stories about hearts and players’ emotions and their play affecting how they feel… (My wife says I am a robot, so maybe it is just that part of my personality why I don’t get PES)

      Reply

      • TiMsTeR1033

        August 21, 2013 at 15:51

        I agree with you man, Fifa all the way!! esp seeing as fifa 14 has gone to all that effort by fully mapping each player with all those HD cameras! making sure everyone looks right! PES wow a 100 mapped players its not an excuse its just being lazy…. Crap soccer game too if you ask me, Fox engine doesnt change jack….

        Reply

        • Jonah Cash

          August 21, 2013 at 15:57

          That is my sentiment as well, it is just not a good game…. Maybe if we played it instead of Fifa for years we might disagree, but Fifa has all the players and leagues and unfortunately that does make a difference!!

          Reply

      • Jonah Cash

        August 21, 2013 at 16:11

        Why are you giving me down votes, at least give me your opinion and then lets talk through it… Do you like the hearts and emotions idea????

        Reply

        • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

          August 21, 2013 at 16:24

          No idea why you’re getting downvotes. I like PES because I started playing footie through the old ISS games, and I’ve just always preferred them. That’s not to say that the FIFA games haven’t surpassed PES.

          Reply

          • Jonah Cash

            August 21, 2013 at 16:32

            I guess there are others who share your sentiments…. I didn’t think it was you Mr Lenoir!! You don’t strike me as the down vote type!! Rather comment back and start a conversation over why you disagree…

  2. Vampyre Squirrel

    August 21, 2013 at 15:31

    I’ve always preferred Fifa… why? I have no idea, but I probably won’t be buying a footie game any time soon… I’ll stick to old Fifa for now.

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      August 21, 2013 at 15:58

      Which one do you have? If it is Fifa 10 or later I will let it be but if you are still stuck before that then that is a big no no!!

      Reply

      • Vampyre Squirrel

        August 22, 2013 at 12:06

        Think it’s 11… it’s been in my games draw for a while and not played because of Borderlands 2.

        Reply

  3. TiMsTeR1033

    August 21, 2013 at 15:52

    why is the author LG Community? who wrote this ADMIT! ADMIT or DIE!!!

    Reply

    • Jonah Cash

      August 21, 2013 at 15:59

      At the top it says it is by Rob Valentine…. Don’t think I know him…

      Reply

      • Jim Lenoir (Banana Jim)

        August 21, 2013 at 16:34

        Rob Valentine is the alter ego of Brenda. It’s her masculine persona.

        Reply

        • Jonah Cash

          August 21, 2013 at 16:35

          Hahahaha!!!! Well played!!! But this was written by someone who knows what football is and that makes me think it might not be Brenda!!

          Reply

          • Rob Valentine

            August 22, 2013 at 08:57

            How do you know I’m not someone else’ feminine persona? I could be pretty dammit.

          • Jonah Cash

            August 22, 2013 at 11:09

            Hahaha!! OK OK…. You can be feminine….

        • Admiral Chief Raider of Tombs

          August 22, 2013 at 09:22

          LULZ

          Reply

          • Rob Valentine

            August 22, 2013 at 11:22

            Actually, if I’m being brutally honest, I’d make an exceedingly ugly woman. I’m probably just a figment of your imagination or some kind of cyborg.

  4. charlie boy

    August 21, 2013 at 23:43

    love pes from pes 1 to pes 2013 cant wait till pes 2014 🙂

    Reply

  5. Halldór Freyr Sturluson

    August 23, 2013 at 00:55

    dont understand all this Fifa love, so what it has all the names? you can get them for pes in the first day, and i tried last years fifa, its more of an arcade game and not very real, its just like ping pong, and there are many more ways to score in pes, and pes is just better and it will be even better this year

    Reply

  6. 13adass 13aller

    August 27, 2013 at 12:06

    It’s amazing how you morons argue over which is better PES or FIFA 14.when neither one of these games have been released yet. I, myself have had FIFA 09, 11 & 13 and haven’t played PES since my N64 days. It was called International Superstar Soccer back then & I can honestly say it was the best soccer game available at the time, but things have changed a lot since then. I can understand how official licenses can be important to some gamers but for myself the most important thing about any game is not the superficial bullshit features but the “actual game” that lies beneath. This is why I wont be buying another FIFA game EVER! EA have managed to sell us the same crap every year for the last few decades. Each year they re-design their menus and add another bullshit feature like “first touch” that only serves to take even more control away from the gamer. The bottom line is FIFA has nice graphics, commentary and all the other bells & whistles a football gamer could possibly want but that doesn’t save it from being a crap game. You may argue the fact that they outsell PES every year but that really says nothing about the quality of the game. It just means more fools are born every minute. I was one of those fools by the way but I managed to smart up. As for EA & Konami … I don’t really care which is better. I only know that one of them is passionate about football while the other is in it for the money.. & I really haven’t played a decent football game in a long time. I can’t say for sure if PES is what I’ve been waiting for… but I’m willing to give it a try.

    Reply

    • Rob Valentine

      August 28, 2013 at 18:22

      Look, I’d definitely say give it a go – it’s not going to kill you. Bonus if you can get your hands on it and play as a demo first or something. Games are pretty much like phones. There are rabid fans on either side and sometimes there’s no reasoning with them. Go for the one your heart loves and screw it if the players look like dead-eyed zombies that want to eat you. Hell, maybe that’s a good thing if the game focuses more on the you know… gameplay.

      Reply

  7. OL PES PLAYA

    December 7, 2013 at 00:32

    “Still, you can’t have it all I suppose.”

    With Downloadable Option Files this is possible! 🙂

    Reply

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