Somewhere along the line, during my time here, I got pigeonholed into doing posts about soccer games, even about franchises I'm not familiar with. You'd think that it would be Samit's responsibility (since he's the "sports guy") or Jim's (since he's British), but you'd be wrong. Neither of them can stand the sport -- which is funny, since Jim has rececntly (and unwittingly) moved to the most soccer-crazed city in Mississippi.
Enter Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2010: long considered the superior soccer experience in Europe and Asia, it never really caught on in North America. And with EA Canada producing several quality entries in the FIFA series (with another apparently on the way), PES has been struggling to retain dominance in recent years.
According to a developer video embedded after the break, PES 2010 has made a real push to make an accurate simulator: "I know European users want more reality in PES," explains producer Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka, "I keep in my mind and I put my effort into polishing up AI and tactics settings."
A few interesting things about PES 2010 that caught my eye:
Players now have "instantaneous stamina" that affects ball control (translation: spamming the sprint button will work for about 10 seconds before you get wrecked).
Free kicks are now viewed from the kicker's perspective, and an on-screen pointer will help players add curl and backspin to the ball.
Players will have the ability to move several teammates to a place on the field at once.
I'm not very familiar with the PES series, so I'm not sure how many of these mechanics are new, but it seems like Konami is in a good position to start re-claiming some of the marketshare from EA. For a more in-depth look at the game's new lighting and tactics -- including the "slider" and "card" systems -- hit the jump for a developer video.
PES 2010 will hit shelves on October 19th, two weeks after its arcade-y North American comepetitor.
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If the EA NHL series has taught me anything it's that there's no use to having a "sprint" button in any type of sports game anymore. Simply use the analog stick, and if you don't push it all the way in a direction, your player moves less quickly/conserves energy.
Typically, PES or Winning Eleven, whichever you prefer, really and truly has been the better soccer game IMO.
But in recent years it's really lagged behind in presentation, and it's even gotten a tiny bit stale, as they don't try many new things from year to year.
I think this might be the next Pro Evo I buy. I started with Pro Evo 2, non of this silly 0X business e.g. copying Fifa/every other Ea sports game. I played 2,3,4,5 and 6 (the best one), then it just went shit. Create a kit was taken out (who the fuck had that bright idea?) amongst other things.
Anyway, 08 and 09 were disappointment's that I didn't buy fortunately, but if they can make it as good as 6, I might buy it, plus it's in the same week as my birthday which is good I guess.
Yea, I'm still buying Fifa after converting last year. Konami have had two shots at a proper online system and horribly fucked it up both times. Oh, and never bothered to patch in proper fixes. Anyone who thinks that is ok does not get my money, simple as.
Fifa took a while to get used to but it is simply miles ahead of Pro Evo right now, and it'd take something super special to change that.
The gameplay got stale and worse after the Generation Jump.
I can still sit down and play PES6 for Hours, I despised the new ones, Fifa has hammered it this Gen.
Yeah if they actually make the online close to being playable it's a purchase again. FIFA can stay with the canadians, why do no European developers produce a decent football sim? They could potentially clean up.
PES has been the bomb since it was called international superstar soccer way way back on the SNES. the japanese seem to understand football much better than the americans.
for those saying FIFA is as good as PES these days, well that's because they made it more like PES - FACEPALM. And screw official licenses and team names, players leave and swap clubs in the bat of an eye anyway so it means nothing, as long as the gameplay is tight who cares.
the last couple of versions haven't really been that different to be fair though, and online has been sketchy at best. this one looks promising though with these 'cards' and shit, but i've been let down by Seabass before.
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Contest:
1:20 PM on 07.16.2009
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Which is blatantly better than Fifa.
But in recent years it's really lagged behind in presentation, and it's even gotten a tiny bit stale, as they don't try many new things from year to year.
I hope this is a good one.
Anyway, 08 and 09 were disappointment's that I didn't buy fortunately, but if they can make it as good as 6, I might buy it, plus it's in the same week as my birthday which is good I guess.
Fifa took a while to get used to but it is simply miles ahead of Pro Evo right now, and it'd take something super special to change that.
It's always been Fifa for me. Pro Evo was never even heard of when me and the other local boys played soccer games.
The gameplay got stale and worse after the Generation Jump.
I can still sit down and play PES6 for Hours, I despised the new ones, Fifa has hammered it this Gen.
PES is still the king
for those saying FIFA is as good as PES these days, well that's because they made it more like PES - FACEPALM. And screw official licenses and team names, players leave and swap clubs in the bat of an eye anyway so it means nothing, as long as the gameplay is tight who cares.
the last couple of versions haven't really been that different to be fair though, and online has been sketchy at best. this one looks promising though with these 'cards' and shit, but i've been let down by Seabass before.
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