Interfering With Play 20/05/08
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 20 May
Welcome to this week’s edition of Interfering With Play. As usual, we have topical debate from the football, gaming and football gaming worlds as well as the feature of the month, entitled the Big Four. This is your area to stress your views on anything written on these pages, and you can do so by adding a comment at the bottom of the article. Off we go.
Warning: Graphical Content
Since the release of Grand Theft Auto IV, it seems everyone is raving about the graphical ability of the next generation consoles. There has been a lot of praise in both main stream media and the gaming world for the way the game looks, and whilst it is a definite improvement on the PS2 titles, in comparison to other games on the market, its not a market leader. Do not get me wrong, as a game, GTA IV is awesome, the sheer size of it and the level of features keeps you going for weeks, along with a multiplayer mode that is potentially everlasting. The story is well padded, the missions offer a great deal of variety and the characters are both believable and voiced well. And yes, the game looks very good. But, and strictly on a graphics level, it is still not on the same level as Assassin’s Creed, and outside of the cut scenes, some of the game characters are far less human looking than the players on the PES pitch. Some of the players on PES lo0ok nothing like their real life counterparts and this is rightly criticised, but it’s obviously easier to create characters that don’t have real life counterparts, in other words Niko and company. Some people out there are saying that GTA is how PES should look, but from my point of view, I would rather have the current PES models than those which feature in the Rockstar title. With that tiny bit of technical text aside, I would like to once again state my love of GTA IV and anyone with an X Box 360 or Playstation 3 should stop reading this article right now, go to heir local game retailer / supermarket and purchase it immediately. No spoilers here, just more praise for a top quality game.
The Big Four: Week Three
Over the month of May, Interfering With Play will be looking at four of the biggest titles in Football Gaming history, focussing on why they were so important and giving you the opportunity to decide on whether or not you agree with their place in the ‘Big Four’ category.
Actua Soccer (1995) Playstation One: This was probably the most difficult of the four titles to pick, for the simple fact there were so many worthy contenders. It was at a time when both Fifa and ISS were starting to find their feet and console football games were becoming the game of choice for casual gamers. Whilst never being a personal favourite, Actua Soccer was a game that I can relate to and looking back realise just how much it experimented and tried to bring forward into football gaming. Firstly, and quite surprisingly for some people, Actua Soccer was the first full 3D football title. Its 1995 release meant this was something well ahead of its time. Gone were the 2D, paper like players and 3D sprites were at your control, giving you a real sense of control on the pitch. This meant new animations, like goalkeepers actually going to ground in one v one scenarios and back heels travelling at a more realistic angle.
One the subject of players, it was actually one of the first games to also feature real player names. Fifa was still using the names of its producers for its star players, and ISS was muddling everything up, but Actua Soccer brought the Shearer and Sheringham partnership into your control and even thought it was only national teams, it was still pretty cool to be actually playing as your heroes. This was taken further by the contentious skin tone issue involved in Sensible Soccer. Up until this point, Fifa was using generic skin tones for each country or team, with no differential between individual players. This of course effects realism, and is still a fact in modern day Fifa games, with some lower league players having the wrong hairstyles and skin tones. Actua Soccer allowed players of mixed skin tones on the same team, adding personality to you midfield and again making you feel like your really playing as England etc.
Actua Soccer was also the first game to offer play-by-play commentary on a football game (albeit by Barry Davies) and player’s names were called out for the first time. Up until this point, standard ‘It’s a Goal’ shouts were used when a team scored, but the addition of this feature really made other developers step up and take note, making FIFA hire professional commentators for their next Playstation One offering.
Of course, all of these were a natural progression of where football gaming was ultimately heading, but it was Gremlin and their Actua Soccer series that stood up and tried them. The game itself spawned a Club Edition, followed by two sequels that tried to build upon the initial games benchmarks. However, due to a lack of progression in the face of stiff competition, and a dreadful camera angle, which ruined some games, Actua Soccer 3 was the last title made in the series. It is still available online for a nominal fee, or a scrounge in bargain bins at your local games shops might see you pick up a copy, but with today’s titles looking far more polished and playing a heck of a lot smoother, it might be cheaper just to look at a few videos online if you are feeling nostalgic. Anyone with any views on Actua Soccer is more than welcome to express them in comment form, or e-mail me direct; my address is at the end of the article. Actua Soccer may be a somewhat controversial choice for the big four, but when taking on board all the facts, a worthy contestant.
Everywhere You Go
Weather has been a subject that comes under a great deal of scrutiny when it comes to football games. Fifa 98 was the first to include thunder storms and snow in matches and Sensible Soccer was the first to include varying pitch conditions, however since its inception, it has been an area that has had very little to almost no advancement. Nowadays, PES allows the option of rain or sun, neither making that much of a difference to the overall game, and Fifa 08 does not feature weather at all. (Don’t worry though; it is on UEFA European Championships 2008 as a ‘New Feature’) Surely, with games like GTA being able to allow weather to influence the action, so it should on football titles. Rain should make the ball harder to control, slippier and the ball should hold up in particularly muddy areas. Pitches should deteriorate as the game progresses, if a right back constantly makes the same run, the pitch should cut up, making the run of the ball bobble. They manage to do it on Motorstorm, so the fact that technical limitations is no excuse. Heat should increase fatigue, meaning you have to slow your game pace down. Certain players, teams and tactics may suit the hot weather better, whilst other players may need to be taken off after half time due to exhaustion. Snow, a feature that was on PES6, but removed from the next generation games, is another game mode that could be manipulated. Cold weather means more chance of an injury, and players could find it harder to keep their footing, especially when turning sharply. This could be taken further, with certain countries struggling to play in certain conditions. Ecuador haven’t lost a home game in years, due to the humidity levels at the stadium. Most sides struggle to play in Russia due to the negative temperatures. This is where real football shines through from other sports, and needs to be incorporated into the future of football gaming. Your views, of course will be welcomed.
Coin Artist
Might just be me, but I do miss the coin toss to start the game in football games. It was a feature of both FIFA and ISS in the early years, but seemed to fade out. Nowadays, you can tell which side is away or at home by who gets kick off and which way they are kicking. I know currency is forbidden in PES world (due to the use of points in master league) but the flipping of a two-sided disk and the option of kick off or which way to kick would be welcomed back in my eyes. Not only would it make your captains have another responsibility, but if weather conditions or wind direction was brought into games, it could also become a crucial decision for the winner of the coin toss.
That’s all for this week. As per usual you are welcome to e-mail me direct on danbolas@hotmail.com or add any comment you see fit. If it regards this particular article, please make sure you add it below, and not as a comment on another article! Also Peter Willis, the owner of this fine site, is looking for new staff to be involved in PESGaming.com. Personally, I love writing Interfering With Play and highly recommend anyone who might be interested to get involved with one of the biggest PES fan sites in the world.
Thanks for Reading
You do realise that a game like Assasins Creed has nowhere near as much going one at one time as GTA 4, hence using a lot more memory and leaving less room for graphics.
For the size of the game GTA 4 looks AMAZING.. some people just dont have a clue about what they are writing about. Did you never wonder why a 1st person shooter has better graphics than a free roaming game? - All you have to manage is AI, shooting and moving - leaving the rest of the memory for graphics
U seriously talk some shit
I think that including the weather options what you wrote about would be a very good idea. As for GTA i think it was the most overrated game ever. The story was good in some parts but i didnt feel part of the experience. The graphics are terrible and the multiplayer is absolutly terrible. For example on deathmatch you’re shooting at somebody for ages and nothing happens but when they turn around and shoot back you’re dead almost instantly. The only mode which is good is the racing which always has abit of first corner drama when there is 15 other players.
As i have said it is rare i reply to my own posts, but just want to re-iterate something. Graphically, Assassin’s Creed is better looking than GTA. I said nothing about processor speeds, which of course needs to be taken into account, i am meerly responding to comments that GTA is ‘the best looking game available’. Assassin’s Creed does alot wrong, and is no where near the gaming experience that GTA is, in my opinion, however on a graphical level, which it still has 1000’s of computer generated characters moving around the city, as does GTA, it looks better.
Elbarco is a complete wanka…….no knowledge, no class. The guy is a wanker. Read the artical again you prick. You have no knowledge of games or graphic capability.
Elbarco fuck off this site gay boy.
Oh dear! The children are out tonight!
GTAIV looks superb throughout, I don’t think there is a more beautiful experience in gaming than driving across one of the main bridges at night, the cityscapes at night are wonderful and the real time weather effects look awesome. As for 1000’s of computer generated characters moving around the city in Assassins creed, I think you’ll find that there are no more than 10 to 20 that are actually individual characters, most are just repetitions where as GTAIV actually contains up to 70 individual characters at any one time on screen and off.
I don’t know assache, I prefer driving across a bridge at sunset. That looks awesome!
I haven’t had chance to play that much of GTA IV yet but it looks pretty smart. One question though, if you choose to ignore phone calls from your cousin etc does that lead the game in a different direction??
www.pesgaming.com
Actua Soccer gaming series - I remember playing the first one.
As Dan has said it was around in the early days of fifa and PES, and was out to try to be a real contender in the footy arena.
The one aspect of the game that really struck me was the total control you had over camera angles. This was a proper 3D game, where you could zoom in to be very close to the players, to a blip view of proceedings. This was amazing to me, totally unheard of. This was on the original psx too.
To date no-one has ever given us this ability for any game, let alone a footy game.
One of the improvements I would like to have seen for PES games would be the ability to set your own camera angle.
For the purposes of nostalgia I’d like to be able to set the camera angle to the old overhead views, with the pitch either vertically or horizontally set. Why can’t our current gen machines allow us to do this?? Laziness pure and simple is the answer. We’re given scraps in our annually updated versions of footy games.
Give with one hand, take with the other.
D.
Just checked out the sunset drive…….. Awesome!
Not sure about the mobile phone and how it effects the game yet. I’m pretty sure that Michelle is a copper, so, I’m ignoriing her calls, Guess I’ll find out if it has any effect.
Loving the game but still getting used to the more in depth fighting scenes now. Almost prefer the simple, hit one button continuously until you beat them to a pulp so far but I’m sure I’ll get used to it!!!
I started a fight with someone last night in the street, next min I knew there were three of them and I had to run for cover!! What a coward I know! :) (I am of course talking about GTA IV and NOT real life!)
Does anybody know any famous American phone numbers?
I’ve tried 911 on Niko’s mobile and that is funny but just wondered if there are any other numbers to try!
555-0110
- Bean Machine Coffee
843 555 0124
- Blackmailer from The Mission ‘Call and collect’
545 555 0122
- Drugdealer from The Mission ‘Lure’
911
- Emergency Services
- - Call this for your choice of emergency vehicle to show up at your location
555-2222
- Express Car Service
555-3333
- Express Car Service
555-5700
- Fire Proof Doors
555-RECRUIT
- LCPD Recruitment
555-1274-73
- Libery Construction
555-945-733-92
- No Problemo Bail Bonds
718-926-7215
- Roman Bellic
1-800-555-5555
- The Serrated Edge
555-221-3877
- Storage
555-4674
- Superb Deli
555-7600
- Used Auto Parts
555-5123
- Vinewood Laundromat
948-555-0100
- Zit Music Service
- - Call this and you’ll get a text message of the title and artist of the current music playing.
Cool! Didn’t expect so many. Are these all found whilst you progress through the game?
I’m gonna give a few a go in a min
Hello fellow PES friends,
There is not much talk of Pro Evolution Soccer nowadays. It would appear that fans of PES are now enjoying the new Grand Theft Auto title.
I cannot play violent games otherwise I will get into trouble. I will just play my football game. I hope that more debate on PES can occur on this interesting web site.
All the best guys,
Arnold
Had about 12 online games over the weekend and really enjoyed the challenges people put forward. Yes the online has the let-downs, but still the PES game goes back in the machine, even after playing GTA.
Can someone answer a question. When i play the online game and say for example i score i have a few things that i can to the oppostion player such as Goal, Im Sorry etc…How comes other people have different words they can say. How can i do this????
Ayup Gazza, there is a way of editing Goal or some of the other phrases that are already on there. Im going to a mates tonite for co-op so i’ll find out and report back tomorrow if you haven’t already figured it out. Peace
Hey Gazza, don’t know if you’ll pick this up but my mate told me to tell you that if you want to change the words that you can choose to say when scoring or conceding you need to do it in the options screen before you log in to a games room. I don’t go online with Evo so I apologise if my explanation is vague.
Sign in so you are online, you will be faced with a table of four options - 1) ranked match 2) Friendly match etc.
Select the third option (where you can load formations etc) and it is in that list of options.
cheers mn9ajas, im toss at explaining things if its not in front of me
Steve From Stoke & mn9ajas, thanks lads for this……sas question i know but i needed to know…..thanks again guys.
sorry meant to say sad question not sas….twat