Interfering With Play 25/09/07
Posted by Dan Bolas in Interfering With Play on Tue 25 Sep
As it gets closer to the release of PES2008, the information is starting to come thick and fast. With the release of the demos, and indeed the release of Fifa 2008 on Friday, it is a good time to be a fan of football gaming. With this said, I am going to start this weeks Interfering With Play.
No Way, Jose
Just want to open with the football news that has dominated the papers for the past 7 days, Jose Mourinho leaving/being sacked from Chelsea. No one will ever be 100% certain of the reason for his departure, and I am sure there are pages worth of legal documents protecting that illusive secret. What I would like to say is, whether you love him or hate him, he was defiantly good for English football and the Premier League. His confrontational style may have not always sat well with rival fans, but he was coach who knew how to get the best out of his players. You could see that his players were playing his tactics and his game plans, more often that not resulting in positive results. He is one of the few foreign managers to have purchased a wealth of English players as well as looking abroad. Whilst some of these may not have worked out as he planned, he did not always look overseas for answers, a lesson which should be taken onboard by managers at other premier league sides. His press conferences were entertaining, and whilst coming across as arrogant, he had a self belief that I am sure Derby and Bolton fans would currently wish to see in their bosses. There will always be questions asked, the main one being did he really want Shevchenko and Ballack? But as a boss, and a coach, his success record is up there with the best of them, and he will be missed.
Lasting Impressions
After a week of hearing what fellow PESGAMING.com fans have had to say about the Fifa 2008 demo, I have decided to give my review of the game. With its release only a handful of days away, I am guessing the demo will be very similar to the finished article, and whilst there will be many more options and areas available, the game play won’t change too much. As with each Fifa game, 2008 has set a high standard for graphics. Many of the player models available look realistic, and there are certain moments, usually in cut scenes, where you could actually be forgiven for thinking it was a live TV game. The pitch detail is excellent, and the wide variety replay angles show off some impressive rendering techniques. Of course, if this were a movie, that is all that would matter. But its not, however good looking a game is, it won’t last two minutes if its not playable. And that’s where my review really begins. The loading/menu screen is an interactive mini game in itself. A one of one feature in which you can practise using the tricks and skills on the trick stick, or practise your shooting using the default player, Ronaldinho. This feature was present on the Fifa 2007 on the X Box 360, and is a tidy addition to any game. Like many years ago, when waiting for games to load, you would have a basic version of Space Invaders to occupy the time, the one on one mini game provides a better alternative to the plain loading screen. Will it get boring? Most defiantly, but its better to have it there than not. So after selecting your teams and choosing your starting line up, you find your players making there way onto the pitch. No questions about the presentation, whilst not perfect it is very nice. The in stadium announcer reels off the starting line ups (well, two players) and the sides warm up.
And then the game begins. From the very first pass the game oozes Fifa, a very slow and remedial game that seems to have players taking too long over playing the simplest of passes. Moving with the ball, whilst improved from maybe 3 years ago, still feels very slow and unnatural; with players around you not seeming too bothered about creating space for you. The controller set up is very similar to Pro Evolution, with the most unusual change being the fact R2 has been adopted as the run button as opposed to R1. As the game progresses, more things start to frustrate and annoy the player. The passing system seems to be getting slower and less accurate with each pass, resulting some times in you moving forwards with the ball in a risky area as opposed to playing a ‘simple’ pass. Football fans know this is not the way football should be played. Heading the ball seems more about luck than judgement, with pressing the button harder and longer than your opponent prevailing over actual positioning and timing. Of course, it’s a different game to Pro Evolution, and therefore is going to do things in a different way, but realism cannot be hidden, and making certain aspects of a game ‘gamer friendly’ will isolate players who are fans of the sport. Then, after about four or five games you realise something that is truly shocking. Despite all these players looking exceptionally realistic, their skill levels and attributes do not differ at all. Playing with Manchester United, you will normally have to check the name bar to decide if it is Cristiano Ronaldo or Gary Neville running down your right hand side, with both players possessing almost identical speed and ball control. Whilst Vidic is a top centre back, and one of the best headers of a ball in the Premier, he is not as comfortable at doing step overs as Ronaldo or Giggs, However, you can perform them with wreck less abandon if you wish, and due to exceptional ball control from the big Serbian, still maintain possession. Thirdly, the new ‘improved’ shooting technique seems to be as random as ever. Players strike the ball equally on either foot, and will be able to provide wonderful curling shots, irrelevant of their real life ability. Yes, we have all seen Messi score some wonderfully struck goals, but Carlos Puyol? It seems that whilst they have tried to improve the shooting, and to be fair shooting from close range does seem to be more realistic, long range shooting still seems to be as wild and wacky as ever!
These are observations I have made over a period of a weeks gaming, not after one or tw
just thought id remind you of that belter Puyol scored in the last world cup!oh wait it wasn him,he was just good in the build up!!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=O24CBI4Jwms
having said that even if he did it would be 1 time,a rare occasion whereas on FIFA it can easily be every game or soon.Also i like your comments on diving about players staying on their feet,which they should be doing,but not getting decisions because of it,just last week Aghahowa for wigan stayed on his feet and ended up losing his chance but got nothing,even the comentators said he should of gone down which is sadly true until refs start to grow some cohones:)it would be better if the dive in PES was used when stumbling ect but it doesnt seem to work in thos situations,it seems to purly be when there is no contact or diving just as a slide comes in ect,it is good but i would of liked it implemented better.and no matter where you dive if the ref doesnt give you a freekick he gives you a card,even in your own half, i think in this situation generally he should just let play go on which he does all too rarely.and in crowded areas or after talkes you could picture people naturally been forced to the ground without diving and it often looks this way but cards are still shown instead of play been waved on.
Can ask where you heard 27th Sept for the PS3 demo release? I hope you are right - or wrong and it is released now!
John4, i was going to use Aghahowa as my example, but wasn’t sure many people would remember it! As i have not played the demo yet, i will take your word on the falling over / stumbling thing, but hopefully will find out soon enough!
The release date of the 27th September is just an estimation, as PS3 store updates every thursday, and the demo has been out on every other console for a few days now.