ScousEvolution
Registered User
When the new version of Pro evolution hits the shelves, the first thing on your mind is usually "what's going to be the biggest difference from last year's edition".
Usually your answer arrives within 10 seconds of the referee's whistle to begin your debut match, and it is nearly always the same one - The player's movement.
Year upon year we are presented with what the developers at Konami think is a more realistic representation of the beautiful game, and year upon year we are treated to various shifts and movements which, once mastered, are generally pleasing. From the days of ISS pro right up until last october, we watched as Konami made steady progress in their quest to deliver the most life-like representation of the game we all know and love. But last year we witnessed, for the first time in the history of the PE series, the first uneasy steps that signalled that maybe the fellas at Konami were not quite sure how best to achieve this.
The pro evolution series made one of the biggest changes in it's formula in the 3rd installment. Number 2 in the series was -whilst still being by far the most realistic soccer game on the market- a very arcade like interpretation by comparison with the later games in the series. However, when the 3rd game hit the shelves it was met with a few grumbles. It was different, less arcade-like, and more educated in it's approach. But there were those who thought the developers at Konami HQ had tampered with the game's winning formula a little too much. These feelings were laid to rest as soon as people realised that the new control system, once mastered, allowed for some great attacking moves, and some very creative and stylish play, by way of a system which allowed you to think one step ahead and move likewise.
The Gamer's indivudual creativity, imagination, and general footballing knowledge, really reflected itself upon the screen you were watching. Some of the games were just as entertaining to the spectators as they were to the particpants, such was the visible difference in style, tactics, and general flow of the game from one person to the next.
Then came Number 4, and with it, the beginning of the shuffle forwards and backwards that has epitomised the inability of the developers to decide which direction is best to move with this juggernaut of a series.
Whlst the step from 2 to 3 cannot be viewed as anything other than one into a more realistic realm of digitised football, it can certainly be disputed that 3 to 4, despite slight inprovements in animation etc, was not.
In PE4, Players like Ronaldinho now had the turning circle of a spinning top, and could run in circles and figure 8s as fast as speedy gonzales, with the ball glued to their feet.
Realism? No. Fun? Yes. Better than number 3? Not in my opinion.
I said it at the time, and I'll say it now; the mechanics of the 3rd game did not need to be changed in such a way, and the developers should have concentrated their efforts on other areas instead of trying to justify the release of a 4th game by rehashing an already great control system. Fine tuning was needed, not a complete re-wire.
Now if I'd have said this at the time, I would probably have had my head bitten off by the many hoardes who will not hear a wrong word said about their favourite game. But now Konami have basically admitted as much themselves by scrapping the quick, and unrealistically nimble, player control mechanics, and returning to a more pedestrian way of play.
However, just as I believe they went too far in one direction in number 4, they have gone too far in the other with number 5.
In my opinion this is NOT evolution. It is completely scrapping the whole control mechanism of PE4, and replacing it with one which, whilst trying it's best to be more realistic, has ended up like being in control of 11 injured and very un-agile players. The scope for individual creativity from one person to the next has been greatly reduced by a system of player movement which, by way of it's very slow responsiveness, has greatly reduced the gap in performance level between the robbie savages and the peles amongst us, and that is just plain wrong.
Yes it is still possible to string together some nice moves. Yes it is still possible to add your own individual touch to proceedings, and yes, the animations have been slightly improved again.
But, no matter how much you play it, you can't escape the feeling that the play feels so much more regimented and stifled than it has in years gone by.
A game with a mate of mine threw up a perfect example. Here are the specifics of the situation: Inter vs Chelsea, Adriano is running down the left hand side and approaching the far side of the box at a diagonal angle. Now I spot Veron making a run through the middle towards the egde of the box, and want to line him up with a shot. There is a defender blocking the path into the box and Veron is only a stride or two from running into a group of defenders. Now what I want to do is step back quickly onto my right foot to give myself just half a yard from the defender, and play the pass along the floor to veron to have a first time shot. But what happens is rather different. And it is here where I question the decision to implement a whole new control system.
Adriano drags the ball sideways (in exactly the same way as he would have had you used R2 in PE4) then he steps to the side I initially wanted him to step to, and then he plays the pass. By which time the opportunity has passed and I am left cursing a missed opportunity through absolutely no fault of my own.
You see, The players now perform the drag manouvre (the R2 button in PE4) automatically whenever you change direction. This slows the game down immensely, but not realistically.
I am an avid football fan (Liverpool FC may I add) and in none of the hundreds of games I have attended or watched on tv, have I seen players move in such a restricted manner.
It seems that in an effort to address the super-human agility issues of the players in number 4, Konami have turned them into digital versions of fat eddie and his pub-team mates.
Now this might sound a little harsh at first, and the play does indeed develop the more you play it. But the overriding feeling is that this, whilst certainly no less realistic than number 4, is no more realistic either. Just a little less fun. Think Lucio or Hyypia in the last game, and imagine ronaldinho or owen having the same agility, it really is that much different.
This will be defended by claims that it is "more realistic" or more "simulation-like" but what it really is, is just different.
Players like owen, defoe, ronaldinho etc, really can turn from one angle to another very quickly, and do not need the real-life equivalent of three frames of animation to do so. Making it so they do is not so much "evolution" as an overhaul.
This is something Konami have done two years in a row now, and when many believed they didn't need to. Pro evo 4 gave players too much in the way of physical ability, whilst pro evo 5 takes too much away.
It is clear that, for it's time, pro evo 3 probably made the best job of balancing the two. If the series had "evolved" as it could since then, instead of re-mixing, we would be nearing football perfection. As it stands, the team at Konami seem a little stumped as to how to properly implement a realistic control system where a player's individual abilities are portrayed and effective, whilst not making them too hard to defend against.
When you add the issues regarding commentary, atmosphere, and slide tackling -you are still punished for the same perfectly good tackles you were in 1,2,3, and 4- amongst other things, it all adds up to what is, for me at least, the first disappointment of the series so far.
To sum up I would say that there is a lot of work to be done by those at Konami in order for pro evo 6 to attain the great heights it is capable of that's for sure, and they probably know it.
The PS3 will give them the power. Hopefully that will enable them to make that one defining step forward that has been noticable by it's absence during the last two years.
Only then can we call it a true evolution.
Usually your answer arrives within 10 seconds of the referee's whistle to begin your debut match, and it is nearly always the same one - The player's movement.
Year upon year we are presented with what the developers at Konami think is a more realistic representation of the beautiful game, and year upon year we are treated to various shifts and movements which, once mastered, are generally pleasing. From the days of ISS pro right up until last october, we watched as Konami made steady progress in their quest to deliver the most life-like representation of the game we all know and love. But last year we witnessed, for the first time in the history of the PE series, the first uneasy steps that signalled that maybe the fellas at Konami were not quite sure how best to achieve this.
The pro evolution series made one of the biggest changes in it's formula in the 3rd installment. Number 2 in the series was -whilst still being by far the most realistic soccer game on the market- a very arcade like interpretation by comparison with the later games in the series. However, when the 3rd game hit the shelves it was met with a few grumbles. It was different, less arcade-like, and more educated in it's approach. But there were those who thought the developers at Konami HQ had tampered with the game's winning formula a little too much. These feelings were laid to rest as soon as people realised that the new control system, once mastered, allowed for some great attacking moves, and some very creative and stylish play, by way of a system which allowed you to think one step ahead and move likewise.
The Gamer's indivudual creativity, imagination, and general footballing knowledge, really reflected itself upon the screen you were watching. Some of the games were just as entertaining to the spectators as they were to the particpants, such was the visible difference in style, tactics, and general flow of the game from one person to the next.
Then came Number 4, and with it, the beginning of the shuffle forwards and backwards that has epitomised the inability of the developers to decide which direction is best to move with this juggernaut of a series.
Whlst the step from 2 to 3 cannot be viewed as anything other than one into a more realistic realm of digitised football, it can certainly be disputed that 3 to 4, despite slight inprovements in animation etc, was not.
In PE4, Players like Ronaldinho now had the turning circle of a spinning top, and could run in circles and figure 8s as fast as speedy gonzales, with the ball glued to their feet.
Realism? No. Fun? Yes. Better than number 3? Not in my opinion.
I said it at the time, and I'll say it now; the mechanics of the 3rd game did not need to be changed in such a way, and the developers should have concentrated their efforts on other areas instead of trying to justify the release of a 4th game by rehashing an already great control system. Fine tuning was needed, not a complete re-wire.
Now if I'd have said this at the time, I would probably have had my head bitten off by the many hoardes who will not hear a wrong word said about their favourite game. But now Konami have basically admitted as much themselves by scrapping the quick, and unrealistically nimble, player control mechanics, and returning to a more pedestrian way of play.
However, just as I believe they went too far in one direction in number 4, they have gone too far in the other with number 5.
In my opinion this is NOT evolution. It is completely scrapping the whole control mechanism of PE4, and replacing it with one which, whilst trying it's best to be more realistic, has ended up like being in control of 11 injured and very un-agile players. The scope for individual creativity from one person to the next has been greatly reduced by a system of player movement which, by way of it's very slow responsiveness, has greatly reduced the gap in performance level between the robbie savages and the peles amongst us, and that is just plain wrong.
Yes it is still possible to string together some nice moves. Yes it is still possible to add your own individual touch to proceedings, and yes, the animations have been slightly improved again.
But, no matter how much you play it, you can't escape the feeling that the play feels so much more regimented and stifled than it has in years gone by.
A game with a mate of mine threw up a perfect example. Here are the specifics of the situation: Inter vs Chelsea, Adriano is running down the left hand side and approaching the far side of the box at a diagonal angle. Now I spot Veron making a run through the middle towards the egde of the box, and want to line him up with a shot. There is a defender blocking the path into the box and Veron is only a stride or two from running into a group of defenders. Now what I want to do is step back quickly onto my right foot to give myself just half a yard from the defender, and play the pass along the floor to veron to have a first time shot. But what happens is rather different. And it is here where I question the decision to implement a whole new control system.
Adriano drags the ball sideways (in exactly the same way as he would have had you used R2 in PE4) then he steps to the side I initially wanted him to step to, and then he plays the pass. By which time the opportunity has passed and I am left cursing a missed opportunity through absolutely no fault of my own.
You see, The players now perform the drag manouvre (the R2 button in PE4) automatically whenever you change direction. This slows the game down immensely, but not realistically.
I am an avid football fan (Liverpool FC may I add) and in none of the hundreds of games I have attended or watched on tv, have I seen players move in such a restricted manner.
It seems that in an effort to address the super-human agility issues of the players in number 4, Konami have turned them into digital versions of fat eddie and his pub-team mates.
Now this might sound a little harsh at first, and the play does indeed develop the more you play it. But the overriding feeling is that this, whilst certainly no less realistic than number 4, is no more realistic either. Just a little less fun. Think Lucio or Hyypia in the last game, and imagine ronaldinho or owen having the same agility, it really is that much different.
This will be defended by claims that it is "more realistic" or more "simulation-like" but what it really is, is just different.
Players like owen, defoe, ronaldinho etc, really can turn from one angle to another very quickly, and do not need the real-life equivalent of three frames of animation to do so. Making it so they do is not so much "evolution" as an overhaul.
This is something Konami have done two years in a row now, and when many believed they didn't need to. Pro evo 4 gave players too much in the way of physical ability, whilst pro evo 5 takes too much away.
It is clear that, for it's time, pro evo 3 probably made the best job of balancing the two. If the series had "evolved" as it could since then, instead of re-mixing, we would be nearing football perfection. As it stands, the team at Konami seem a little stumped as to how to properly implement a realistic control system where a player's individual abilities are portrayed and effective, whilst not making them too hard to defend against.
When you add the issues regarding commentary, atmosphere, and slide tackling -you are still punished for the same perfectly good tackles you were in 1,2,3, and 4- amongst other things, it all adds up to what is, for me at least, the first disappointment of the series so far.
To sum up I would say that there is a lot of work to be done by those at Konami in order for pro evo 6 to attain the great heights it is capable of that's for sure, and they probably know it.
The PS3 will give them the power. Hopefully that will enable them to make that one defining step forward that has been noticable by it's absence during the last two years.
Only then can we call it a true evolution.
![-=[101st]=-](/data/avatars/m/2/2894.jpg?1589305201){kind=avatar}
