Having played around 10 games on the demo here's what I think are the positive and negatives of PES 2011:
Pros:
Passing - The passing is so much better in PES 2011 it's ridiculous. It's a joy just to knock the ball about and I love the fact you can make mistakes now and you can no longer blame the AI for choosing the wrong pass.
Long balls - This is the biggest improvement of PES 2011 for me. The long balls feel just right and it's now a great way of opening up the play. I think this is the main area that PES excels over Fifa. The long ball in the Fifa demo feels awful compared to PES.
Jostling - Player jostling is def an improvement, although I still don't think it's quite as good as Fifa's.
Tactics - The tactics really seem to work this year. I was 2-0 down against Barca at half time so I decided to go ultra attacking and play out wide. It totally changed the game and I ended up drawing 2-2
Computer AI - One of my complaints with PES 2010 was the fact that the Computer AI just passed it around really quickly and hardly ever went forward. I also hated the fact that the defence would just back off and invite you to shoot from long range. So far both these complaints seem fixed
Cons:
Refs - Although the refs def seem better than PES 2010 they are really whistle happy and have called fouls a couple of times where I clearly won the ball.
Difficulty level - I've been playing on Professional difficulty and finding it fairly easy. I upped it to Top Player for one game and, although I went 2-0 down in first half, I still drew 2-2. I know I'm playing as a good team in Bayern Munich but I am a little concerned that PES 2011 might not be as hard on top player as many of us want it to be - only time will tell on that one I guess?
Crossing bug - I noticed this after people mentioned it on the forums. If you just stand on the wing the defensive AI will not come and tackle you. Hopefully this will be sorted in the final game code.
Conclusion:
Overall I'm really happy with PES 2011! For the first 4 or 5 games I wasn't convinced there'd been that big a step forward but as I got used to the controls I started to play some great stuff. The good news for me is that the more I've been playing it, the more I'm enjoying it - This reminds me of PES 5
The dreaded Fifa Comparisons:
I've also played around 10 games on the Fifa 11 demo and I'm really impressed with that too. I haven't played Fifa since Fifa 09 and it certainly seems to have improved:
Fifa over PES:
-The 360 degree dribbling on Fifa seems slightly better than PES.
-The jostling and animations on Fifa seem slightly better than PES.
- The shooting has massively improved since Fifa 09 and is now quite satisfying (but still not quite as good as PES in my book).
PES over Fifa:
- I think the passing in PES is def better than Fifa. Especially when it comes to long balls - Fifa can't touch PES.
- Graphics - I never thought I'd say it but PES has def overtaken Fifa in the graphics department. PES looks a lot more realistic than Fifa. Fifa is very smooth but PES has an overall more authentic and realistic look in my opinion.
- Scoring goals - I just played a game on Fifa 11 and won 2-0 but neither goal I scored felt satisfying. I'm not sure what it is but PES just feels better when you score a goal.
Overall:
It's still early days and I might feel different after 100 games rather than 10 but PES def seems back on form to me! There's a few niggles here and there and Fifa certainly has certain things over PES (and vice-versa) but I'm def gonna pre-order PES 2011 now.
I actually think we've got 2 great games of football this year but the superior passing, Masters League and Stadium editor means I'm going to stick with Konami and buy PES 2011 this year.
I may well pick Fifa 11 up in 6 months or so though, when it drops in price.
Pros:
Passing - The passing is so much better in PES 2011 it's ridiculous. It's a joy just to knock the ball about and I love the fact you can make mistakes now and you can no longer blame the AI for choosing the wrong pass.
Long balls - This is the biggest improvement of PES 2011 for me. The long balls feel just right and it's now a great way of opening up the play. I think this is the main area that PES excels over Fifa. The long ball in the Fifa demo feels awful compared to PES.
Jostling - Player jostling is def an improvement, although I still don't think it's quite as good as Fifa's.
Tactics - The tactics really seem to work this year. I was 2-0 down against Barca at half time so I decided to go ultra attacking and play out wide. It totally changed the game and I ended up drawing 2-2
Computer AI - One of my complaints with PES 2010 was the fact that the Computer AI just passed it around really quickly and hardly ever went forward. I also hated the fact that the defence would just back off and invite you to shoot from long range. So far both these complaints seem fixed
Cons:
Refs - Although the refs def seem better than PES 2010 they are really whistle happy and have called fouls a couple of times where I clearly won the ball.
Difficulty level - I've been playing on Professional difficulty and finding it fairly easy. I upped it to Top Player for one game and, although I went 2-0 down in first half, I still drew 2-2. I know I'm playing as a good team in Bayern Munich but I am a little concerned that PES 2011 might not be as hard on top player as many of us want it to be - only time will tell on that one I guess?
Crossing bug - I noticed this after people mentioned it on the forums. If you just stand on the wing the defensive AI will not come and tackle you. Hopefully this will be sorted in the final game code.
Conclusion:
Overall I'm really happy with PES 2011! For the first 4 or 5 games I wasn't convinced there'd been that big a step forward but as I got used to the controls I started to play some great stuff. The good news for me is that the more I've been playing it, the more I'm enjoying it - This reminds me of PES 5
The dreaded Fifa Comparisons:
I've also played around 10 games on the Fifa 11 demo and I'm really impressed with that too. I haven't played Fifa since Fifa 09 and it certainly seems to have improved:
Fifa over PES:
-The 360 degree dribbling on Fifa seems slightly better than PES.
-The jostling and animations on Fifa seem slightly better than PES.
- The shooting has massively improved since Fifa 09 and is now quite satisfying (but still not quite as good as PES in my book).
PES over Fifa:
- I think the passing in PES is def better than Fifa. Especially when it comes to long balls - Fifa can't touch PES.
- Graphics - I never thought I'd say it but PES has def overtaken Fifa in the graphics department. PES looks a lot more realistic than Fifa. Fifa is very smooth but PES has an overall more authentic and realistic look in my opinion.
- Scoring goals - I just played a game on Fifa 11 and won 2-0 but neither goal I scored felt satisfying. I'm not sure what it is but PES just feels better when you score a goal.
Overall:
It's still early days and I might feel different after 100 games rather than 10 but PES def seems back on form to me! There's a few niggles here and there and Fifa certainly has certain things over PES (and vice-versa) but I'm def gonna pre-order PES 2011 now.
I actually think we've got 2 great games of football this year but the superior passing, Masters League and Stadium editor means I'm going to stick with Konami and buy PES 2011 this year.
I may well pick Fifa 11 up in 6 months or so though, when it drops in price.
