I go on a bit so I don't expect everyone to read it all
OK everyone, here's what I think and some of you might not agree but that's good! I want to know what you all think. Reach the end and you've done well to keep awake.
1.) GRAPHICS, DETAIL AND GAMEPLAY
In the opening cut scene, teams should shake hands and I’m not speaking about the cut-scene in the tunnel before they take to the pitch, I’m referring to the home team awaiting the away side shaking hands individually player-to-player. In PES5, touches from International Superstar Soccer (what a game) on the N64 have been included with the simplicity of the radar (one team is blue dots and the other, red dots and Konami have been kind enough to include many different colours of dots). Another thing is that the home team always shoot to the right but I think that there should be a pre kick-off coin toss to decide who’s kicking off/shooting which way.
The ball stays on the pitch in favour of the attacking team. The run of the ball seems to always curl in and stay in possession of the attacking team. The run of the ball should be faster, perhaps? Anyone feel the same?
Any extra detail and touches such as electronic ad-boards, confetti on pitch, ball boys, stewards/police would be cool…
On-screen layouts could be improved. The score in second leg cup games could have the aggregate score on-screen whilst the game is played. Furthermore, when a goal’s scored and the games kicked off again, the score should come up with the goal scorer underneath like on television. For example:
Arsenal 3 Chelsea 2
Henry 3, 26 Robben 4
Pires 90+1 Lampard 89
Further on-screen layouts include text boxes. By this I mean every time a foul is committed, a corner is given or shot is made, a text box should appear like this:
Total Shots
Arsenal 20 17 Chelsea
And then for extra detail you could have another text box that follows the total shots one:
Shots on target
Arsenal 19 7 Chelsea
When a foul is committed you could have:
Fouls committed
Arsenal 6 8 Chelsea
And then when there’s a corner:
Corners
Arsenal 5 9 Chelsea
You could have these coming up in the bottom left of the pitch or across the complete horizontal across the bottom with relative commentary maybe? Furthermore you could have a ball possession text box and player text boxes such as:
Thierry Henry
Shots: 9
On target: 5
Goals: 3
Just another suggestion for you to comment on…
STADIA AND PITCHES
In PES4 and 5, Old Trafford’s pitch is cut and designed really oddly where in PES3 it had one of the nicest pitches. Those who have been consistent include Highbury and Anfield, both of which have a really nice, clear pitch layout. Most pitches should have a really nice, fresh green colour but some are just insipid and look real dried out. Camp Nou and Estadio J. Alberto are really green in real life and this just helps the visibility of the ball and players but in PES5, the pitch is very bland and the lines on the pitch (from cutting of grass) I find off-putting.
2.) GRAPHICS AND DESIGN
The crowd could reflect the way of the match, for example if the home team was getting ripped apart, some of the fans should leave the stadium. Riots and fights could break out too. People could be on the pitch, pitches should be invaded when a team avoids the drop or wins the cup. Konami should have less of the giant flags that take up half the stands too and improve the banners. Better crowds too please, the chants and colours in the crowd need working on. Arsenal and Manchester United should have a sea of red and white supporters. WEFA games/games when played abroad in Italy, Spain and Japan should have flares where as in England, it would be more banner-based. WEFA games should be played in the evening as they are in real life, league games during the day and cup games, depending on which stage of the cup, day or night.
The commentators taking into account each of the team’s situation can improve the commentary. For example, they can say how the win will put them into the semi-final of the WEFA Cup, put them however many points clear at the top of the table or how the away goals rule will send them through. Furthermore, they can single out players who have been playing well and comment on other games being played at the same time. For example, in crucial matches there should be a score tracker sub-menu type screen that appears in your match with the commentators stating what has happened in the other fixtures and how that affects your team. PES 6 could have the commentators keeping track of the other games being played at the same time in the same league also saying how those results will affect the teams/league. If one of the top scorers of the campaign scores, how many that takes his goal tally to and in what position of top scorer he is. To be honest, the commentary is pretty awful and is one of the very few low points about the PES series. I mean, for Christ’s sake Brackley says: “And that ends the first period of extra time” after a goal replay during normal time! It’s just laughable really. Another example is when a player scores a hat-trick and with that player having just scored the third goal, Brooking says: “I wouldn’t rule out a hat-trick the way he’s playing!” I mean, what the…!!?
The commentary needs to be much much more passionate too. John Motson, Martin Tyler, Andy Gray. The trio epitomise passionate football commentary and having any one like that really would be amazing. The possibility of something in the vein of Sky Sports fanzone would be quite something too haha.
3.) MASTER LEAGUE
The Master League feature of PES is the very foundation of the game and is one of the very many features that sets it aside from FIFA. However, it still needs some work…
The teamwork of your Master League team could be affected by how much you play each player and which team they play in. For example, if you have a regular partnership up front and then change it, it should have an effect on the amount of goals scored, teamwork and player co-operation. Free training should have an option to train your team using in-game training programmes such as free kicks and corners. Only the teamwork attribute of a player is affected depending on how often player is played but I think this could improve or worsen individual player morale and as a result, skill. Furthermore, their performance on the pitch could suffer as a result of being sidelined. Goal droughts for those players who score heavily could suffer and play inconsistently until a goal is scored etc.
Master League teams could age as the seasons progress. This way, you have to acquire new, young players. You could start with a young ML team instead of elder players.
There could be a greater degree of injuries. Career-threatening/ending injuries when a really bad sliding challenge is made or the medical cross sign could appear above a player’s head when he gets injured but play continues. I saw this in a football game but can’t remember which one. This way, players can pick up injuries without disrupting the flow of the game.
How about pounds or Euros and NOT points? I’d much rather buy a player for X amount of millions and pay him X amount of money a week rather than it measured in points. Also, the cups could at least resemble roughly the trophy in real life. I mean you’ve got a great, big, giant cup, which is meant to be the WEFA Championship trophy!
4.) CUT SCENES
Apart from when the cut scenes are used in PES4 for dirty challenges when players would jump in to break up or join the fight, cut scenes could also be used for when players miss sitters or score own goals, team-mates should console them. Keepers should be given pats on the back by team-mates when they make good saves. The introduction of managers and coaches on the touchline would be very cool too. On the pitch, there should be shouts from the players more (sad to think that FIFA have that and PES doesn’t).
The booking and sending off animations should take into account how bad the foul is, how many people got involved, at what stage of the game, which team is losing. This could lead to different conclusions, which would be very interesting.
Players should argue with the ref more over controversial decisions such as players being ruled offside, disallowed goals and penalty decisions. There should be inconsistent offside decisions just like real life with the decisions pointed out by the hopefully (fingers crossed) improved commentary. By this I mean a player receives a red card when you and the commentator thinks it should be a yellow. More controversy, basically. And also, manager/coach cut scenes with them getting up and shouting from the touchline to show their frustration/rejoice (remember Mourinho when he was Porto coach sprinting down the touchline when Costinha scored against Man United at Old Trafford? I actually liked him back then.)
If a player dives in the area for a penalty or has got away with a dirty challenge, the crowd should boo him whenever he has possession of the ball for the rest of the match. Effective if the offending player is playing away…
The mentality and aggression attributes should be looked at and maybe introduced into how a player reacts when they’re tackled. For example, players like Wayne Rooney, Robbie Savage and Lee Bowyer thrive off the controversy that football creates. Therefore, their mentality and aggression attribute levels should be fairly lower; at least lower than most players. This should create reactions when they’re challenged and determine how hard they go in on the challenge. Players that feel they have been challenged unfairly should go in on their next challenge harder and more recklessly. Remember Cristiano Ronaldo at the Manchester derby recently? He got a straight red for his rash challenge on Andy Cole because he felt he was challenged unfairly but Steve Bennett waved away his and his team-mates’ protests. Maybe a bar (red, perhaps, because the on-screen player stamina bar is green) could appear next to the player name at the bottom and however far it goes up could determine their reaction? I’ve thought about the feasibility of this feature and admittedly, it would be very difficult for Konami to do it but they’re geniuses and I have faith in them to implement this feature into their next few PES’s.
Introducing the teams should be different depending on which game it was. Internationals should have the team photographs and national anthems but league and cup matches should just have the mascots coming out onto pitch.
5.) GREATER LEVEL OF PLAYER DETAIL
Spitting, sweating, shouting, hair moving in the wind/rain, muddy kits as the game progresses. The pitch should get cut up as the game progresses and as the tackles fly in. Grunts, groans and shouts should be heard as players get tackled, shoot and run for the ball. Players' arms raised when taking a goal kicks and corners. Players shouting commands and encouragement, in particular, keepers and captains organising their team during an opposition set piece. Calling them to keep focused if their team go one up in a tight game.
When an attacker and defender are both running for the ball, there should be greater detail with shirt pulls and concentration evident on their faces.
Weather conditions such as snow, wind, heavy rain and boiling heat affecting the playing conditions. Bags of water should be given to the players at sidelines like in USA ’94. Players should wear gloves in the cold. And bobble hats! Pitches should get cut up when it’s raining as the pitch turns to mud, slide tackles should be harder to pull off successfully and players with lower levels of skill and balance should find it harder and not play as well as they would in say, dry conditions.
Frustration of a side evident in kicking/throwing the ball away if a foul is committed. I don't have a clue how this would be done but it would be highly realistic should Konami pull it off. Furthermore, I’d like it (and I’m sure all you guys would too) if Konami didn't do a fade-in/fade-out for a throw in, corner or goal kick. This would keep the timing of the game realistic as its frustrating when you're on a counter attack or the other team's keeper has come far out and when the ball goes out of play, they're transported within a second back to their goal.
Ball boys could be added too but if this was too much to have on screen then a ball could be “thrown” back in to play for the teams to continue.
Different goal celebrations according to how important the stage in the game the goal is scored. For example, 10 man pile up’s for title clinchers or relegation savers. Players jumping into the crowd a la Steven Gerrard scoring the third against Olympiakos and getting mobbed. Nice touch, I reckon!
6.) GREATER PLAYER CONTROL AND ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Defences should be tighter and respond better to loose balls, attackers and crosses. PES6 has stepped up a gear with the computer on 6 star difficulty proving much more of a challenge than previous PES’s.
The whole basis of replays could be based on something like “PES TV” in the same vein as Sky Sports. For example, when a replay is shown, the “PES TV” logo could swoop through the screen then show it? Just another little something that’s probably not significant at all! You should be able to save highlights too (another great point but I’ve forgotten who wrote it – sorry!)
Better player AI - Players automatically knowing when to leave the ball to run out of play to gain goal kick/corner/throw in. Players still run for the ball as if their life depended on it when it’s going out for THEIR goal kick.
:shocking: GOALKEEPERS – Oh my, God. What is it with goalkeeper intelligence that Konami can’t understand? Their saving has improved a bit but they still tuck their arms in when they go for a diving save. The animations are awful and the whole goalkeeper marlakee is one of the worst things about the game. They need to be bettered with their approach to one-on-ones being crouched down, knees bent, concentration on their faces and fully committed to making the save. This includes diving down at the player’s feet with the knowledge that any contact could result in a penalty and maybe a card. The automatic pick-the-ball-up when passing back to keeper unless you press X to pass or O or square to clear is a great implementation. Great idea whoever said it!
Long range passing needs to be improved. It’s most noticeable when I play 4-3-3 with 2 out of the front 3 playing wide roles. Trying to switch the play from wing to wing is hard and I can only pull it off half the time at the most. Again, Konami could go back to their roots and seek to put in the long range passing feature they used in the I.S.S. series on the N64 (by holding down C-left determines how strong the pass is and in any direction with the ability to curl it; this would mean a curl button would need to be put in…)
:shocking: REFEREES – still need more work. There are times when you’re brought down when you’re one-on-one with the keeper and it’s a yellow, sometimes no card at all when the letter of the law says it is a straight red when denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity illegally. The advantage rule still needs work too because there’s time when I’ve been fouled, the ball rolls to a player who’s then in a great position to score and play is brought back… *sigh*…
Players could make more and better runs too. I’ve noticed that when you break on the counter, you’re up there by yourself against 4 or 5 odd defenders having left the rest of your team behind. Well, that or they’re just damn lazy. Also, perhaps a Madden passing system where if you have several players in front of you, you can choose who you pass to?
Or actually, come to think of it, you could use a combination of X and one of L2, R1 or R2 (No L1 as that’s the ‘pass and run’ command). Each of the possible receivers of the pass would have one of L2, R1 or R2 above them and pressing X whilst holding down the other command would pass to that player (obviously pressing X would pass it to whoever had X above their head),
Quickly taken free kicks and throw in's to catch team off guard. Therefore there shouldn’t be an on-screen fade out/fade in.
Defenders have turning circles like the Titanic (I’m quoting someone who wrote this and this really is the truth!) and it is very annoying when you have an attacker bearing down on you and your defender takes about 10 seconds to actually get the ball under control, turn and make the pass or clearance. I think Konami forgot that defenders are fast as well, it’s not just Henry, Martins or Ronaldinho that have lightning pace, defenders such as Fabia Cannavaro, William Gallas, Carlos Puyol, Jamie Carragher, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Lilian Thuram and Walter Samuel are strong, have bags of pace and good ball control too.
In continuation to the whole player speed thing, someone rightly pointed out that should your attacker (say, Thierry Henry in this instance) have a 10 yard head start in front of a defender, (say, Sami Hyypia) the defender will catch him regardless. Why Konami has done this is anybody’s guess but it’s something that will have to rectify in future versions of the game to show the difference in player ability.
For all the players in the game - Players’ technique should be improved because a lot of the players’ first touch when receiving a pass is sometimes bad, no matter how good they are. I mean, Zidane, Ronaldinho - their first touch is awesome and so it should be but everyone else should be roughly the same and the odd bad touch should occur, just not all the time... The game only has professional footballers in it and they train every day to hone their skills so the least Konami could do is make their first touch decent… please?
And if you've bothered to read down to here I’d like to know if what you think!
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