PES 2009 playtested!

[Lami]

Posted by TheEditor of PESFan on 14/08/2008

As you will know, TheBoss was invited by Konami to travel to their headquarters yesterday for an exclusive playtest of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009. As TheBoss had to sign NDAs before playing the game, we can't say what new game modes are in the game and things like that (yet), but we can tell you some little bits before next Wednesday when everything will go crazy in PES world.

The version played was 10 days old and the game is roughly 70% complete, so it's at a similar development stage as this time last year. The demo that will be on show at Leipzig will be from a different build of the game but it shouldn't differ drastically from this version apart from features removed for public display (licensing issues etc).
TheBoss played PES 09 on the PS3, which shows Konami were confident enough to show it off on the console that received the most amount of criticism last year for it's slowdown and jerky framerate. No mention of any slowdown this time around.

So, you want to know his initial impressions?

Impressed.
It felt like Konami have forgotten about the last few efforts and gone back to making a good football game. Even at 70% complete it's showing many improvements over the last version of the game.

And online mode wasn't tested before anybody asks about lag

A full report is being put together right now with information on all aspects of the game, so make sure you check back here!

All looking good until now.

 

[shaun7]

That's good news. Yay.

 

[Lami]

Press release not enough for you? How about a bullet point list of all the new, key additions for PES!

Gameplay:
Close control more intuitive:
• Manual cursor control
• Adjusted trick control for easier control – more within natural control parameters than via special movements

Ball movement more realistic:
• Ball has always been treated as separate entity, but 2009 has new air resistance calculations for trajectory of ball
• Instant control. Buttons presses are no longer stored, making for a crisper playing style
• Heavier foot-in tackles, depending on the length X is depressed
• New friction routines to affect ball movement in terms of ground conditions
• Backspin routines calculated so ball slows accordingly
• The bounce of the ball can be used more effectively: players can flick the ball up to tee a shot, or to lift it over a defender’s trailing leg
• Skills are now integrated more into the game. If a player has the ability, they will be able to perform deft turns others cannot and will be able to feint and shimmy within the confines of the control system
• Player has to compensate for heaviness of ground when weighting passes in wet conditions or frozen ground

Teamvision enhanced:
• Tactics change according to situation
• Better off-the-ball movement – running to receive passes, etc
• AI recognizes strategies that work and accumulates data on an ongoing basis within Master League and League modes

Visuals:
Stadiums:
• Graphic depiction of weather conditions unique to each stadium
• Much more detailed lighting effects that mimic the time of day more closely
• Key new grounds like Wembley, in total about 20 stadiums
• LED hoardings (PS3 and 360 versions only)
Players:
• All new players models in game: everything reworked for additional detail
• Specific new animations to make the game flow more: players now stumble, place a hand down so as to keep running
• More individuality to movement of players: running and kicking styles, for instance: Ronaldo’s stance before a free kick

Camera:
• New vertical camera, allowing end-to-end view including ‘Player Focus’ zoom, panning in on key one-on-one situations
• New distance drawing techniques using adjusted chromatic fields

Front End - Menus:
• All new, clearer menu system
• Match stats now on sub-menus if required
• Much improved music choice

Edit:
Sound:
• In addition to the importation of graphic data, music and crowd chants can also be added
Graphics:
• Pixel Paint function allows users to create team badges from scratch

Game Modes:
Become a Legend:
• New long-term mode sees player guiding one player to glory
• Control the destiny of a midfield/striking star
• Player works within team structure, akin to popular ‘Fix’ mode – assisting play, scoring goals, etc
• Default vertical view
• Dedicated development data for player as game progresses
• Full range of transfer opportunities: but fail to play well and you will be demoted to bench or even transferred
• Based on popular Japanese mode, first time in Europe

Legends:
• Online version of ‘Become a Legend’
• Use player created in solo mode
• Play online with other ‘fixed’ position friends
• Intricate play and teamwork rewarded with PES points
• Upload finest moments for others to view and rate

Master League
• More intuitive menus
• Easier to understand two-tier negotiations: team level and individual terms
• Loyalty: players unhappy with terms, etc, will not play as well. A happy player will play better

Teamvision gets mentioned for the first time, whether it will truely affect gameplay this time around only time will tell but there's still plenty of positives to take from this I feel

What do you think?

http://forums.pesfan.com/showthread.php?t=204778

 

[ads]

Sounds cracking that. Can't wait for Leipzig, see what we get from that.

 

[Foxhound]

Sounds good so far.

 

[Kiruk]

"Game Modes:
Become a Legend:
• New long-term mode sees player guiding one player to glory
• Control the destiny of a midfield/striking star
• Player works within team structure, akin to popular ‘Fix’ mode – assisting play, scoring goals, etc
• Default vertical view
• Dedicated development data for player as game progresses
• Full range of transfer opportunities: but fail to play well and you will be demoted to bench or even transferred
• Based on popular Japanese mode, first time in Europe"

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

 

[Sweey]

LED hoardings on PS3 and 360 only? :lol2:

That's pathetic on Konami's behalf. That aside, seems good news.

 

[john4]

very excited and optimistic as always, i think 2008 is the only PES i havent played every week until the next installment. a couple of the things mentioned do sound like they were in prior games or similar things have been mentioned but not delivered in prior games, best example of this was the team vision in the last game, it was non existant! if you call switching to a 1 CB a LB and a RB formation when losing smart AI then teamvision was a success, sadly everytime the AI did this i always ended up having ridiculous scorelines coz i just hit em on the break and score like 3 goals in the last 10. so hopefully that will be fixed and we will see a real "teamvision AI" this time round.

the bit about flicking over defenders legs/flicking it up for a shot, is that not just down then up on the analog? its been there for quite some time that move.

other than that i dont really have any quarms with the new info, it all sounds like an improvement, heres to hoping they deliver on it all!

one thing i would like to see which got mentioned on here last year as something that would be in pes2008 is weather changes in game, somebody must of made it up about been in the game prior to last years release but it is a good idea. id love to see a sunny premiership game suddenly go cloudly and rain on the odd occasion. top spin 3 has "dynamic" weather but since tennis gets called of in rain ect all it is is cloudes passing over and the court getting darker, which is fair enough but PES could do alot more!

 

[Bennetinho]

Yeah, the down up thing was there but was terrible. The ball was flicked too far in front and the shot was always delayed for so long. not at all realistic. wouldve been better if it was done by a button press or just a flick down

 

[Baddar]

All looking good...

Just a question about "Be A Legend" - Once a player is created, does anyone know if he can be placed in a team of your choosing from the start? And then, does the mode run pretty much like a Master League, only you don't get to choose starting line-ups, tactics etc.

I'm kind of hoping that's the case. I've never tried "Be A Pro" on Fifa, so I'm not sure how it works, but I do know I'd prefer Master League to be more like you're the manager setting things out the way you want to and the Be A Legend to be like you're the player, so you're not in complete control of who plays.

 

[I.N Extasy]

A little too good to be really true? :lol:

 

[oliseh]

Master League
• More intuitive menus
• Easier to understand two-tier negotiations: team level and individual terms
• Loyalty: players unhappy with terms, etc, will not play as well. A happy player will play better

Liking the looks of that, esp. the addition of loyalty (unless it gets outta hand, which might happen).

Looks like they've done a good job on gameplay and ball-movement too.

 

[mufcsean]

Much improved music choice, thank god.

 

[Baddar]

Liking the looks of that, esp. the addition of loyalty (unless it gets outta hand, which might happen).

Looks like they've done a good job on gameplay and ball-movement too.

Well yeah. I was getting fed up of a player scoring a Hat-Trick, only to seemingly have a barney with his missus, meaning he was a grey arrow in the following game.

 

[shaun7]

This is awesome. Every part makes it worth the wait so far.

 

[Lörd TH]

Sounds promising, but I'll have to play it for myself before I get it.

 

[Amateur]

Yeah, the down up thing was there but was terrible. The ball was flicked too far in front and the shot was always delayed for so long. not at all realistic. wouldve been better if it was done by a button press or just a flick down

Completely agree... I've always said that the "flicking the ball up" move should be executed by pressing a button -instead- of maneuvering with the Right Stick.

Sometimes (many times) I just wanted to control the ball and go the other way -and- my Player ended up loosing possession because of the useless Flicking of the Ball.

I would really appreciate it IF Konami has sorted that out, and ONLY skillful players should do that Effectively. If implemented correctly it could prove useful, as in real-life it is very useful to set up "Volleys" or to simply surprise a Defender.

Whenever I hear about "Flicking the Ball up" -I- always remember that Goal by Matt Le Tissier (I think it was against Newcastle), the one where he flicks the ball over two Defenders (one at a time of course) and gets past them by doing so.. brilliant Goal.

 

[john4]

Much improved music choice, thank god.

J-Pop not to your taste then! i always bear the sound for about a week then plug my own music in and listen to that, cant see the music been that good that i listen to it and not more stored tunes, if that "football-soccer" tune is still there i think i might get a tumor, what an awful song!

i shall have to youtube the le tissier goal i dont remember that, i liked mcfaddens for everton tho, he chipped it iver a defenders head and volleyed it home

 

[Whoa09]

Cant wait to upload my own chants

 

[Sho]

Now need to see these in action, then from there its going to impress me.