Heres my fair review of this years game now that the season is almost over. Its quite long but I had to show everything, good and bad, that I felt about this years game and how PES has changed.
I bought this years game out of fanboy-ish hope, I was also looking forward to Club boss mode and because I found it in the Christmas sales for £20 so I weighed up the pros and cons of this years game and thought it was a fair price.
Me and my brother have bought a football game every year except for 2000 and 2004 as far as I can recollect, FIFA up to 2006 with the exception of PES2 when we got PES6 with our Xbox and Ive been PES since and even though he refuses to even play me at any FIFA demo he threatened to buy last years PES when it came out if I opened my FIFA 11 copy.
I bought FIFA 11 as for the first time since I used to play FIFA, which the last year I did was FIFA 2006 but even back then my brother didnt like it, I found the FIFA demo better, and I bought PES 2011 to play against my brother when I wasnt playing FIFA 11 but eventually though he persuaded me to give PES 2011 the chance as what the point of spending £60 to £80 pound on the same type of game in the same year. PES 2011 didnt seem that bad to me but it wa the final straw for him as he just didnt want to waste another £40 on the PES franchise but at £20 quid I thought Ill give it a punt as the demo had shown better highlights than the FIFA 12 demo but it also had lower low points.
I wrote a review a few months ago in an absolute fit of seeing red mist. In it I basically said what I a lot of people have been saying as well as how I feel Konami could improve it if they took the good features from they past few years and made the game and how I had thought they released this for a joke on us PES players and ranted like many of you guys.
In the past couple of months my main sports game has been NBA2K12 and that game is simply bliss and for the past few months Ive compared the two as games and really wondered why Konami even bothered to release 2011 and 2012 when in terms of a sports game its so far behind the alternative sports.
Well I recently started my offline ML up again after leaving it back in January because top player was just horribly scripted. Its in 2013-2014 with a Man Utd side with a lot of high 90s. So for the first time in about eight to ten years I was not playing on the hardest difficulty. That was hard because Im one of those "top difficulty or not playing it" type of gamers, but now I start it in professional and its still just as bad, so I move down another difficulty to regular.
Now Im playing good football and winning but its like the difficulties on older editions of PES that were below the top player setting, its far too easy for me. So I put the difficulty back up and the game goes back into hyper-hack scripting-mode, so I put it back down and try again.
I try playing the PES way which is clearly hold the ball for a long time like barca and then get a goal because the opponents are pulled out of position, I go back to my style of speed down the wings and cut in or go down half the wings and hit a 40 yard through ball along the floor, I try going through the middle by old fashioned incisive cutting passes but all forms of tactics end in me conceding hack goals.
So I put the difficulty to Superstar and this is a brilliant difficulty, It allows me to pull away with my wingers and the passing is amazing and even if there is a scripted goal or two I am constantly at the opponents goal looking for a way to score, old fashioned PES back and forth attacking football.
Then it struck. The scripting in this difficulty went up a few notches equal to the level I was sustaining in Top Player and Professional. I played chelsea twice and they have Anelka, Drogba, Ibrahimovic and Berbatov. They don't play the ball in the air they just pass it along the ground and when it gets to Anelka or Drogba they surge past my DM or CB's like they aren't even there. When the ball is given to Zlatan or Berbatov they stop infront of my defenders wait for me to make the tackle then they side step on the ball and dribble round my defender. I can accept that because of the players strength or dribbling skill but then my defenders wont even recover their positions and even if they have a vast speed advantage on the dribblers, such as Zlatan, they can 't make up the 10 yards hes moved since they missed the tackle. As for the running forward like Drogba they run towards a wing and he pulls my CB's out but then its only when hes on the wing will the RB/LB react to him being there yet my CB's will not run back until hes dispossessed.
For the record my team is not shit its all high 90s and above depending on the training regime - Vivano 88-90, Rafael 98, Fabio 96, Ita 99-100, Rane 92, Hummels 94, P.Jones 86 as CB 100 as DM, R.Morrison 90 on LM, Palacios 93, Tolchottryzyn 96, Wilshire 109 as CM, Valencia 98 on RM, Ganso 96 as AM, Pato 102 as SS, Sturridge 90, Welbeck 88, Heycory 94, De Gea 86, Shimzu on loan at 97 and Smalling is the only sore thumb in my main squad at 76 but he doesnt get games.
Wilshire has 99,99,94,92 for passing and 99 for dribbling and mid 90s for speed, Pato is the quickest on the game with 99 dribble, 90 something for response, 99 for dribble speed and explosive power and 97 for top speed and has a 94 for shot accuracy. Rafael, Fabio and Ita are the quickest LB/RB with stats around about Wilshire yet all these players seem to get caught now, are you seriously telling me that all teams have them expertly scouted after a few game.
This team does have a general E for resistance with most players being 65-79 for teamwork wilshire, valencia, Pato and Ganso are normally 80 or above but this is a squad that has trained together for about 4 years and play as well with high teamwork as it does with low teamwork.
Now I dont know if it was because of the stats on these player were so high or what but on SuperStar it felt amazing, passes were crisp, through balls went through properly or were stopped logically by the opposition defence, shooting was accurate, crosses and chips fell at the right point to go straight into the players path, movement was intelligent, dribbling was neat and you could get a feeling to that with the right players you could pull away or get through the tightest of gaps and despite having tall guys none could header but it still played with a feeling of a threat at corners, the only problem was long range shooting never flew with actual force and when the computer would build an attack it felt natural up until they let off a shot when my defending and the computers attacking felt scripted with shots and passes being pinged around but even then they didnt always score.
For the past couple of games on PES 2012 ML the shooting, the dribbling and speed has gone a bit iffy and the scripting has gone through the roof like I said before but the feeling that I could get back into the game or restore my lead has been there.
Now PES 2011 and PES 2012 both feel like a so so game, a 3 one match a 10 the next and FIFA only got good again since 2010 but even that feels too average like a general 6 every match. I reckon while PES 2012 is as bad as people say, myself included at times, it does have bright points but its too few and far between to be considered a good game.
Basically I feel that the past 2 years aren't very good games especially with FIFA having so much media hype, even if it isn't deserved and PES 2010 being the amazing game it was. I feel Konami its time to listen to the fans on these boards, just pull the plug on this it doesnt look good anymore and it doesnt play well enough, what people are saying is true it is utterly shocking mostly but like Ive written it can play like a dream but only on occasion.
And that is what the title is about, the constant changing over the past few years it feels like for every 2 good features gone and 2 bad features gone there is another bad feature added and another good feature added. Also with this years game it gives good games then takes them away it gives scripted goals at both ends then takes them away.
I really don't think I will get PES 2013 unless its a big improvement or if FIFA actually increases by a lot because I could just buy NBA 2K13 or NHL2K13. JUST START AGAIN KONAMI! just scrap this graphic system this gameplay engine just start from scratch.
TL;DR this years game is 50% brilliant 50% scripting horror, its consistent in being inconsistent, you can't play enough matches in a row without a few scripted ones being put unless the difficulty is Regular or below.
I bought this years game out of fanboy-ish hope, I was also looking forward to Club boss mode and because I found it in the Christmas sales for £20 so I weighed up the pros and cons of this years game and thought it was a fair price.
Me and my brother have bought a football game every year except for 2000 and 2004 as far as I can recollect, FIFA up to 2006 with the exception of PES2 when we got PES6 with our Xbox and Ive been PES since and even though he refuses to even play me at any FIFA demo he threatened to buy last years PES when it came out if I opened my FIFA 11 copy.
I bought FIFA 11 as for the first time since I used to play FIFA, which the last year I did was FIFA 2006 but even back then my brother didnt like it, I found the FIFA demo better, and I bought PES 2011 to play against my brother when I wasnt playing FIFA 11 but eventually though he persuaded me to give PES 2011 the chance as what the point of spending £60 to £80 pound on the same type of game in the same year. PES 2011 didnt seem that bad to me but it wa the final straw for him as he just didnt want to waste another £40 on the PES franchise but at £20 quid I thought Ill give it a punt as the demo had shown better highlights than the FIFA 12 demo but it also had lower low points.
I wrote a review a few months ago in an absolute fit of seeing red mist. In it I basically said what I a lot of people have been saying as well as how I feel Konami could improve it if they took the good features from they past few years and made the game and how I had thought they released this for a joke on us PES players and ranted like many of you guys.
In the past couple of months my main sports game has been NBA2K12 and that game is simply bliss and for the past few months Ive compared the two as games and really wondered why Konami even bothered to release 2011 and 2012 when in terms of a sports game its so far behind the alternative sports.
Well I recently started my offline ML up again after leaving it back in January because top player was just horribly scripted. Its in 2013-2014 with a Man Utd side with a lot of high 90s. So for the first time in about eight to ten years I was not playing on the hardest difficulty. That was hard because Im one of those "top difficulty or not playing it" type of gamers, but now I start it in professional and its still just as bad, so I move down another difficulty to regular.
Now Im playing good football and winning but its like the difficulties on older editions of PES that were below the top player setting, its far too easy for me. So I put the difficulty back up and the game goes back into hyper-hack scripting-mode, so I put it back down and try again.
I try playing the PES way which is clearly hold the ball for a long time like barca and then get a goal because the opponents are pulled out of position, I go back to my style of speed down the wings and cut in or go down half the wings and hit a 40 yard through ball along the floor, I try going through the middle by old fashioned incisive cutting passes but all forms of tactics end in me conceding hack goals.
So I put the difficulty to Superstar and this is a brilliant difficulty, It allows me to pull away with my wingers and the passing is amazing and even if there is a scripted goal or two I am constantly at the opponents goal looking for a way to score, old fashioned PES back and forth attacking football.
Then it struck. The scripting in this difficulty went up a few notches equal to the level I was sustaining in Top Player and Professional. I played chelsea twice and they have Anelka, Drogba, Ibrahimovic and Berbatov. They don't play the ball in the air they just pass it along the ground and when it gets to Anelka or Drogba they surge past my DM or CB's like they aren't even there. When the ball is given to Zlatan or Berbatov they stop infront of my defenders wait for me to make the tackle then they side step on the ball and dribble round my defender. I can accept that because of the players strength or dribbling skill but then my defenders wont even recover their positions and even if they have a vast speed advantage on the dribblers, such as Zlatan, they can 't make up the 10 yards hes moved since they missed the tackle. As for the running forward like Drogba they run towards a wing and he pulls my CB's out but then its only when hes on the wing will the RB/LB react to him being there yet my CB's will not run back until hes dispossessed.
For the record my team is not shit its all high 90s and above depending on the training regime - Vivano 88-90, Rafael 98, Fabio 96, Ita 99-100, Rane 92, Hummels 94, P.Jones 86 as CB 100 as DM, R.Morrison 90 on LM, Palacios 93, Tolchottryzyn 96, Wilshire 109 as CM, Valencia 98 on RM, Ganso 96 as AM, Pato 102 as SS, Sturridge 90, Welbeck 88, Heycory 94, De Gea 86, Shimzu on loan at 97 and Smalling is the only sore thumb in my main squad at 76 but he doesnt get games.
Wilshire has 99,99,94,92 for passing and 99 for dribbling and mid 90s for speed, Pato is the quickest on the game with 99 dribble, 90 something for response, 99 for dribble speed and explosive power and 97 for top speed and has a 94 for shot accuracy. Rafael, Fabio and Ita are the quickest LB/RB with stats around about Wilshire yet all these players seem to get caught now, are you seriously telling me that all teams have them expertly scouted after a few game.
This team does have a general E for resistance with most players being 65-79 for teamwork wilshire, valencia, Pato and Ganso are normally 80 or above but this is a squad that has trained together for about 4 years and play as well with high teamwork as it does with low teamwork.
Now I dont know if it was because of the stats on these player were so high or what but on SuperStar it felt amazing, passes were crisp, through balls went through properly or were stopped logically by the opposition defence, shooting was accurate, crosses and chips fell at the right point to go straight into the players path, movement was intelligent, dribbling was neat and you could get a feeling to that with the right players you could pull away or get through the tightest of gaps and despite having tall guys none could header but it still played with a feeling of a threat at corners, the only problem was long range shooting never flew with actual force and when the computer would build an attack it felt natural up until they let off a shot when my defending and the computers attacking felt scripted with shots and passes being pinged around but even then they didnt always score.
For the past couple of games on PES 2012 ML the shooting, the dribbling and speed has gone a bit iffy and the scripting has gone through the roof like I said before but the feeling that I could get back into the game or restore my lead has been there.
Now PES 2011 and PES 2012 both feel like a so so game, a 3 one match a 10 the next and FIFA only got good again since 2010 but even that feels too average like a general 6 every match. I reckon while PES 2012 is as bad as people say, myself included at times, it does have bright points but its too few and far between to be considered a good game.
Basically I feel that the past 2 years aren't very good games especially with FIFA having so much media hype, even if it isn't deserved and PES 2010 being the amazing game it was. I feel Konami its time to listen to the fans on these boards, just pull the plug on this it doesnt look good anymore and it doesnt play well enough, what people are saying is true it is utterly shocking mostly but like Ive written it can play like a dream but only on occasion.
And that is what the title is about, the constant changing over the past few years it feels like for every 2 good features gone and 2 bad features gone there is another bad feature added and another good feature added. Also with this years game it gives good games then takes them away it gives scripted goals at both ends then takes them away.
I really don't think I will get PES 2013 unless its a big improvement or if FIFA actually increases by a lot because I could just buy NBA 2K13 or NHL2K13. JUST START AGAIN KONAMI! just scrap this graphic system this gameplay engine just start from scratch.
TL;DR this years game is 50% brilliant 50% scripting horror, its consistent in being inconsistent, you can't play enough matches in a row without a few scripted ones being put unless the difficulty is Regular or below.