Pro Evo, Pro Evolution Soccer, PES - call it what you will, footy fans all know the only true football simulation game worth playing is the popular franchise from Konami. It's history stretches all the way back to 1996, when it was released for the first time.
What is it about Pro Evo that has maintained this popularity with the fans despite several different incarnations across the consoles and with FIFA in constant competition?
In more recent times FIFA has stolen a march over Konami and pushed PES into second place, something which FIFA itself struggled with during the early years in the last decade. So why despite playing second fiddle to another footy game do PES fans stay loyal and shell out their hard earned cash every year?
Playability - this has always been the strength of PES over FIFA, even when Konami have made big changes to the gameplay. They're retained a feel for what football computer games should play like and have often shaken up the AI, so that one year you can slip straight into the new version and the next year it takes you several games to get used to it.
PES has never pandered to your whims like FIFA, it has never made it easy to score or create chances. The ethos behind the PES games is to make you work hard, learn and practice each new version, so that you can truly appreciate the beauty of the game. None more so than when you win a game on the hardest difficulty for the first time with an injury time rocket into the top corner.
It's a pick up and play method that favours learning and can at times be frustrating if you've not played for a week or so and find you're struggling on the 3 star difficulty setting. But like riding a bike, you remember, your fingers remember and you get back in the saddle.
Realism - PES generally comes out on top when it comes to the visage of players faces and movements of the football. FIFA constructs can't be called pretty and the ball seems to have been filled with helium in some versions. The football in PES moves and floats like a real ball and the players look like their real life counterparts.
Real life football is recreated more accurately in Pro Evo and the players move as though they have an actual body weight, which when coupled with accurate football flight, makes the game look like a real game of football. Even the goalkeepers are fallible and make mistakes that give away goals.
Player likenesses always feature much better in the PES games. You'd think that after all these years, both games would be able to get it right. But before launch date, video game magazines often run comparison charts between the two games, with identical players from both sides pitted against each other. There have been some ugly Rooney mugs in the FIFA series.
Speed - this is a setting that gets changed almost every year, as Konami look for an ideal speed in which to create their new AI gameplay. In the past PES has been labelled too fast and therefore arcade like, but the latest version PES 2013 promises to be one of the slowest versions for years, which should enable better player movement and touch.
In the latest game Konami have included a speed setting which allows you to control the game speed. You have five settings to choose from, so if you still fancy bombing down the wings like PES games of yesteryear you can.
Licenses - or lack of has always been lamented and stated as a reason why FIFA has overhauled PES in the gaming charts. But for me this has enhanced the allure of Pro Evo.
With the FIFA domination of the licenses, PES fans have had to work for themselves and using in-game editors, plus computer editing software, every year they come up with option files which take PES from fake names to real. So the millions spent on these licenses seem somewhat pointless.
Unfortunately, as I'm not a FIFA fan, I can't compare their edit functions, but if they can rival the PES edit modes, which allow realistic faces and bodies, football strips and stadia, I'd be surprised. You can now edit almost every part of the Pro Evo setup.
Innovation - both PES and FIFA introduce new buzz words every year, which describe the new features they're putting in their games. PES usually updates the artificial intelligence and for PES 2013 is bringing in Player ID and Full Control which are supposed to work together to allow players to mimic the real mannerisms of actual players. So you should see Ronaldo and Messi run, dribble, pass and shoot like they do in real games.
Two Player - always the most interesting focal point for me personally is the two player battles. Playing against the AI can be good for training, but most people who play PES play against other friends or strangers online.
Everybody who has ever played against a mate will know the joy of a strike into his top corner and the despair of him chipping the ball over your onrushing goalkeeper and into your empty goal. Friendships have been put on hold for the duration of these games before.
Two player against your mates and online is what gives the PES games their longevity and the franchise in general.
What is it about Pro Evo that has maintained this popularity with the fans despite several different incarnations across the consoles and with FIFA in constant competition?
In more recent times FIFA has stolen a march over Konami and pushed PES into second place, something which FIFA itself struggled with during the early years in the last decade. So why despite playing second fiddle to another footy game do PES fans stay loyal and shell out their hard earned cash every year?
Playability - this has always been the strength of PES over FIFA, even when Konami have made big changes to the gameplay. They're retained a feel for what football computer games should play like and have often shaken up the AI, so that one year you can slip straight into the new version and the next year it takes you several games to get used to it.
PES has never pandered to your whims like FIFA, it has never made it easy to score or create chances. The ethos behind the PES games is to make you work hard, learn and practice each new version, so that you can truly appreciate the beauty of the game. None more so than when you win a game on the hardest difficulty for the first time with an injury time rocket into the top corner.
It's a pick up and play method that favours learning and can at times be frustrating if you've not played for a week or so and find you're struggling on the 3 star difficulty setting. But like riding a bike, you remember, your fingers remember and you get back in the saddle.
Realism - PES generally comes out on top when it comes to the visage of players faces and movements of the football. FIFA constructs can't be called pretty and the ball seems to have been filled with helium in some versions. The football in PES moves and floats like a real ball and the players look like their real life counterparts.
Real life football is recreated more accurately in Pro Evo and the players move as though they have an actual body weight, which when coupled with accurate football flight, makes the game look like a real game of football. Even the goalkeepers are fallible and make mistakes that give away goals.
Player likenesses always feature much better in the PES games. You'd think that after all these years, both games would be able to get it right. But before launch date, video game magazines often run comparison charts between the two games, with identical players from both sides pitted against each other. There have been some ugly Rooney mugs in the FIFA series.
Speed - this is a setting that gets changed almost every year, as Konami look for an ideal speed in which to create their new AI gameplay. In the past PES has been labelled too fast and therefore arcade like, but the latest version PES 2013 promises to be one of the slowest versions for years, which should enable better player movement and touch.
In the latest game Konami have included a speed setting which allows you to control the game speed. You have five settings to choose from, so if you still fancy bombing down the wings like PES games of yesteryear you can.
Licenses - or lack of has always been lamented and stated as a reason why FIFA has overhauled PES in the gaming charts. But for me this has enhanced the allure of Pro Evo.
With the FIFA domination of the licenses, PES fans have had to work for themselves and using in-game editors, plus computer editing software, every year they come up with option files which take PES from fake names to real. So the millions spent on these licenses seem somewhat pointless.
Unfortunately, as I'm not a FIFA fan, I can't compare their edit functions, but if they can rival the PES edit modes, which allow realistic faces and bodies, football strips and stadia, I'd be surprised. You can now edit almost every part of the Pro Evo setup.
Innovation - both PES and FIFA introduce new buzz words every year, which describe the new features they're putting in their games. PES usually updates the artificial intelligence and for PES 2013 is bringing in Player ID and Full Control which are supposed to work together to allow players to mimic the real mannerisms of actual players. So you should see Ronaldo and Messi run, dribble, pass and shoot like they do in real games.
Two Player - always the most interesting focal point for me personally is the two player battles. Playing against the AI can be good for training, but most people who play PES play against other friends or strangers online.
Everybody who has ever played against a mate will know the joy of a strike into his top corner and the despair of him chipping the ball over your onrushing goalkeeper and into your empty goal. Friendships have been put on hold for the duration of these games before.
Two player against your mates and online is what gives the PES games their longevity and the franchise in general.
About the Author:
If you enjoyed reading this article, please visit our PES 2013 website, for even more detailed news, including the PES history.. This article, PES 2013 - Always Better Than FIFA For True Pro Evo Fans is released under a creative commons attribution license.
0 comments:
Post a Comment