JoyPads: PES 2011 Demo Impressions

Over the past few years, Konami haven’t been up to scratch or cutting the mustard, to keep up with FIFA and its growing dominance. PES did held the glory days with PES 4 and 5 for me personally, as the games were just mainly focus on the gameplay and good tactics, but has Konami finally cracked it this year?

Konami have said in the past regarding to PES 09 and 10 that its there year, sadly both games didn’t hit the UK by storm or Europe as much. We know PES does remarkably well over in Japan, and certain other countries in Europe too. Mainly because Konami are still living in the past. Hardly no changes, players will the wrong names and teams not being the correct name either. Of course, this comes down to licences, and where licences are, there is money to be discussed who will get them.

So, PES 2011 has couple of licences which may give the game some justice. UEFA Champions League & Europa League, plus a new addition. The Copa Libertadores, the South American league. PES 2011 has implemented a 360 degree passing, being able to pass the ball more fluidly and none of the stickman action passing. Konami has also tweaked the in-game animation’s to give it more ‘oomph’ in that department. Character models of the likeness of certain players are very spot on.

The gameplay to PES has received a lot of criticism as of late. Still being out dated and Konami living in the glory days. I have notice over the past 2 games of PES, that slowly the gameplay is coming round. The 360 degree passing isn’t quite there for PES 2011. When you pass to one player, and take there first touch, there is a slight pause and then sluggish movement to pass the ball to team-mate. The passes are sometimes out of sync. What I mean by out of sync. The passes aren’t as fluid, fast pace and the direction you want the ball to go to, goes to a complete other player instead.

The good thing what PES offers is the tactics. It was really shining through with PES 10, and it was certainly something I wanted to see back in PES 2011. You can alter player positions easily. Taking a Football Manager approach, where you can direct your players to run down the flanks, or slightly drag them out of position and tell them to go direct. You have free control on where you want to play your players. You highlight the player you want, and then you can move around where you want that player to go. You can alter your defence line, the mentality, and of course players pushing up with you to add more support. Good thing about this feature, when players are pushing up with you, and you pass, other players move into spaces, very good thinking of Konami here. You can set to have possession defence or a possession offence to suit your taste.

The visuals to PES 2011 so far from what I have played isn’t too bad. It isn’t as lush or polished as FIFA, but it certainly a improvement from last year. Overall PES 2011 is a good candidate to compete against FIFA 11. However, it just doesn’t do it so far. Of course this is just a demo build and hopefully the feedback PES 2011 gets. I hope Knoami will quickly make some amends to certain areas. Its certainly better than PES 2010 which is the main thing I wanted to see from PES 2011. I’m more on the FIFA fence but there is something about this PES which means to get when reduce down in price. Maybe the PES days for me are slowly coming back.

Expect a review of PES 2011 after release date.