Just a few thoughts after a couple of demo games played:
- the demo is 5 minute halves which is quite nice after the 2 minute halves of the Fifa demo. Allows a better sense of gameplay.
- Game is significantly slowed down from PES 2008. Ball feels much, much heavier.
- Player graphics appear to be improved. A slight improvement in faces but an improvement nonetheless.
- Attacking AI is as impressive as last year. Hard to gauge defending AI yet.
- Game is completely unrealistic as Robbie Keane scored 2 goals for me in a 2-0 triumph over Manure.
- There appears to be some issue in the demo with replays as they play at comically fast Benny Hill like speed. Cut scenes also show some weird transitions but I think this may just be an artefact of the demo (hope so).
Best wishes,
Doug
"Every major sport has come under the influence of organized crime. FIFA actually is organized crime" - Charles Pierce
Holy Cow, what a difference a year makes. The game looks utterly fantastic on the 360. The players and stadiums look incredible.
I only played one game but i'll echo Macca00 in saying the offensive side of the CPU has been tweaked up a notch and are even more creative than last year. The defensive side of the ball still needs a little work as the AI is still susceptible to wing play.
The ball no longer feels like it's a balloon. It does have some weight to it. If Konami and Seabass had released this game as their first next gen title it would have been a whole different story last year.
I did like the FIFA demo but i'm going to buy PES 2009 for the 360. Wow I can't wait.
After playing 5 games, I still think PES feels clunky. A lot of the time it seems like I'm playing "connect the dots" instead of soccer....it lacks the smoothness that FIFA presents.
Sorry, I couldn't take anything the guy said after that seriously...
Demo seems really nice to me, although it's frustrating to score. I guess that's a good sign, really. That crisp, 'make up your mind at the last instant' control is still there. The ball feels much more air-filled and light-weight than in last year's game where it felt like it was full of lead in a lot of situations especially the long ball. Long balls have a much more realistic arc to them now, and maybe even a little back spin from time to time (to those who've played a lot of PES08: imagine that!).
Player interaction seems to be tweaked a bit, so maybe some slight adjustments and improvements have been made to what was a big leap forward in last year's game over the previous version. It's getting closer and closer to that sublime level seen in WE9, where fouls were very realistic across the board.
Unfortunately, the online multiplayer mode does appear to be co-op only. That is, it looks like you can play with up to three other created 'legends' on the same side and take on the CPU. Who knows, maybe there is some two on two in there, but it's not looking good from the video. Oh well. At least we can hope head to head works well this time. We can't rest assured, of course, this being Konami, but we can hope.
I played the demo some more and upped the difficulty to Pro. Played Man U vs Real Madrid. I lost 0-1 to Real Madrid.
The AI in Pro setting closes down on Wing Play much better. I'm not saying you won't be able to run on the AI. It's just a lot harder which is a good thing. The AI really looks and feels organic something that is still lacking in FIFA.
I love this game, it feels so much better than FIFA even though PES 2009 is not perfect either.
Rodster wrote:I played the demo some more and upped the difficulty to Pro. Played Man U vs Real Madrid. I lost 0-1 to Real Madrid.
The AI in Pro setting closes down on Wing Play much better. I'm not saying you won't be able to run on the AI. It's just a lot harder which is a good thing. The AI really looks and feels organic something that is still lacking in FIFA.
I love this game, it feels so much better than FIFA even though PES 2009 is not perfect either.
Is this the first time PES/WE have had these clubs? Do they have the real players?
Is it just CL clubs or do they have all EPL and La Liga clubs and players?
Compared to the Fifa 09 demo, I am underwhelmed. Visually they have finally upped the series to the next-gen with player faces and stadiums most improved. The gameplay is not as quick as Fifa, not necessarily a bad thing but with he ball being heavier, everything just seems to drag for me. Players seem to move sluggishly or in a robotic manner.
I still use the analog for passing instead of the D-pad, and some of those passes did not go as intended creating in a lot of counter-attacks in which case, the CPU is both fast and most times lethal. Manual passing is good but you have to be very accurate.
Some of the GK's animations are 'eh, where did that come from?'
Where's the atmosphere for the beautiful game?
The Legends mode sounds insteresting.
Hmmm, it's only a demo but this maybe the first time I may pass on this title and concentrate fully on Fifa 09.
wco81 wrote:Is this the first time PES/WE have had these clubs? Do they have the real players?
Is it just CL clubs or do they have all EPL and La Liga clubs and players?
No, real clubs have been present before.
There is some uncertainty, but I believe for PES 2009, the game will have fully licensed teams and players for the top divisions in Spain, France, and Italy. Not sure about Holland. In England, the real players are there, but most of the club names and uniforms are fake.
EDIT: From wikipedia (and just ignore the "flag of")
Leagues
The following leagues have been licensed:[5]
* Flag of France Ligue 1 Orange
* Flag of the Netherlands Eredivisie
* Flag of Italy Serie A[6][7][8][9]
Competitions
Konami has announced that they have obtained the rights to the UEFA Champions League for the next 4 years. Konami secured the exclusive rights to the UEFA Champions League for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009. [10][11] Manchester United and Liverpool will be the licensed English clubs in PES 2009.[12] Since the UEFA Champions League licence does not include the rights to all the participating clubs and a number of licenses are held exclusively by EA Sports, not all Champions League clubs will be licensed in the game.
Club teams
The clubs from the Eredivisie, Ligue 1, Serie A and the following clubs will be fully licensed:[13][14][15][16]
* Flag of Argentina Boca Juniors
* Flag of Argentina River Plate
* Flag of Belgium RSC Anderlecht
* Flag of Belgium Club Brugge
* Flag of Belgium Standard Liege
* Flag of Brazil SC Internacional
* Flag of Croatia Dinamo Zagreb
* Flag of the Czech Republic SK Slavia Praha[17]
* Flag of Denmark Brondby IF
* Flag of Denmark Copenhagen
* Flag of England Liverpool
* Flag of England Manchester United
* Flag of Finland HJK Helsinki
* Flag of Greece AEK Athens
* Flag of Greece Olympiacos
* Flag of Greece Panathinaikos
* Flag of Norway Rosenborg BK
* Flag of Portugal SL Benfica
* Flag of Portugal F.C. Porto
* Flag of Portugal Sporting
* Flag of Romania CFR Cluj
* Flag of Romania Steaua Bucureşti
* Flag of Russia FC Spartak Moscow
* Flag of Russia Zenit St. Petersburg
* Flag of Scotland Celtic
* Flag of Scotland Rangers
* Flag of Serbia Red Star Belgrade
* Flag of Spain Athletic Club
* Flag of Spain FC Barcelona
* Flag of Spain R.C. Deportivo La Coruña
* Flag of Spain R.C.D Espanyol
* Flag of Spain Real Madrid C.F.
* Flag of Spain R.C.D Mallorca
* Flag of Spain Villarreal
* Flag of Sweden AIK
* Flag of Sweden Hammarby
* Flag of Sweden IFK Göteborg
* Flag of Switzerland Basel
* Flag of Turkey Besiktas JK
* Flag of Turkey Fenerbahçe
* Flag of Turkey Galatasaray
* Flag of Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv
* Flag of Ukraine Shakhtar Donetsk
National teams
The following national teams will be fully licensed:[18][19]
* Flag of Croatia Croatia
* Flag of the Czech Republic Czech Republic
* Flag of England England
* Flag of France France
* Flag of Greece Greece
* Flag of Italy Italy
* Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands
* Flag of Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
* Flag of Portugal Portugal
* Flag of Ireland Republic of Ireland
* Flag of Scotland Scotland
* Flag of Spain Spain[20]
* Flag of Sweden Sweden
* Flag of Turkey Turkey
* Flag of Ghana Ghana
* Flag of Côte d'Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire
* Flag of Argentina Argentina
* Flag of Brazil Brazil
* Flag of Australia Australia
* Flag of Japan Japan
* Flag of South Korea South Korea
Unlicensed Content
All the clubs from the Spanish La Liga and the English Premier League will be in the game. All player names are licensed. With the exception of the licensed clubs listed above, the team names and the logos aren't licensed. [21][22]
10spro wrote:Compared to the Fifa 09 demo, I am underwhelmed. Visually they have finally upped the series to the next-gen with player faces and stadiums most improved. The gameplay is not as quick as Fifa, not necessarily a bad thing but with he ball being heavier, everything just seems to drag for me. Players seem to move sluggishly or in a robotic manner.
Hmmm, it's only a demo but this maybe the first time I may pass on this title and concentrate fully on Fifa 09.
Wow just the opposite for me. I find FIFA 09 underwhelming and sluggish. I also find the gameplay quicker in PES 09 than in FIFA 09.
10spro wrote:Compared to the Fifa 09 demo, I am underwhelmed. Visually they have finally upped the series to the next-gen with player faces and stadiums most improved. The gameplay is not as quick as Fifa, not necessarily a bad thing but with he ball being heavier, everything just seems to drag for me. Players seem to move sluggishly or in a robotic manner.
Hmmm, it's only a demo but this maybe the first time I may pass on this title and concentrate fully on Fifa 09.
Wow just the opposite for me. I find FIFA 09 underwhelming and sluggish. I also find the gameplay quicker in PES 09 than in FIFA 09.
Yeah, other than the graphical improvements, I did not enjoy the gameplay in the demo. I really think that PES best days are behind the PS2.
I didn't think it was bad. Though somehow I managed to only play as 1 player. I don't know what I did earlier.
The controls are weird. It's the same but not as smooth as other versions. Like others said sometimes the engine gets clunck when you change direction. I wonder if this is Konami trying to make turning on a dime more difficult.
One thing I saw turned down but still in the game is when defenders try to shoulder tackle, miss but go right between the ball and player.
[url=http://sensiblecoasters.wordpress.com/][b]Sensible Coasters - A critique of sports games, reviews, gaming sites and news. Questionably Proofread![/b][/url]
I'm generally liking what I'm seeing in PES, though it really is more a polished PES 2008. Hope they improve the sound made when the ball is kicked as that is starting to grate on my nerves.
It's interesting how much more player movement there is in PES than in FIFA when teams are defending. PES plays more like Premiership match while FIFA has more of the feel of a Spanish or Italian league match.
Looks like two good games although I'm leaning towards FIFA as the game I'll likely play more of this year.
Best wishes,
Doug
"Every major sport has come under the influence of organized crime. FIFA actually is organized crime" - Charles Pierce
I only had a chance to play a few games and enjoyed it. Some of the animations (slide tackle) seemed a little off, but the AI seemed solid at a very first glance...it was a bit difficult to break down the defense, and they seemed to really love playing the lofted through ball against me. Will play it more tonight...
I haven't played it much, but I am encouraged so far.
The two biggest problems from last year, 1)too fast and 2) overly aggressive CPU defense easily exploited down the wings, have been addressed. Can't say yet if the AI has other holes though.
I was almost certainly going to get the game anyway, but this is a good demo. Player models are also much better but the faces haven't been stepped up with the body modeling.
Wow just the opposite for me. I find FIFA 09 underwhelming and sluggish. I also find the gameplay quicker in PES 09 than in FIFA 09.
