Why PES 14 can reclaim the football crown
Of all the games displayed at E3 2013, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 was certainly one of the more surprising. While the series still languishes behinds EA Sports' insurmountable genre lead with its FIFA franchise, it manages to find a place among football purists. Its success in Japan has always been assured — it is a Japanese-developed game, afterall — but its growth must come in Europe and North America, which is no easy task.
Can PES possibly take the thrown from FIFA this year? I think it can. Here's why.
New engine, new game
Led by creative producer Kei Masuda, the team at PES Productions is working to reinvigorate the franchise with something fresh and risky, building an entirely new game engine that helps PES 2014 look completely different to anything that's come before it.
AI smarter than a fifth-grader
Yet the redesign goes beyond simply making the animations and graphics look more realistic. The gameplay itself feels strangely original and unlike anything in the PES series before it. It's more FIFA 13 than PES 2013, and yet it has a distinctive personality that, impeccably so, smells of the PES uniqueness that has defined the series for over a decade. This is a game that wants nothing to do with those that came before it, but it still admires them nonetheless.
Visually, the game has been given a significant upgrade, but these changes would have no bearing if it didn't have the AI and physics to back it up. These players look and react the way they do because of complex data analysis that has helped shape the game into something special.
"We have reformed the AI so that the defensive players position themselves and think for themselves, like where to make an attack, and close in, and make a steal," Masuda explains. "This affects their decision making, like when to switch from a defensive mindset to an attacking one."
Unforgiving, just like a true simulation
The new engine has allowed PES Productions to advance this sort of player behaviour, ensuring players are able to analyse the position of all players on the fields, and not just those with and near the ball. This, as Masuda explains, would lead to better player placement, and a good balance between defensive and attacking mindsets on a team.
"With the new system, you will have certain players who will analyse the chance that the ball may be stolen, so they will react defensively and remain in their position, rather than advance forward off their mark like in previous years."
The matches in PES 2014 play out at a considerable different pace than in PES 2013. Players are wary of their position and surroundings, while the game itself is far less forgiving: much like how a wayward pass in NBA 2K13 almost always leads to a score down the other end, a mistake in PES 2014 can make or break a performance.
Simplified controls
The Fox Engine also brings interesting changes to the feeling of the players using the controller. NBA 2K13 is again a comparative example here, because the two games share a similar level of restrictive freedom, limiting how players are able to react to unstable circumstances. For example a player's field of movement while handling the ball appears smaller, and their capacity to perform a skill dribble is far more reliant on player skill than it was in PES 2013, which was far too forgiving in that department.
It was fascinating to see just how much work had been put into evolving the PES experience. This is an entirely new game, one fuelled by a next-gen engine that enhances the possibilities for this once-dominating franchise. Konami wants PES back at the top of its class, and PES 2014 is certainly shaping up to be a step in the right direction.
Available on: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in Q4 2013.
Source
Originally Posted by bradbear117
