It's stunning Elf.  Best PES yet.

I'd argue Playmaker outdoes PES6.

9/10 from EG

tried this for a little last night, last pes i played was 2008/9 i think, man it's different but familiar at the same time. didnt play a match only dicked around in the tutorial/training to see what was different before i turned off for the eve.

i played this (demo) again last night, as a last chance saloon thing after that EG review got me a bit more interested.
i tried to settle it down, play a bit slower, try to play how the game is probably intended to play rather than how i instinctively play....and it did start to click a bit.  i also played on top player (i think, the 2nd hardest option), and endured a series of 1-0 defeats by Spain (me as France).
however they were the good, tense kind of games where the defeat seemed fair rather than being robbed by an unstoppable wonder goal.
 i found shielding the ball, and using the right stick to push people away quite enjoyable.  i also think they've got sliding tackles spot on (at least compared to previous years)...it's a shame the refs are a bit soft towards shoulder barges though, it's great as a defender hitting the right stick towards an opponent, knocking them off the ball...but then the ref spoils it by giving a free kick.
still not sure on the dribbling/sprinting though...sometimes it feels like players are on fire and you can carve through defences, next instant they're running through treacle...later i switched teams to portugal vs man u, and any number of through balls saw ronaldo against ferdinand and not once did ronaldo do Rio for pace...
also think they've maybe gone too far in simulating the ball as a separate entity to players, often it ends up just bobbling around between a few players, which would be good for a Sunday league sim but just looks clumsy and messy.

still though, there were some good signs, and the thought of online 11v11 is enticing...

Tonnes more people will still buy FIFA I think.  But I really don't think I'll bother this year, the more I play it, the more I hate it.

PES will have faults as it always does but it plays a better game of football this year IMO.

It was the Fifa before that that the gap started opening - the same time Konami took their foot off the pedal.

It's been dire almost all generation. (I almost agree with Plan. 13 was shit too.)

Olimite wrote:

It was the Fifa before that that the gap started opening - the same time Konami took their foot off the pedal.

Really? I played FIFA 07 and 08 and thought they were rubbish but liked 10. Never played 09.

Plan_XIII wrote:

I liked 13 but it did become boring after a good few months playing for me.  I still haven't opened 14 yet, it's sitting there looking at me but GTA is too damn fine.

I'm probably just burnt out from having/playing almost every single Konami football game since ISS on SNES. Got bored at PES this gen so I switched to Fifa for a bit. Even that wasn't doing it too much. Maybe just bored of football games. The AI isn't good enough for my liking on any of them.

I am off to my parents later to play some local games v my brother, I will post feedback tonight

hylian_elf wrote:

Olimite wrote:

It was the Fifa before that that the gap started opening - the same time Konami took their foot off the pedal.

Really? I played FIFA 07 and 08 and thought they were rubbish but liked 10. Never played 09.

09 was brilliant. Still one of my faves.

Yeah, I'd get it but don't think I could play two football games.

I played this all afternoon with my brother yesterday.  It's an incredibly deep experience and something you'll have to master if you have the patience.

We had some of the most enjoyable 0-0 draws I've ever experienced with a football video game.  It's feels better than the demo although that wasn't an issue for me anyway as the demo was superb IMO.

Lack of stadia and weather is an annoyance, nothing more.  PES has never had the bells & whistles which gets bundled with the FIFA series but realistic gameplay is what matters to me and this delivers it in spades. 

Keepers can still be a bit dodgy.  But nothing as bad as in previous PES games.  Commentary is still a bit shit.  Visuals are gorgeous, squint and you could be watching an actual match.  They've completely fucked up some player faces for some reason (Rafael WTF?!) but generally the player models/faces are spot-on.

Your players make intelligent runs off the ball, you can sit deep with a midfielder like Pirlo and your forwards will make diagonal runs.  Pinging the long pass over the defenders heads feels sublime.

Don't expect to dive into this and love it from the off - this is a game that will need weeks of hard work put into it, it truly is a simulation of football.  But the way the whole thing flows is a sublime.  I can actually play my sexy football which I've dreamed about playing on a video game for many years. 

The ball moves realistically too - when I play the FIFA games, they feel like the ball is on a string.  It's like cartoon football to me these days and you can get the ball from defence to attack far too quickly.  Apologies for comparing both games but sometimes this is the easiest way go gauge the overall experience as most will have already played FIFA and vice versa, but not both.  You can't go forward quickly in this (unless you play the long ball - which is amazing by the way, they've nailed the tactics).  Everything is organic and you'll get punished for hammering the sprint button.

My worry will be online.  Me and a friend are dying to play 2v2 this year after getting fed up of FIFA but I just know the servers will be borked, like they always are.  I hope I'm wrong otherwise I'll be playing single player Master League all season again.

I would probably buy FIFA for online - it's always packed with more multiplayer features than PES and the servers work great most of the time with EA's series.  Hopefully I'll be wrong and Konami will nail that aspect this season but I'm not holding my breath.

But I love what I've played of it so far.  I guess the best way to compare both FIFA and PES games this year from what I've played so far is:  FIFA 14 is the exciting Premier League game you'll sometimes get on a Sunday afternoon.  End-to-End, full of goals, glitz, glamour and Martin Tyler.  PES is your Gazetta Football Italia Serie A match from the 90s.  Slow, tactical, intelligent.  You have to think about everything you do and when it comes off, well, it just feels right.

So the demo has finally clicked for me. All I was doing wrong was not using R2 and holding down X for longer passes (was used to Wii version strategies).

Thanks for the advice on how to do the simple stuff routinely, now I can hold possession far more often, in far more control, and haven't lost a game since (well, 0-0 and 2-1 are the only two Ive played using this, but the difference is night and day).

Will definitely be getting this then (PS3 version).