PES 14: What Happened To The Magic?

VideoGamer: "What's your favourite PES memory? You've probably got a few. If you're anything like me, you've got loads, and they sit in that lovely, nostalgic area of your mind usually reserved for stuff like important family moments or career successes."

[Wh15ky]

PES 2013 is definately my favourite football game this gen but it still needs improving.

The way you can control players off the ball is great along with manual shooting and passing but they make the game far too easy. I play on the highest difficulty setting on master league and I regularly win games by 4 or 5 goals sometimes 8 or 9.

In contrast when I try to play FIFA on the higher settings I find it almost impossible to score goals yet it's easy enough to defend so almost every game ends 0-0. It's just a snooze fest if you ask me.

[blackstrr411]

PES only needs licencing to be the number 1. I don't even get EA and the exclusive licencing of the epl. Its like they are admitting PES is the better football game Fifa just has the best atmosphere and commentary

[ZodTheRipper]

This. If both had the same amount of licenses real football fans wouldn't bother with FIFA anymore. PES is in another league on the pitch, FIFA rules all the other stuff.

[1nsomniac]

I soo badly want PES to be good & for them to release it soon on next gen. Come on Konami step it up & bring your A game!!

[Baka-akaB]

They are stepping up their game . Even EA with their funds and new engine , can only manage to essentially port something similar to Fifa 13 on next gen , almost the same with little upgrades and better perfs so far .

And they are getting away with it . Sure there is a bit of laziness involved , but they certainly wouldnt release a whole new experience so soon and on a machine they arent fully acquainted with enough and for launch .

Konami and PES ? They have much to expiate for . Had they done the same and port "14 on ps4 , we'd hear tons of BS complaints and criticism about a lazy port . They wouldnt get away with it

PES '14 , bare the sad habit from Konami of screwing up the game last min , is shaping up to be great , and already looks better than '14 on any console , bare crowds and stadium effects (and of course less smooth than fifa on ps4/XB1) .

At least it shows they'd rather concentrate on that and polish the game . Should they succeed , even if obviously it wont put a dent on fifa's sales ... they'll have regained the respect of quite a few gamers .

[1nsomniac]

Yea I'm glad there not rushing it but I hope their first next gen version doesn't turn out to be another PS3 debut.

[Baka-akaB]

Yeah if it does screw them anyway

[iistuii]

I'm in the Fifa 14 career beta & playing through seasons with cups transfers etc is far apart from the old master league that PES has. I, like many of my friends were massive PES fans & wouldn't touch Fifa, however over the years its crushed the life out of the opposition. From the career mode to the great UT mode it's near on perfect. It has some strange gameplay moments for sure, but its a much better game than PES nowadays. I am so looking forward to the PES14 like I look forward every year in the hope it can somehow regain its place as my no 1 football game. But I won't hold my breath.

[ZodTheRipper]

We can talk about FIFA vs. PES once FIFA manages it that team tactics and individual player skills actually matter. FIFA13 feels like Pong compared to PES13.

[Baka-akaB]

Thats only based on the assumptions that MAster league remained the exact same . So who knows .

it was damn time both showed improvement over modes and menus they milked for years already .

Anyway my bias shows itself , but it's PES '14 or nothing for me this year . i've tried liking Fifa three times in row now , and i'm tired of tricking flaws in the physics , the bugs getting worse each following years , the quasi automated way players and stats handle itself , and the lack of actual tactical input .

The animation was cool , presentation swell when the IU didnt start being bloated as in '13 ... career and manager was nice enough , but i want more and i'm quickly bored by it .

Licenses will always remain an issue for PES , wich will always be partially fixable via free and allowed custom patches

[iistuii]

Well I'll find out this week as I've won a PES party which I get the complete game early. My friends & myself have to play it & review it. We are all going to be as honest as possible. Forget the licences as thats not their fault if Fifa have got all those, but were more interested in the gameplay & the game modes that they have this year. One concern ive read is theres no weather in the game, hope thats not true.Can't wait.

[1nsomniac]

The only thing I truly hate about FIFA these days is the scripted defence gameplay, it ruins the whole game for me & I hated the unnecessary Americanised over the top guff that they brought in with FIFA 13 as well.

[Wh15ky]

The master league has far to many annoyances these days.

The cut scenes are horrible sometimes I just want to give that secretary woman a good slap, especially when she tells me "no member of my beloved team have been selected as European or world player of the year". It's the use of the word "beloved" that I particularly hate.

The calendar is crap and takes far to long to load. Every time you win a game it goes to the calendar loading screen then stops on the next day, takes for ever to load just for that secretary woman to tell me I've been awarded yet another pair of useless boots.

Then there's also the timing of the internationals. All my good players are called up for internationals on the Friday then I'm supposed to field a team on the Saturday for my domestic league game and all my top players are knackered.

[iistuii]

Seems like you play a lot of PES 13. Do you manage to actually score many goals from crosses ?. I must say in a whole year of playing it I can count on one hand how many headed goals I've scored. Plenty of pathetic looping over the bar weak ones, but maybe I'm doing something wrong. But in the PES forums plenty have complained about heading in the game.

[Baka-akaB]

Header and the ball handling with shots had issues in general . Some comes even from patches that ruined it .

Truth be told PES '13 was looking quite great , and then they sabotaged themselves with the lack of leagues championships , those weird magic shoes and the awful patches that added issued instead of fixing the few left .

Basically all stuff peripheral to the original gameplay .

[Wh15ky]

I score quite a bit from corners.

It seems to work best by controlling a player at the edge of the 18 yard box, move him around to lose his marker then start running towards the 6 yard box at the same time as pressing the cross button. As long as your attacker has a clear path towards the 6 yard box with no defenders in his way he should run quite nicely onto the cross and have a good connection onto the ball. Not sure if I've described that too well but hopefully you get the idea.

I don't score too many headers from crosses in open play though and I agree with what you say about the pathetic looping over the bar.

[fsfsxii]

Lack of Mana. Thats what happened

[FRA85]

i was a big PES fan but don't like buying annualy released football games so gave it a break for few years. got PES 13 and it had hardly evolved at all.
still a good game but online master league was crap and the commentary has'nt changed since PS2.

It'll be a while before i buy a new one.

[RICKY82]

i've never had a problem with headers i score from corners and open play and occasionally from freekicks from out wide, timing & getting the right side of defender is key, my main problem with pes13 is pass support its has made pes gameplay so arcade like, i don't use pass support but on mlo i rarely play a team who doesn't use pass support on full & play long ball over the top every attack