Most Players Will Be Interested In How The Game Actually Plays

By Author: Guild Black
Total Articles: 197
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Most players will be interested in how the game actually plays, rather than what the players look like, and this year's entry has a few changes from PES 2012. AI-controlled players on your team run into space and call for the ball, which makes attacking plays easier to manage, and on the defending side, the collision engine has received a touch-up, making for more-realistic looking tackles. Unfortunately, the refereeing system seems to be just as inconsistent as previous titles, with bone-crunching tackles receiving nothing more than anguished cries from the attacking team, and slight nudges causing the referee to produce a yellow card. Even some blatant penalties are waved away by the referee, which will definitely cause frustration, particularly in tight games.

There are also a number of skill moves which have been implemented with dribbling to make pulling off flair on the move much easier, and these moves are controlled with the right stick. Players knock the ball from one foot to the other before sprinting past a defender, and others drag the ball under their feet or do a quick spin in an attempt to make the defender ...
... look stupid. There doesn't seem to be quite the range of tricks that are offered in FIFA, but if I'm honest, most of those aren't of any particular value once you enter a game situation anyway. What's offered in PES gives you an extra couple of tricks in your repertoire to attempt to fool defenders, and allows tricky wingers or skilled attackers a better chance of creating a scoring opportunity.

Whilst the changes do make for a different feel to the game of soccer, for the most part PES isn't much different from the last entry in the series, and for that reason, I imagine FIFA will once again walk away with the soccer crown this year. Passing and shooting is still too reliant on split-second timing, unless you're playing with the best players in the world, and the lack of complete licensing will, as ever, drive people towards the FIFA series. Those who have pledged to stick by PES through thick and thin will still have an enjoyable time with the game, but on current evidence, it just doesn't do enough to readjust the balance that weighs so heavily in FIFA's favour.

Year after year, the struggle between Pro Evo and FIFA continues unabated, with most football fans firmly entrenched on one side or the other. Both series have had their years in the sun, and whilst FIFA has more recently come out on top for the current generation of consoles, Pro Evo can arguably lay claim to being the best football simulation for the PlayStation 2 era. With Pro Evolution Soccer 2014, though, Konami has made some of the biggest changes to the series that this generation of consoles has seen, with the most notable being the implementation of their new Fox Engine technology, which allows for improved animations and physics. Is this enough to make Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 a title contender, or does it reduce the series to mere relegation fodder?

As usual, Pro Evolution 2014 features the same sporadic licensing that has dogged the series for as long as most gamers will remember. While some major leagues, such as the Liga BBVA from Spain, are fully licensed, and a whole host of new South American leagues such as Chile and Argentina are included, other major leagues such as the English Premier League only have one or two teams with the correct name, badge and kit. Despite this, www.vipfifacoins.com/fifa-14-coins.html player names and likenesses are all fairly correct, even if, at the time of writing, the game doesn’t feature the vast majority of transfers that were conducted during the summer transfer window. For fans of the FIFA series, and its near-complete licensing, it may come as a bit of a shock to be playing as North London instead of Arsenal, or Merseyside Red instead of Liverpool.