Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 is the latest offering from Konami and the closestl rival to EA’s FIFA 14. The game was announced officially back in March and has arrived featuring a modified version of the new Fox Engine.
While some of us are waiting to play the new title alongside EA’s FIFA 14, there is already a new gameplay video that's been making the rounds on the Internet for a while now.
Interestingly, the gameplay video features the great Manchester derby, with David Moyes’ Manchester United and Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City (or Man Blue, in this instance) going head-to-head in a virtual world, ahead of the upcoming derby day this Sunday.
So what are the big changes made to this year’s Pro Evolution Soccer, and how does it compare against the versions that have released in the last few years? We take a closer look at what’s hot and what’s not in the new gameplay video straight out of the title (check below for the video).
First up, the gameplay actually looks quite similar to last year's Pro Evolution Soccer 2013. The game starts off with the player’s selection of the preferred team with options such as Ball Type (ball selection), Kick Off (start match), Strip (of course, the pattern of the field – and not anything else as the name suggests), Stadium (stadium selection) and General Settings (related to changing game time, difficulty mode and others).
This may be a small thing for most, but for me it’s absolutely necessary to have a well-read commentary team to follow up on the game. Thankfully, this year’s PES retains the combination of Jon Champion and Jim Beglin, who sound like they are even more reactive this time around.
Comparatively, EA’s FIFA series has Martin Tyler and Arsenal great Alan Smith as the commentary team. However, some new reports are now claiming that the duo will be joined by Manchester United legend and Sky Sports Football Pundit Gary Neville.
Heading back to the topic at hand, we have always instigated the importance of licensed teams and feel that this is one area where EA generates its sales ahead of Konami's title. However, when starting off, there are teams like Tyneside, Norfolk city, Hampshire red and The Potteries, which can be a major downer for somebody with love towards the game.
The gameplay, although featuring some little tweaks here and there, is still flawed. For example, it seems like Konami has been unable to deal with the problem where all your players keep running toward the ball, instead of where you ask them to be. This can get really irritating, especially when you are down by a goal or two.
In fact, the problem is so intense that even if you press the analog stick to move the player from point A to point B, the player will actually move the point C – which obviously is no man’s land.
As expected and seen in recent PES titles, the player reaction can be a real tough nut to crack. This is because of the ever-present latency issues where players react a bit late after you have pressed the button. This is really uncool, especially when none of us have the ability to look into the future and guess beforehand as to where the forward player will be once you take the ball up-field via your midfielders.
Although not really necessary, here are a few small points that we noticed: It seems like all the league games will look like a potential Champions league match with the same kind of lighting physics. Also, Wayne Rooney’s newly transplanted hair is missing in action, and obviously, the same old celebrations as always (and I was wishing for celebration customizations – similar to FIFA where you press LT or LB and maybe the right analog stick or the buttons to make your own celebrations).
Sadly enough, PES 14 has no real difference to talk about when compared to its earlier versions, which is a shame as most of us were hoping for big things from the newly introduced FOX engine. Konami should have gotten rid of bugs and issues related to the game before its final release.
No one is forcing Konami to follow in EA’s foot steps – as far as gameplay and cinematic is concerned – but it needs to brush up its own game if it even has a slight chance of facing the popularity generated by FIFA.
