PES 2011: REVIEW

Series fans can breathe a sigh of relief as the only serious rival to 'FIFA' returns to form and poses some interesting new questions for console football.
You could say that Konami’s ‘Pro Evolution Soccer’ (a.k.a. ‘PES’) has helped make Electronic Arts’ ‘FIFA’ the outstanding game that it is today. We think it would be unfair of Electronic Arts to say otherwise, if only to acknowledge the dogged challenger biting at its heels.
Our focus today is ‘PES’ itself though. It’s time to give our verdict on ‘PES 2011’, hotly anticipated as the Second Coming of Konami’s traditionally trailblazing series. In recent times ‘PES’ has stumbled onto the playing field, looking a mite downtrodden on Xbox 360 and PS3. Well, we can start off by saying that ‘PES’ has reclaimed its gutsy attitude and elements of finesse. It’s nicely back on track.
Without labouring the point, ‘PES 2010’ was hard to love, underperforming in all areas. Signs that ‘PES’ has undergone a complete work-over appear from the moment ‘PES 2011’ loads on screen, with a slick carousel menu that’s a breeze to navigate across all the basic game modes.

The emphasis this year is on depth of gameplay, something that the ‘PES’ series is traditionally celebrated for, but previously required digging into by the most ardent fans. It’s now much easier to dip into the team tactics menu from any game to adjust individual player positions and overall team formation. Custom settings are easy to perform, and the effects are immediately seen in-game.
As ever, the new ‘PES’ features the most exhaustive customisation suite in any console football game. This year you can even play football with a boiled sweet instead of a ball among other bizarre options. Stadiums can be decorated in equally kooky fashion, using props from Konami’s illustrious history in videogames since the 1980s. Mostly though you’ll be needing the editing suite to create your best attempts at authentic kits and stadium names, because as usual the new ‘PES’ doesn’t feature officially licensed league teams from the UK, apart from Manchester United and Spurs.
There’s no point in dwelling on something that clearly is an inconvenience for Konami as much as it is a disappointment for everybody else. Let’s talk about the gameplay itself because, when all’s said and done, this is why we have loved the series no matter what. It’s generally good news too.
‘PES 2011’ incorporates several new elements to make the game feel like the true next-generation we’ve been waiting for. Where you’ll most notice this is in the passing game, for which ‘PES’ is famous, that is now more greatly influenced by weight and direction. On the positive side this means that the flow of the game is less rigid, a particularly cool example being a lofted pass that can be deftly headed on by an intermediary player to create a more realistic sequence of moves. The downside is that you’ll spend a lot of time getting used to how this feels, and pass too short or too long, much to your frustration until it starts to feel second nature. You’re also under more pressure with opportunities on goal to make sure the striker is balanced and in a good position to shoot. Again so many attempts will fly wide or merely get scuffed toward the keeper while learning.

The above could be a simulation step too far for players who’d rather focus on the strategy of build-up play rather than worrying about button sensitivity. It could be a bit like Marmite – love or hate. Everybody should welcome the improved artificial intelligence of team mates, however, that don’t all crowd around the ball like zombies after brains as they sometimes did in ‘PES 2010’. There does appear to be a tendency though for attacking players to hold back longer than necessary before making runs into the 18-yard box, but they can be encouraged to be more attack-minded using the tactical settings mentioned earlier. That’s if you can be bothered.
Generally there’s a much more organic feel to the gameplay in ‘PES 2011’ that helps distance itself further from ‘FIFA 11’ and its more familiar feedback. Player animations support this too, with many variations of receiving the ball that impact the gameplay as well as looking cool. The visual sheen is much improved too this season, with player-likenesses the best they’ve ever been, and pitches that actually look like grass instead of fuzzy felt. Sadly the presentation values take a kick to the shin with the audio, with formulaic chants from the crowd and commentary that is often ridiculous. To hear Jon Champion and Jim Beglin adds a certain amount of authenticity, but on too many occasions the action does not reflect the response, usually regarding losing or winning possession.
‘PES 2011’ is certainly feature-rich with its revised ‘Master League’ mode taking its famed player / manager theme online, and ‘Become a Legend’, similar to ‘Career Mode’ in ‘FIFA 11’, that gives you one player to fulfil his role on the field to achieve success from rags to riches. We especially liked the attention to detail in the player briefings of ‘Become a Legend’, with specific areas of focus for each game to keep you involved. ‘Master League’ is as robust as ever in single player mode, we can’t wait to take it online for a proper workout versus rival player / managers.

Online though could be a stumbling block for ‘PES 2011’. The servers were not fully operational at the time of writing, so we will need to revisit this next week for our head-to-head between ‘FIFA 11’ and ‘PES 2011’ (stay tuned!). We can comment on the ease, or lack thereof, of setting up player matches online via the swanky new carousel menu system.  This has to be the most awkward set-up since the dawn of online matchmaking, without a shortcut to simply challenge a friend.
To play just one game, you need to access the online menu, choose a server, create a room (ideally with a password) and communicate all this to your patient challenger. When your single game is over there is no option for a rematch, forcing you to quit to the online menu and go through the whole process again. We tried all available options, including an online Exhibition Match that would only pair us off with random online players. Creating a room in the Lobby was the only way it would work. This mess will top of the list of things for Konami to sort out for ‘PES 2012’, so thank goodness there’s enough to enjoy in the rest of the game to make the follow-up worth looking out for.
With ‘PES 2011’ Konami has steadied a ship that showed signs of sinking, and deserves to win back some of the fans that defected to ‘FIFA 10’ last year. It proves that Konami remains passionate about our beloved sport and has huge amounts to offer console football in the future. As usual with ‘PES’ though we find ourselves saying ‘it will be better next year, just wait and see’.