Come in, weary traveler. In here you are safe. In here,
eFootball 2022
My first brush with PES was with International Superstar Soccer Pro Evolution on PS (hereafter called ISS Pro). Having played quite a bit of FIFA 98 and 2000 on PC, I was ready to go online and tell everyone that ISS Pro was total shit. I had never played it, but the Internet, you know? Surely FIFA was king. Then I started working at a music/movie/game store and some of the workers had switched over to ISS Pro. Watching them play and giving the game a proper go, I realized that it was so much more realistic. So scoring an overhead kick in every game was not the way to go, who knew? I was thus turned from my Fifa-loving ways. I got a PS1 and soon after that, ISS Pro 2. And I was very hooked. The first PES I played was on PS1 as well, and to this day, PES for PS2 is the one game in the series that I never ever played. I went straight to PES 2 when I got a PS2, I was playing Need For Speed Hot Pursuit 2 and Tekken 4 religiously at the time, what a time to be a gamer! So many good games on PS2. I don't there has ever been a better system when it comes to games.
Pes 2 never felt quite right though, and PES 3 was a revelation. It was such a blast, I had to play it all the time. The only thing that bothered me about it was the number of volleys, and the lack of long range goals. That was fixed in PES 4, in my opinion the most underrated of the golden age, which I consider Pes 3, 4, 5 and 6. Pes 5 was not loved out of the gate as many of you remember but it was soon recognized as the masterpiece it is.
I played Pes 2008 on PS2 but it was basically PES 6. Pes 2008 on PS3 I wasn't the biggest fan of and actually preferred 2009. 2010 I absolutely loved though, and made Peter Crouch European footballer of the year in Master League. Good times were had. PES 2011 was a big change, especially because it introduced a passing power bar. Soon after that, I forget when now, I was introduced to the magical wonders of manual passing, and never looked back. I was happy with every PES but 2014, they tried to change something, but sadly it didn't quite come off. Now I wish they had continued with what they were trying to do there, instead of catering to the crowd, which has sadly become the norm in most games.
Those years I would impatiently wait for each game like a kid for Christmas. Sometimes popping to town to see if it was in, being let down when it wasn't, but when it eventually showed... Bliss. I was very much a grown man at this point, but they say you should keep in touch with you inner child. I don't think they have ever said you could do too much of that, so lets not give that any further thought.
Speaking of growing, I am getting older and frankly the last few PESs are starting to blend together in my mind. I forget now which one had the green zone bug and which one had more heel passes from the AI than regular passes. But every year was the same as I waited to get my hands on a new game and again, it was like a second Christmas. More like a first Christmas, because PES came before, but I do love Christmas, so I will put PES in my second biggest "Holiday." Eventually things changed from going to the store and became pre-loading and playing at midnight when the game was out. A bit different, but still often magical. This year I got a PS5 so my "second Christmas" was right there. Next fall, who knows. I will probably have to get a girlfriend, something that is overdue anyway.
Not to sound overly dramatic (might be too late) but all good things come to an end. Konami gets a lot of flack these days but I can only be grateful that this company created some of my best gaming memories. I haven't even mentioned the mini-tournaments with the mates, always chock full of drama, excitement and laughs. The awesome goals I scored years and years ago but still remember.
And these things don't need to be over. The older games are still around, Fifa 2022 might be pretty good, it's not just doom and gloom. But at this point, where the book of PES has effectively been closed, I still want to raise a glass to it.
The King is dead, Long live the King!
...Wait, they only say that when there is a new king, don't they...
