So here's my demo review, I'll mention the new if not exciting new little things around the actual pitch action too for those interested. You can play one full 5 min game in the demo, and play against instantly without leaving. Teams available are Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, Spain, France and Turkey. The kit selection screen now shows two rotating player statues, however you're still limited to the four home/away kit combinations. Selectable skill levels are the same. Music is now played in EA tracks style, showing a little popup when the next track starts.
In the pre-game menu, the only thing I think is new is auto formation change as in-game tactic, no new skill values. Camera zoom and angle cannot be changed in the demo. In screen options, you can alter each RGB value seperately. The in-game pause menu has a little window in the upper right, showing either the bench or the stadium. Replay span seems slightly longer, and there are some new fixed camera angles (sideline etc.) to choose from.
The graphics are pretty good, although only a small step up from the PES6 360 version. The player faces are easily recognisable, shirts, pants and hair moves slightly. Players have a properly animated shadow which looks fine, but also a fuzzy circular shadow which doesn't really look realistic. The crowd is well animated as in PES6 360, however it still suffers from the problem that the animation cycle for all equal crowd player models run at the same time, which makes it look more artifical than needed. The stadium feel is pretty much the same, some flags, camera shows some supporters on the half-time menu, but that's about it.
For the sound, you hear some twacking noises when players collide, and the manager shouting every now and then. It sounds ok but could be improved for sure. The crowd noise is pretty much the same, some whistling and booing. In some game I didn't notice any major changes when approaching the goal or scoring, it was more of a noise floor, in other games the supporters reacted well to the action on the pitch.
In the game, the first impression is that the ball feels definitely more solid, better than PES6. The game feels notably slower, and just passing a dozen times for an easy tap-in is no more, as defending with the regular tackle button is finally useful again. Also, the physical aspect comes across much better, players feel solid, and you can't just run through well positioned players like melted butter. Approaching passes with the receiving player is better too, you feel less tacked to the ground just waiting to receive the pass and knock it on. To make up for the less powerful passing, regular long balls are finally a good option, they're quick and low but not always precise, which gives it a realistic feel.
Dribbling is alright, and as it's harder to go past a defender, so it feels good to pull off a move and go past him. The balance between running strikers and defenders seems fine to me, a fast defender can slowly catch up. You'll see players falling to the ground when losing balance eg. in a running duel, a nice touch outlining the physical aspects again. 1-2s are working well but don't feel too powerful, just like regular and chipped through passes. The L1 (or LT) lob is easier to pull off now. The dive thing is alright and doesn't make the game better or worse, it's just a gimmick to use every now and then like the roulette or the rabona were. Shot feints on 1on1 situations do not work well, you'll have to work harder beating the goalie this time. Speaking of which, the goalies do a good job, I didn't see any terrible mistakes or just silly positioning. Animations are good and fluid for the most part, spectacular saves look great. It seems like there are less predictable rebounds as well.
Technically, the controls are much more responsive this time around, not as good as the Dualshock, but an acceptable alternative unlike last year. The blue ball in the demo is a terrible choice in my opinion, but I suppose there will be enough regular balls in the final game. It's overall a bit choppy, there are slowdowns, and the good old whistle break bug is back, which must by all means be fixed for the retail version.
I didn't expect anything from this version, especially not this to be the great next-gen version we all dreamed of one or two years ago. I feared it would be more of PES6, which was a woeful unbalanced game in my opinion. The things that annoyed me most seem to have been fixed, allowing for a more creative and rewarding gameplay which is not all about passing, running and offense. To me it's not all new, but more balanced version of the same game, putting it a good step ahead of PES6.
and cant wait to buy the full game
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