I've tried to do a full translation of italian preview from
www.everyeye.it/xbox360/pro-e...firstlook_8109.
Probably shitty. Anyway I'll post it.
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Following the PES2008’s experience we have to say that this year iteration is puzzling, in a positive way fortunately.
First thing to highlight is the game speed is slowed down a lot, no more super heroes but humans.
Also the passes are more realistic as they are now in control and allow an acceptable pace playing the game. When you are building your offensive approach passes results less on rails than in the past and you are called to be more careful as the ball can be intercepted easily now, this means that actions appear a lot more real.
Manual passing is there. They have reintroduced the manual pass by use of the right stick, allowing you to handle power and direction of your passes.
About controls keys, to be said that they have definitely given the possibility of customize every key of the pad, so that you can manage to have a different set of keys for attacking and defending.
About player stats, it has been removed the big differences between top players and others, now Messi and Ronaldo won’t be able to widely outclass any other player in athletics and technical skills. This can be a pro since there are still not unstoppable players but is to be seen if this can affect the depth of the gameplay. To be said that the test has been too short to issue a verdict in this sense.
After a few matches we noted as with a slower game speed the players have a different and more realistic way to react when you are in control of the ball or changing direction. So a big improvement on movement without ball and shooting.
Talking about shooting, we have to say that even though the system is simplified compared with full manual EURO 2008 shooting, there are now more chance to handle the direction of shots, and the shot seems to be more affected by position of the player than in PES2008.
What we have been really impressed from is the absence of “rails” as we have in PES2008. In PES 2009 the player is completely free to move without ball, giving you more opportunities in a lot of situations, intercepting a cross as well as freeing your striker.
A positive note is the ball is not more sticky to player’s foot. You can lose it by a untimely change of direction.
We prefer to not give an evaluation to AI because of the duration of our test. Anyway it’s seemed better on pressing than in defensive tactical positioning.
On the graphical side not so much to say: most important improvement are in facial textures of top players, and some new animations like “head’s stop and go” to be used on mid-air balls.
Player models looks very similar to which we have seen on PES08 with high quality texture that make a significant step forward on visuals.
Animations, in general, are very numerous but not so good as they are in FIFA08/EURO08 a they don’t appears so fluid as they are in previous iterations of PES, all PES.
Lighting, menus graphics and pitch textures are not affected by relevant upgrades and seems to be under industry standards.
Last note to mention a very stable graphic engine that allow the game running smoothly even in critical situations like 8-10 players on the screen at the same time.
Closing comments
We are quite satisfied from what we’ve seen compared with last year GC that was the lower in PES history.
Last year PES approach to next gen was painful so we have to be very careful now.
However we feel that developers want to restart by zero trying some new interesting issue into the gameplay.
But a few retouches won’t be enough as FIFA 09 promises to be a strong competitor this year.
Let’s the time decides who will win the duel.
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