Even with such an early code, this game is light years ahead of anything from a technical footballing standpoint. People can romance about the 'legendary PES 5' as much as they want for me, this is a completely different animal altogether. I played this yesterday for 11 hours straight. I had my ass handed to me once, in a 4-1 defeat, and he used default players. The guy's footballing brain was immense, I swear I could almost hear his brain ticking as we played. Although I got well beaten, I loved every second of it, it was beautiful to watch. It's the first time in a long time I have been beaten by simply the better player. No cheap glitches, no sprint whoring, cheap goals, nothing, just pure undiluted football.
I actually tried PES 2010 for two games, and the massive difference is now you can play the game how you want to play it, with statistics having a massive effect. I've always loved playing PES and playing it properly. Making sure that I follow all the basic fundementals of football to produce my game. PES 2011, takes it to a whole new level indeed. By combining the fundementals of PES and adding the semi-auto approach of Fifa, Konami have created the perfect base. Finally we have a football game that will truly seperate the men from the boys, with a level of freedom never truly realised previously.
What I love about it the most, is the fact that you can really appreciate everything your opponent does, you know that they have really earned the fruits of their labour, because it's exactly the same for yourself. I played with a friend of mine yesterday, taking turns playing online games. He has been a PES fan for years, and it took him 7 games before he scored his first goal, and got his first win. And when he did, he really earned it. No sweetspots like Fifa, or playing the game the way Konami want you to play the game like all the past PES's,( which was never a bad thing for me as it followed basic football philosophy) but now doing it your way whilst still combining the basics of footballing technique.
Anybody that is looking for a cheap, quality AMF, look no further than Ben Saada from Eypyt, awesome purchase for just under £2million. I also sold Gervinho as he was very inconsistent with his shooting, although other areas of his game were top class. I actually made just over £500,000 profit on him as well, his valution increased due to his goalsd and assists. The problem was he needed 4 chances to tuck away one. He was basically exactly as it says on the tin, and not an out and out striker which I needed. I eventually opted for Julio Baptista to partner the superb Suarez. Baptista is strong as an ox, great power and technique, and is a real handful.
Suarez is also the perfect example of an SS. His passing is off the map, and I can use him to provide that killer pass that no-one else on my team bar Saada has in their arsenal. Saada has the Passer Playing Card by the way, always look out for that. Suarez is also great in the air, and knows how to find the back of the net. For me, he is the player on my team that really highlights the whole stat-based manual system currently in place.
I was trying to work out in my head, just how Konami have managed to implement this system with such a seemingly flawless transition. I'm starting to feel like a tap of the through ball or pass, or lobbed throughball leads more towards the stats of the players. Yet when you 'take over' a little with the application of the powerbar, thats when it becomes 50% manual 50% stat based. Anymore thoughts on this ?
Also, my biggest fear prior about the tricks is no-more. I need to check this, but I'm certain, even with trick stick, you need to be aware of which foot the player is using to pull off certain moves. This is what happens in PES 2010, and I thought they had moved away from it, but I'm sure they havent, just incorporated it into this new system. As for the error in tricks, it's massive, I've seen it so many times now, a player with lesser ability can attempt the trick, but they just make themselves look stupid as the technique falls down. I'm really, really happy about this. I did the Rainbow Flick by accident with Gervinho, then tried it again with Stein and it didnt even flick over his head, and bounced off his back, idiot.
I cant wait to get my hands on the finished product, even this early code shows to anyone that can see, it's so much deeper than anything we have ever had in a football game. And as far as making PES easier, this so isnt the case. This whole 'Freedom' not only gives you exactly what it says, but the flip side of this Freedom is so much more potential error, it really is exactly what we need to simulate football. I think the casual gamer will find PES 2011 far too hard. It really is for the hardcore player, and I love that. It's still quite tight for Regular AI, I'm really cant wait to play this baby on Top Player AI, it's going to make PES 5 feel like PES 2008 in stubborness.
Edit - I also played my first Evo-Weber in Fremm. The game highlighted a few minor animation bugs and the little stuff you would expect from this code, but overall the game was brilliant. It ended 0-0, and Fremm's defensive play was some of the best I have seen yet. I really wish the 'Covering/Retreat Tracking Defensive System' was in this code, but its just another thing to look forward to I guess.
