Haven't touched FIFA so I wouldn't know, but PES this year is just so frustrating.
Firstly, if you crank it up to Top Player or Superstar like I've done in previous years the game is just a pressure mess, which probably has to be played with three bar assist and sprint button held all day long. So it's basically professional or lower.
I find one bar professional about the sweet spot for TRYING to get something simulation out of it.
The build up play from the human POV is probably the best yet. But the CPU build up play, or rather your team mate AI and the general unresponsiveness means it's a fucking nightmare to try control the action, especially defensively.
Once again I am left scratching my head at piss poor team mate AI, inexplicable CPU controlled defending on the human side, and just downright shite goals scored by the CPU, which inevitably can be traced to poor keeping. If you crank the game down to -1 or -2 speed then shooting and shot power becomes a joke, and the keepers flaws are highlighted even more. I'm talking 1mph daisy cutters outfoxing the keeper.
On gamespeed -1 even, some of the CPU shots that my orange/red keeper is just letting in or pansying is laughable. Combine that with the CPU keepers catching almost everything, and yes, I'm beginning to see like a lot on here that shooting/keeping is indeed pretty borked.
I don't get ANY satisfaction out of scoring any more. It's as simple as that. I am left totally indifferent as to when the ball finds the net. At least in 2013 (eventually) you could feel the shot more even if it was less recognisable than say PES 5/6. God, in those games the 'feel' generated through the button press and controller and a firmly hit shot was just magic. Something which has been lost.
Another thing which is driving me crazy is the first touch of the attacker when he breaks the CPU defensive line and he's through on goal. It doesn't matter whether it's Suarez, RVP, Stephen Hawking; it doesn't matter if you use sprint to knock the ball on further or just the direction on the controller, the first touch will always bounce miles in front of the striker toward the keeper.
It makes it difficult to predict therefore which momentum stride is needed because the first touch is just so random. The first touch when clear can even be as bad as the ball going 5-10 yards in front of the player even with no pressure on him.
Keeper palming the ball into his own net from near post. Just a game breaker.
I could go on and on.
Such a shame.
My patience is finished with KONAMI. Us PES fans have been about as loyal as any followers of any product since gaming began. We started the journey with you way back through the grounding days (PES1-3), we saw improvement after improvement and you gave us games with such atmosphere, feel, soul and emotion. Through the PES 4-6 years, I lost half my life playing those friggin' games. I cared about it. I cared about the players, I cared about nurturing them, and got lost in my own little football world. I STILL think about some of those games EVEN NOW....and I'm 31!! Whilst life moves on and priorities change, those memories will always be there because those games meant something. If you loved football, and were a football man appreciating tactics and player stats, and right/foot left foot variables, then PES was THE GAME.
You could play those games for 8 months solid and still see something new in the 9th month. I VIVIDLY remember losing a Champions League final to Inter as Liverpool, 2-1 with an Inter late goal. I can remember the emotion even now of the sheer deflated disappointment, my hands were as sweaty as fuck, as I was blocking, and blocking, and I couldn't get out of my box, and there was more pressure and more, and finally they scored a 92nd minute winner. I remember the whole week was geared to that final, the expectation. I made sure that nobody was around whilst I played that memorable 20 minute match. I can even see the winning Inter goal now in my head. THAT'S HOW MUCH PES MEANT BACK THEN.
Even defeat was utterly glorious.
Why? Because the game was so fucking good.
We then ENDURED the horror years when every other genre was taking things to the next level.
I then saw some light with 2011, which at least tried to emulate some simulation into the game. 12 was a turn for the worse, and 13 (after a million patches) became at least a solid playable game.
But this....I don't know. It's a cross between the best in some areas, and quite possibly the worst in others.
Many good things like I say, but it's 2013 and as a product it can be only be described as completely unfinished. It simply isn't good enough, and I've had it.
Us PES fans we tinker and potch and alter and manipulate everything from player stats to gamespeed, to the modes, to the camera. We then try this and that and change resolution and aspect ratio and blah blah blah to try and get the fucking thing to function like a £40 game.
We are promised every year, every single year, that this year will be the best. Everything is in hand. If anyone at KONAMI gets slated by loyal supporters they are slapped down. I've shelled out more cash over various platforms for PES than I'd like to admit. So yes, I am entitled to a fucking opinion on it to all those that bitch that KONAMI owe me nothing.
The game clearly isn't finished. Last year the game wasn't finished. So many things wrong in all areas. I haven't even mentioned online which over the years has been a travesty.
Anyway, that's my little rant over. It's back to playing a patched Championship Manager 01/02 and my PC patched PES 6.
To all those getting something out of it then all the very best. But as an occasional gamer these days, I really can't be arsed with trying to fix your game myself and put a 1000 hours in like I have done each and every year to try and fix it.
Anyway, good luck to those that persevere.
