Couldn't read the thread properly so I dont' know if there have been many reviews of the Gamescom demo so far, but Here are my two cents. As a developer, I went to Gamescom and could attend everything before it get infested with people, so I could play the demo of PES17 for 90 minutes. i had some meetings so I had to srop playing
I played mostly with Barcelona for obvious reasons, also because I can compare with last editions easier. But I also played Atletico, Boca and River.
My impression is that it is a very close iteration to the last one, obviously, with some adjustments here and there, but nothing big at all. Here is a succint summary of good and bad. I don't try to be objetcive, it is my oppinion and may mean nothing to others. I'm not a fan anymore of the series nor football games so I write this from the perspective of someone who is drifting away from the game.
I played all the time at 1 bar passing assist, 3 or 4 difficulty level against the AI.
Good
- players feel as different and unique as possible considering the game is essentislly the same as last years.
- Tactics and player movements continue the trend of the series in getting a more lively representation of football, I could see some smart moves and some stupid moves of teammates, but overall you really feel the difference between teams and gameplans, which to me is the biggest asset of the franchise, by far
- grapcihcally the game is getting on par with Fifa, and faces are great. Stadiums, nets, lighting... It looks better than ever, but nothing groundbraking
- physical play has been improved substantially, though it still lacks animations, but I could see a better fighting for position, and pushes to grt the ball... Not as robotic ans "binary" as before.
- Shooting felt much better, as well as crossing, with better ball curves and speed, though it is still too acurate to my liking.
- For the most part, goalkeepers were great, though I didn't force them too much, I play a lot of midfield and go for the chance only when there's a clear path. On crosses and corners, if they get out of the net they continue to be godlike, always catching the ball. Unaffected by the crowds or whatever. More rror there would be great.
Bad
- it is still too accurate in terms of passing and shooting. I can understand Messi being practically god, but when you take a lesser player you should feel much more the lack of skill, specially in passing AND ball control, When I played Boca, I missed as many passes as being Barcelona. This is because I tried to play th e game exactly the same with both teams, and though it was more difficult to create chances with boca due to the lack of superstars upfront, I could control the match the same way at midfield, passing around, Passing being too accurate destroys a bit the experience to me. You can create great team moves and combinations which is amazing, but it is a bit too easy with worse players, I would prefer is more represented in the game, running with a less skilled player should imply larger, uncontroled touches. Trying to pass with a lesser skilled CB should be dangeorus...
- I had a match with 3 fouls, but still missing too many. It is a problem of the developers prefering fluid gameplay, but also because passing is still so accurate and players too skilled and not enough loose balls, it's the result of a sum of factors.
- with passing still being so accurate, you can, again, grt out of dangerous situations so easily. Getting out of the own box passing around should be something only doa le with big teams with big stars. Doing it effortlessly with Boca or River wasn't fun at all.
- The game still has the ugly gamebraker that made me stop playing it. It is the stupid way in which the opponent striker is left unmarked when you are attacking. For example, if you cross the ball or shoot and the CPU (or a human, it doesn' matter) gets the ball and starts the counter, there is ALWAYS a hole between your defenders and deffensive midfielders, and the opponent striker will be there alone, ready to receive the ball. I've fought this for years to no end, and can't be avoided. To me it totally kills the experience as it doesn't matter at all what I do or how I do it, even if I have 3 defenders left back and only attack with strikers, the game is done in a way and tactics are so primitive that it always leave you exposed to a counter when you loose the ball, because the striker will be able to receive the ball alone most of the time, even if there are 3 defenders there who have no one to mark. It is a result of how tactics work for the defenders when you are attacking and the passing being soooo accurate. If you are dominating the field and are superior in midfield, in real life you can see teams like Barcelona putting the opponent back and recovering the ball fast, with defenders anticipating the onely striker left by the opponent. In PES, this is impossible to replicate. The ressons why we see so many running up and down in the game is because the game IS DESIGNED to do so. Accurate passing is there because they want to allow players to pass around easily, that's ehy hardly anyone clears the ball away, no matter the situation, because passing out of a situation is always there,
To me, that's the biggest challenge of the game, and has been for years, and though this years there are improvements I still feel the basic experience will remain exactly the same, Some will love it and some won't. Personally, I will try it and play occasionslly ( I only play single player) but I can see the same flaws there (which it isn't a surorise). It continues to be a good game and the one that represents better the flow of football and the way y it, in my oppinion.