He cant only pass to predetermined players Gomito, I'm not buying that. You have the option to hold up the ball and pick the pass. Try using the high pass, or the manual high pass. What about holding down the pass button and missing a player out ? Or waiting for a run and the option to play the lobbed high pass of the soft or weighted through ball ?
Yes, 'YOU' can pass to whoever the fuck YOU want to. How about adding a bit of realism and individuality of the player in possession to use HIS own personal skills and attributes to pick out the perfect pass, or not as the case maybe ? Thats simulating the players natural skills.
A good example last night, Luis Fabiano made a cracking run and I went to pick him out him with a lobbed through pass with Marcello. I tried the pass with Marcello's lesser favoured foot and the pass had far, far too much weight on it and it went out for a goal kick. Did that piss me off ? Hell no, I loved it. If Kaka had attempted the same pass, 8 times out of ten I'll bet the ball would have dropped nicely into Fabiano's run.
Yes you may have been able to pick out the same pass on Fifa using manual passing, but then thats down to your skill as a gamer and nothing to do with the Brazilian defenders weaker ability and lesser technique when using his wrong foot to create the opening. Thats my point. If your happy to play like that Gomito, thats cool with me. Personally it's just not my perception of a simulation.
Very, very, very rarely do I make a mis-placed pass at all on this new demo. The only time my pass isnt executed correctly is when the player makes the error. And lets be honest, how many perfectly threaded through balls do we see actually come off in a real game. One in five ?
The problem we have had in previous PES titles, some more than others, is that these type of through balls found their intended target more often than not. Yes, it's nice to see them come off on a regular basis, but is it honestly that realistic ? I dont think it is.
I have seen people complain, and I have even whinged myself at the weight of some of the through balls not being hard enough in the WE/PES 10 demo. But when a through ball is threaded and placed with pace and accuracy by the likes of Xavi et al, it makes the feeling so much more enjoyable, and at the same time the individuality shines through ten-fold. Konami really have taken this game to a new level in that sense, and that only helps to excentuate the simulated concept of the game.
What does piss me off though is the fact the manual pass is so much easier to direct with a PS3 pad than it is with an Xbox 360 pad. It is still broken on the Xbox 360 pad and gives you very little directional control.
When I played the PES 2010 demo on the PS3 pad, even without practice on that pad since my PS2 days, I still managed to pull off 70% of my manual passes in the direction I wanted them. It wasnt 360' but it was certainly a hell of alot more than 8 directions. I still had trouble with the weight of the manual pass, but with more practice I really feel I can master this.
Just on another note. Not sure how many of you have tried the manual keeper option yet, but I switched to manual keeper last night when Toni was clean through on goal, narrowed the angle, stood my ground, then made a cracking save and tipped it round the post. That did make me smile.
I think Konami may have a real master-piece on their hands this year. And after seeing all the variations of the 1st touch from the world class players on the demo's. I cant wait to get my hands on the lesser teams to see just how much poorer their touches are. It really will make even the slow players with great technique come into their own. Which is a far, but very welcomed cry, from the speed manipulated play of PES 2008 and PES 2009.
PES 2010, simulation.............It's in the game.