I actually dusted off the PS2 and started a PES5 ML last night. Its a bit of a shock to start with but once I got over how restrictive the movement and passing was it became very enjoyable. I played 6 15min games on 6 stars and enjoyed everyone despite only scoring 1 goal and conceding 4. Chances are hard to create with the default ML players and even harder to put away. Unlike the new game, most matches ended with about 50 - 50 possession but sometimes the CPU would edge it. I was going into match details at the end and seeing that there are times when I had very little of the ball, about 20 - 30% which is very to different to 2012 where I can constantly end matches with around 70% possession.
The AI plays much better than it does now, a far better opponent. Its passing game was soo good at one point it was astonishing, It would run into a dead end and create little triangles with 1, 2's to escape with possession and when all its forward options were closed down it passed it back to defense and started to build up again from the back. This didnt happen very often but it was amazing to see after playing 2012's AI where if it has no options to go forward it just pulls your CB away from the striker and plays a Xavi-esque pass with a terrible player over the top.
The goal keepers are too good, Lothar the default ML keeper was pulling off some incredible saves and hes has keeper skills in the 60's I think.
Individuality is not as good as todays games, its there and noticable but 2012 has more of it.
The dribbling was great, the ball feels really free in PES5. If you run onto it with a player that has poor technique(all of the ML guys!) they boot it miles ahead and its going to get taken. The good dribblers and ones with higher agility really stood out. Again the ball is great, seems totally seperate from the players and it flys all over the place from poor touches and bobbles around when passed along the ground, they went totally backwards ball wise after this game. I was having to always trap it first unless running into acres of space. Some of the players have awful first touches allowing the opposition to close in before I could get the ball under control and do something with it.
PES 5 was soo far ahead of its time, I knew it was a brilliant game then but its even more apparent now. And it was nice to play a game where it seemed as if it was a finished product. Not once did a player get suck in an animation and wander off without the ball. The player switching worked perfectly, I use the manual setting and could always get the player I want and it never got confused as to which player the ball was mean for. The switching in 2011 & 2012 is totally broken compared to this, I understand that the added freedom makes it harder for the game to read what you want but its still not good enough.
If PES5 had 360 movement and passing I would play it until PES2013 and probably after when it inevitably dissapoints. As it is I will probably get a few weeks out of it then be without a football game until the next releases, a few weeks is 1 or 2 more than I got out of 2012 I might add!
ckin the few xbox users they have right in the ass
