THE GAME MAIN COVER
GAME DESCRIPTION
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Pro Evolution Soccer 5 has long been regarded as the videogamers football game, with more emphasis on gameplay and challenge than its rival FIFA. Here on Thunderbolt we’ve been constantly excited at this time of year as the new version nears completion, and nevertheless many lunch breaks were filled, deadlines over-run, controllers broken and swear words invented as the entire team (minus our Editor Phil, currently plotting world domination in his secret base-come-uninhabited volcanic island in New Zealand) gathered around at every available opportunity to march England onto World Cup glory. With both Gerrard andLampard in the same side.
There’s Rooney, about to go mental on that Italian fella.
Did we like PES5? More than that. Love? Even more; at one point we assigned a chair for the case to merely sit on and began making cups of the Thunderbolt brew for the disc to sup as we played away- Jim even let it review Far Cry’s Xbox outing as we got into arguments about 4-4-2’s and 4-3-3’s. Loved it? We lived it. It’s part of the team now, and is currently publishing news articles.
On the surface, PES5 looks almost identical to its predecessor, with vast stadiums and general player likenesses; you’ll instantly notice the heavyweights like Henry, Van Nistelrooy and Collins John when in-game, and there’s no similarities between Old Trafford and Highbury. Perhaps the best view of the atmosphere within matches is when the camera swoops down behind the goalkeeper for a goal kick; you get to see his view of the ground, with 22 players (including the referee) jostling for space down the pitch in the front of him, with a giant stand splitting the skyline behind them, full of waving and cheering fans.
Where you start to see the nifty new additions and tweaks is in general gameplay and replays. Players no longer run into space anonymously, instead waving frantically to attract your attention and pointing where they want it passed to. Goalkeepers moan far more ferociously towards the back line for sitting off or letting players through, and seem to have more moves to pull of when saving shots instead of the tried-and-tested fall and block routine. Defenders also act more intelligently by grabbing hold of shirts, using their arms to slow down opposing players and even body checking during set-pieces; it’s quite a laugh to see a forward sitting on his backside when a corner is floated in, although referee’s aren’t completely blind to your illegal behaviour.
And there’s Vierra on the left. He doesn’t play for Arsenal any more…
In fact, the refereeing has been totally revamped, and whilst some will feel that the whistle is blown far too often for simple shirt pulls and tumbles, there’s no denying that Konami have got this aspect of “the beautiful game” spot on. As someone who could often get through games on 6 stars before without conceding a free-kick, this is no longer possible, but is by no means detrimental to the core gameplay. Fouls play more of a tactical role this time round; if a quick striker bursts through the back line, you can use that slow but strong centre back to tug his shirt back, thus slowing the attack and letting your players get back. Constant attention paid to hounding out opposition players with rough but fair challenges will lead to them picking up knocks, which will no doubt help out your side, and if you’re on the receiving end then by holding onto the ball you can get players booked, sent off and win cunningly-placed set pieces.
Managers of football teams will constantly tell you that set-pieces are arguably one of the biggest aspects of a game, as it’s the only piece of play in which you control most of the factors on how to score or defend. The same applies with PES5; as usual, players make different runs depending on how long you wait to kick the ball, but instead of the computer taking control of your team, once the ball is in the air you seem to have more time to position yourself for a crack at goal. Breaking away from defenders, it’s possible to angle yourself to either unleash a spectacular volley, a powerful header or a cheeky flick-on for a team mate. On the flip side, the defending team also get an advantage as you can block runs from players, tug on shirts to stop them from jumping or get in a position to block a shot at goal.
Don’t know who these guys are, although that scum bag at the back on the right looks like Crespo.
Players are now given far more control over shooting, which opens up several opportunities to score some spectacular efforts. Shots are far harder and quicker but equally as wild, so it’s still possible to miss from three yards out but you’ll be seeing that net bulge far more. For seasoned players there’s the control button; holding this down makes shots less powerful but more precise, allowing creative lads like Beckham and Ronaldinho to bend in shots from afar, or world class strikers such as Shevchenko to aim precisely into the corner of the net. Offering fans to score a variety of goals, the control button at last brings in those alienated from experimenting with shooting, as usually a sharp tap of the button would suffice.
The biggest change this year though has to be the passing system. You now have to aim with the left stick (or D-Pad) before pressing the pass button, which sounds and seems very hard to achieve at first, but practise does prove to make perfect. It means you don’t necessarily have to pass to the next most immediate player, instead forwarding the ball into space for people to run into, which can stretch defences all over the place. The ball is also often played in front of the recipient, encouraging them to run but also offering a chance for the opposition to get a foot in. When not shooting, the control button allows players get a better first touch and to hold up the ball; this can be used to cunningly gain free kicks, waste time in important matches or hold up play to allow team mates to find space. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be standing there all day as strong defenders can easily charge you off the ball, but for a quick few seconds it can buy your team some much needed time to re-group.
As has always been a key element in the PES series, possession proves to be the key, and this year things are no different. The opposition seem to exploit holes in the defence far more and will rarely give you time or space to dilly dally about; depending on their mentality, the computer will either hunt you down in packs of two or three players to try and pressure you off the ball, which is frightenly exciting to watch, or the midfield will drop deep and the defence push up to plug any gaps for your creative players to exploit. Should you lose the ball, you can expect a barrage as they run up the pitch on a counter attack, with wingers running full backs ragged and flair-ridden midfield players floating about trying not to be noticed.
That ugly, long haired, Brazilian git is Ronaldhino. I hate him.
Luckily, Konami seem to have gotten rid of the horrible end of game bug, in which if the ball was outside of the goal area when injury time was nearing to an end, the whistle would go off. Far more realistically, the ball now has to be in a non-attacking motion before play is ended, so if you’re attacking then you can afford to keep possession at the end of the box without fear of the whistle blowing just as you set off to take a final shot. The same can be said for running down the wings; before, a defence-splitting pass would be chased down, and just as you get to it the whistle would go, with your striker in the box unmarked. Now, you can get to the ball and cross it and still have the chance on goal. Again, the flip-side of this is agonising when defending, as you really have to hoof the ball out of the danger area to get the whistle to go, which adds an extra spice to the mix as you’re tested to the absolute limit as to whether you can keep your cool right up until the final whistle.
Off the pitch, there isn’t much new, however of what little additions there are make a huge difference to gameplay. There still isn’t a full license to cover the entire game* which means you’ll been spending a bit of time in the edit mode swapping players about and changing names. The most notable addition here is the potential growth meter, which changes how well players progress within the Master League.
Master League is the meat and bones of Pro Evolution Soccer, which allows you to take control of a club team and take them from the very depths of the football league and onto the highs. As you progress through the entire game you can unlock additional features to alter how many transfer points you start off with, to change the difficulty level to maximum and edit which teams enter which league. There’s also the option from the very start to either have the original team available or commence play with a bunch of misfits and lower-league drop outs. The former offers players to jump straight into management with their favourite team and build from there, with the latter offering far more of a challenge.
He’s getting a card for his shameless designer stuble.
When you start out, your little-known players will have dragged the clubs reputation through the dirt, and as such you won’t beable to attract the top talent during transfer windows. There’s not much overall skill, so attention has to be paid to individual preferences and you basically have to battle tooth and nail for results and try to drag the club up the league, achieve promotion and then start to build on European domination. As you keep playing the team starts to gel, which makes things slightly easier at best, and perhaps the key is to keep up fitness levels with the simplified training regimes. Winning games earns you more points, as do cup runs, and at the end of each season the teams wage bill is deducted from the overall amount, and having a negative balance means you get sacked and the game ends. To keep things fresh players develop skills and even deteriorate over time, so you get used to buying in promising youngsters as oldies retire and get regenerated. It’s a never ending process and ensures that even the top teams have to keep an eye out in the transfer market.
There are, of course, other modes of play such as domestic and international cups and leagues, the latter with optional cup matches, which offer the standard yet fun experience of playing without concern. And then we come to internet play.
It was always inevitable that football games would branch out online, and Konami seems to have learnt its lesson with the last Xbox outing. Now, both versions are internet ready, and lag issues have been vastly reduced by ensuring that both players each host a half each. Online rankings have been vastly streamlined; however it’s amazing that although Konami happily allow PESFan.com to set up leagues throughout the UK and generally look after the vast amounts of fans, I find it astounding that they don’t use their option files for use online. It’s incredibly annoying to go from your game on your memory card with correct kits, rosters and team names to the online community where everything is default and out of date. This detracts from the experience somewhat, and whilst most will argue that PES is about gameplay, I’m starting to get annoyed with the same old excuses. That said, games are extremely fascinating to participate in.
Without going further to spoil surprises, PES5 is as realistic to the beautiful game as the series has ever been, with the new gameplay tweaks keeping things fresh for fans and adding challenging elements to tackle and master. It’s a pain to have to almost see it as compulsory to splash out on Datel’s Max Drive* to get the best out of the game, but what with the limited capacity of Sony’s memory cards and the need to beable to backup important data it does seem that most PS2 and Xbox owners now own the device.
Despite the licensing issues, Pro Evolution Soccer 5 is once again the absolute pinnacle in the series, something we couldn’t changing. Some will moan that the new tweaks make the game too hard, but in all honesty each new addition in the history of PES has required players to take the game from a new angle and aspect, going back to basics in an attempt to master the new game engine. As with all games across all platforms, here at Thunderbolt Games we invite readers to our forums to converse on tactics, tricks and tips, and now is no different.
Fans of the series will be pleasantly surprised at how Konami has managed to keep PES on the same rails yet freshen things up, with new gamers finding a challenging yet rewarding experience. And with Konami themselves saying that they believe that can improve the game ten-fold on the next generation of systems, the present and immediate future looks very bright indeed.
*You can download, with the help of a Max Drive, edited option files that automatically change the player names, kits, stadiums and rosters to the most up to date releases, and as a player of the PES series since day one I can whole heartedly recommend investing in one.
For producers of any long-running franchise, eventually there's a conundrum to face. Do you take the road marked 'EA Sports' and gradually move your games on a little each year, without trying anything you'd consider as a serious risk? Or do you try something different, knowing damn well you could alienate the fan base that currently funds your rather swanky Christmas party?
Reading some of the material in circulation about Pro Evolution Soccer 5, you could be forgiven for thinking that Konami's developers have gone for the radical overhaul option. In fact they haven't, but they have taken some measured chances here, and pushed the game still further away from arcade-kickabout land, consequently moving it towards a more serious simulation.
The results, predictably, are excellent, even if they take a bit of getting used to. Gone is the close control that fans of previous versions could, to an extent, take for granted. Gone are the simple backheels, the accurate turn-on-a-sixpence style passes and almost magnetic through balls that could routinely be relied on to turn a game.
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Instead you have a ball that bobbles round a lot, bouncing off shins, never really doing what you need it to do unless you've got it under proper control. It's a bit of a culture shock at first, although a logical one. More than ever, the game makes you think about which of your players has the ball, what they can do and what tactically is the best move to make. All the while, of course, fending off enhanced computer-controlled players who snap at your heels.
Foul play, too, is a far more common occurrence. Those little foot-in tackles of old more frequently result in a yellow card, and discipline is something you really need to watch. Likewise, the tactics of your computer-controlled components vary greatly, with few traditional 4-4-2 line-ups to be found. That works in your favour too, thanks to the far more flexible formation and tactical set up options that are open to you now.
For the single player, the main attraction is once again the Master League, where you take a team from the bottom to the top with a bit of wheeling and dealing in the transfer market along the way. It's a superb way to enjoy a superb game, and whilst the management angle isn't the match of FIFA, we don't ever remember intensely caring about the result of a match in that game in the same way we do in Pro Evolution Soccer 5.
We particularly like the fact that, for example, if you need a draw to get a promotion, you can set out specific tactics to do that, and if you employ them correctly it's possible to grind out the point you need. Contrast that with the continual attack-attack-attack focus of FIFA, and you begin to realise just how deliberately measured Pro Evolution Soccer is. That's a very good thing.
Perhaps the improvement that will interest PC owners the most, though, is the full and proper integration of online gaming. Those who played the last generation of PES will be oh-so-familiar with the cumbersome, unfriendly, unstructured and unhelpful online options, that were seemingly tacked on as an afterthought. No such worries here. This is pretty much what we originally wanted, and can easily see ourselves losing many months to, er, conquering the world. Cough.
Any problems? Well, nothing major. The unofficial team names and at-times bizarre commentary are becoming more part of Pro Evolution Soccer folklore than an explicit reason to chastise the game. That said, it really would be nice to take the official materials away from FIFA and marry them up to a PES engine.
But it's hard to suggest fundamental improvements to a series that clearly knows its game, and is confident enough to take a few risks with it. It's an evolution rather than a revolution, certainly. But this time, it's a sizeable progression, and one that comes very strongly recommended. The best action football game on the planet? It is. Until next year...
It's that time of year again when updates of our favourite football games are released. Here we have Pro Evolution Soccer 5 which improves upon quite a lot so I'll cut out the small talk and get straight on with it. What does Pro Evolution Soccer 4 have to offer then? Well quite a lot actually. Game modes include Match mode where you can play a single game or penalty shootout and League Mode which allows you to take part in either a national league with club teams (you can choose from England, France, Germany, Serie A, Eredivisie or Liga Espanola) or an International league with a country of your choice. Cup Mode allows you to take part in an International or national cup competition and although no official cup competition names have been included it does allow you to simulate a few official competitions such as the World Cup or European Championships. There is also a Training mode, an Edit mode and of course the Master League mode (more on that in a moment). Every aspect of the game has been improved. Quite a few official teams have been included, the Master League mode has been reworked, player animations have been improved and now you'll notice the addition of first touch moves that really make things interesting. A referee can now be seen onscreen at all times and this time the referee decisions are far more accurate. To sum up then amazingly Konami have worked hard to improve the game since the release of the highly acclaimed Pro Evolution Soccer 3.
One of the key features of the Pro Evolution Soccer series is the Master League mode. In the previous versions you picked a team to play as but no matter who you picked you didn't have the team's real players and instead acquired a team that consisted of poor, mediocre and mildly talented players. The teams you played against though would have their correct players which meant you were up against it. The idea was that you had to slowly build up your team by purchasing promising players and taking them all the way to the top division and win the championship. In Pro Evolution Soccer 4 you can elect to start with the usual mixed bag of players (known as Master League Default players) or you can choose to start with Match Mode players which means you can pick a team and start with their true players. Finally you can create your own team. You get to create your team kits, logos and choose their ground. You'll begin with the original master league players but before the season starts you'll have the opportunity to exchange three of your players for any other players in the game.
Money has become a top priority in football and it's exactly the same in the Master League mode. You'll begin with a certain amount of money (how much depends on whether or not you've chosen to play with the Master League default players or the Match Mode players). Essentially you'll have your starting amount of money and notification of how much money will be taken to pay your expenses on week 44 of the season. Should week 44 roll around and you do not have enough money to pay your expenses (or if you don't have 16 players in your squad), it's game over. To earn money you need to get results on the pitch. Winning a match will earn you 800 points (points being the currency) whereas drawing will earn you 400 points and you'll earn no points for a defeat. You'll also get bonus points for goals scored and progression in the cup competitions you're involved in. You may also get a bonus for your final league placing.
The Master League mode also has one other major addition this time around. It's now possible for your players to acquire experience throughout their career and their attributes can increase as a result of their performance. This is an inclusion that longstanding fans of the series will no doubt be thrilled with. Don't think that it's possible to turn average players into superstars though as each player has a predetermined potential rating that can be achieved so an increase in their ability won't exceed their limitations. It's also worth mentioning that a player's abilities will also decline so as your long serving players come to the twilight of their careers you'll have to consider replacing them or be left with a player who just can't cut the mustard any more.
The PES Shop that was in Pro Evolution Soccer 3 can once again be found in Pro Evolution Soccer 4. For every match played you earn 50 PES points and with these points you can purchase a number of unlockables from the PES Shop (found in the options). Veterans of the series will be pleased to learn that a level 6 difficulty level (far too difficult for me) can be unlocked for 1500 points. Extra stadiums, players, a double match speed option, a couple of extra camera angles, a new ball and player editing features can all be unlocked too. For 10,000 points you can even purchase the right to edit the amount of points that you begin the Master League mode with and whilst this may seem like you're cheating I think after playing the required 200 matches to accumulate the required points I think you deserve a substantial reward.
One of my personal niggles with the Pro Evolution Soccer series in the past is that it dropped beginners in at the deep end. Playing on the lowest two difficulty levels gives no challenge at all whilst difficulty levels 3 and above can offer a really stiff challenge. Thankfully level 2 seems to have been improved somewhat and whilst it's still forgiving and allows you to put your new skills and ideas into practice, it does at least give an opponent that will try to attack you and put you under some kind of pressure. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 also offers a substantially beefed up Training mode. The Training mode contains five categories such as Controls, Beginner Training, Challenge Training, Situation Training and Free Training. These categories include numerous training exercises that take you from the basic actions of simply passing a ball right up to the highly advanced techniques that help make the difference in difficult matches. Personally I think this is a fantastic improvement on previous games and Konami have finally allowed a beginner a successful way of truly learning all the game has to offer without resorting to the various guides that are on the Internet.
With all these improvements you'd be forgiven for thinking that Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is pretty much perfect. However this isn't the case and there a few problems. Occasionally the keepers go to sleep and will simply watch a long low shot instead of attempting to save it. Most of the time this doesn't cause a problem as the shot will go wide but occasionally the ball goes in and it's infuriating to know your keeper never even tried to save it. Penalties are also a bit too easy to earn. Dribble into the box and keep hold of the ball and most of the time your player will be hacked down. Whilst this isn't really a problem it does enable you to earn a cheap goal most of the time. The advantage rule is played perfectly in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and you'll notice that many more fouls are spotted but there's still a few where nothing is given. You could argue that in real football many fouls go unpunished but when every single offside is picked up in the game (which is unrealistic) then the same should also apply for fouls. Team rosters are also out of date with Rooney being at Man Utd (I mean Man Red) being the most obvious error. My final gripe has to be with load times. Whilst this is more of a console issue than a fault of the developers it's still a pain. Even substitutions can trigger a loading time where you're left looking at a black screen for more seconds than is pleasant. This is one niggle I expect will disappear with the Xbox and PC versions of the game.
Perhaps the most noticeable addition is the inclusion of several official league licenses. You'll see the official Spanish, Italian and Dutch leagues for example with all their teams in the correct kits complete with club logos and sponsors. Whilst a good many teams still have invented names (Nextbaumedge for West Bromwich Albion for instance) you'll notice a high percentage of correct player names. Whilst the game can't really claim to be an improvement, graphically speaking, the inclusion of many official teams does make the game more visually appealing. Some things don't change though. The cardboard cut-out crowds are still here and still look ridiculous. As I write this review FIFA 2005 has arrived and the difference in the crowd detail compared to the crowd in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is substantial. Still this is only a very small aspect of the game and one that most fans of the series will easily forgive.
As with all other sports titles the commentary is not subtitled but this doesn't mean Pro Evolution Soccer causes deaf gamers any problems. All information in the game is shown exclusively in text. All the training exercises are shown in text as are all the details and information in the Master League mode. In Pro Evolution Soccer 3, during a game, an icon appeared to show when the referee had played the advantage rule. This time around many more icons have been used to signify offside and direct and indirect free kicks. This is an excellent idea and provides deaf gamers with more feedback than they have ever had infootball game to date.
Well after that rather lengthy description of what the game contains all that remains is to comment on how the game plays. In a word it's sensational! Yes even taking into account the few problems that exist this is, by a long way, the best football game ever created. OK in terms of presentation it could be better but once a match kicks off you'll be very impressed by almost every single aspect of how the game plays. Whilst it's not 100% realistic it's not that far off and Konami have an enormous task in front of them if Pro Evolution Soccer 5 is to be better than this but I'm sure they will, once again, rise to the challenge and impress us all with the result. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 will also arrive on the PC and for the first time, the Xbox (which rather excitingly also features online play). Personally I can't wait to see the game on both of these technically superior formats because once again on the PlayStation 2 a footballing sensation has been created.
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Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Intel Pentium III 800mhz or equivalent processor (Athlon/Duron/Celeron)
128mb RAM
DVD-ROM Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 3 or ATi Radeon 8500 video card
Directx 8.1 compatible sound card
Directx 8.1 or higher (included on Disc 1)
Network (TCP/IP 64kbps or higher)
800MB free hard disk space
Windows 2000/XP
Intel Pentium IV 1.4Ghz processor
256MB RAM
DVD-ROM Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti, ATi Radeon 9600 or higher
Directx 8.1 COmpatible sound card
Directx 8.1 or higher (included on disc 1)
Network (TCP/IP 1.5Mbps or higher)
3GB free hard disk space
SCREEN SHOOT
GAME DESCRIPTION
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Pro Evolution Soccer 5 has long been regarded as the videogamers football game, with more emphasis on gameplay and challenge than its rival FIFA. Here on Thunderbolt we’ve been constantly excited at this time of year as the new version nears completion, and nevertheless many lunch breaks were filled, deadlines over-run, controllers broken and swear words invented as the entire team (minus our Editor Phil, currently plotting world domination in his secret base-come-uninhabited volcanic island in New Zealand) gathered around at every available opportunity to march England onto World Cup glory. With both Gerrard andLampard in the same side.
There’s Rooney, about to go mental on that Italian fella.
Did we like PES5? More than that. Love? Even more; at one point we assigned a chair for the case to merely sit on and began making cups of the Thunderbolt brew for the disc to sup as we played away- Jim even let it review Far Cry’s Xbox outing as we got into arguments about 4-4-2’s and 4-3-3’s. Loved it? We lived it. It’s part of the team now, and is currently publishing news articles.
On the surface, PES5 looks almost identical to its predecessor, with vast stadiums and general player likenesses; you’ll instantly notice the heavyweights like Henry, Van Nistelrooy and Collins John when in-game, and there’s no similarities between Old Trafford and Highbury. Perhaps the best view of the atmosphere within matches is when the camera swoops down behind the goalkeeper for a goal kick; you get to see his view of the ground, with 22 players (including the referee) jostling for space down the pitch in the front of him, with a giant stand splitting the skyline behind them, full of waving and cheering fans.
Where you start to see the nifty new additions and tweaks is in general gameplay and replays. Players no longer run into space anonymously, instead waving frantically to attract your attention and pointing where they want it passed to. Goalkeepers moan far more ferociously towards the back line for sitting off or letting players through, and seem to have more moves to pull of when saving shots instead of the tried-and-tested fall and block routine. Defenders also act more intelligently by grabbing hold of shirts, using their arms to slow down opposing players and even body checking during set-pieces; it’s quite a laugh to see a forward sitting on his backside when a corner is floated in, although referee’s aren’t completely blind to your illegal behaviour.
And there’s Vierra on the left. He doesn’t play for Arsenal any more…
In fact, the refereeing has been totally revamped, and whilst some will feel that the whistle is blown far too often for simple shirt pulls and tumbles, there’s no denying that Konami have got this aspect of “the beautiful game” spot on. As someone who could often get through games on 6 stars before without conceding a free-kick, this is no longer possible, but is by no means detrimental to the core gameplay. Fouls play more of a tactical role this time round; if a quick striker bursts through the back line, you can use that slow but strong centre back to tug his shirt back, thus slowing the attack and letting your players get back. Constant attention paid to hounding out opposition players with rough but fair challenges will lead to them picking up knocks, which will no doubt help out your side, and if you’re on the receiving end then by holding onto the ball you can get players booked, sent off and win cunningly-placed set pieces.
Managers of football teams will constantly tell you that set-pieces are arguably one of the biggest aspects of a game, as it’s the only piece of play in which you control most of the factors on how to score or defend. The same applies with PES5; as usual, players make different runs depending on how long you wait to kick the ball, but instead of the computer taking control of your team, once the ball is in the air you seem to have more time to position yourself for a crack at goal. Breaking away from defenders, it’s possible to angle yourself to either unleash a spectacular volley, a powerful header or a cheeky flick-on for a team mate. On the flip side, the defending team also get an advantage as you can block runs from players, tug on shirts to stop them from jumping or get in a position to block a shot at goal.
Don’t know who these guys are, although that scum bag at the back on the right looks like Crespo.
Players are now given far more control over shooting, which opens up several opportunities to score some spectacular efforts. Shots are far harder and quicker but equally as wild, so it’s still possible to miss from three yards out but you’ll be seeing that net bulge far more. For seasoned players there’s the control button; holding this down makes shots less powerful but more precise, allowing creative lads like Beckham and Ronaldinho to bend in shots from afar, or world class strikers such as Shevchenko to aim precisely into the corner of the net. Offering fans to score a variety of goals, the control button at last brings in those alienated from experimenting with shooting, as usually a sharp tap of the button would suffice.
The biggest change this year though has to be the passing system. You now have to aim with the left stick (or D-Pad) before pressing the pass button, which sounds and seems very hard to achieve at first, but practise does prove to make perfect. It means you don’t necessarily have to pass to the next most immediate player, instead forwarding the ball into space for people to run into, which can stretch defences all over the place. The ball is also often played in front of the recipient, encouraging them to run but also offering a chance for the opposition to get a foot in. When not shooting, the control button allows players get a better first touch and to hold up the ball; this can be used to cunningly gain free kicks, waste time in important matches or hold up play to allow team mates to find space. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll be standing there all day as strong defenders can easily charge you off the ball, but for a quick few seconds it can buy your team some much needed time to re-group.
As has always been a key element in the PES series, possession proves to be the key, and this year things are no different. The opposition seem to exploit holes in the defence far more and will rarely give you time or space to dilly dally about; depending on their mentality, the computer will either hunt you down in packs of two or three players to try and pressure you off the ball, which is frightenly exciting to watch, or the midfield will drop deep and the defence push up to plug any gaps for your creative players to exploit. Should you lose the ball, you can expect a barrage as they run up the pitch on a counter attack, with wingers running full backs ragged and flair-ridden midfield players floating about trying not to be noticed.
That ugly, long haired, Brazilian git is Ronaldhino. I hate him.
Luckily, Konami seem to have gotten rid of the horrible end of game bug, in which if the ball was outside of the goal area when injury time was nearing to an end, the whistle would go off. Far more realistically, the ball now has to be in a non-attacking motion before play is ended, so if you’re attacking then you can afford to keep possession at the end of the box without fear of the whistle blowing just as you set off to take a final shot. The same can be said for running down the wings; before, a defence-splitting pass would be chased down, and just as you get to it the whistle would go, with your striker in the box unmarked. Now, you can get to the ball and cross it and still have the chance on goal. Again, the flip-side of this is agonising when defending, as you really have to hoof the ball out of the danger area to get the whistle to go, which adds an extra spice to the mix as you’re tested to the absolute limit as to whether you can keep your cool right up until the final whistle.
Off the pitch, there isn’t much new, however of what little additions there are make a huge difference to gameplay. There still isn’t a full license to cover the entire game* which means you’ll been spending a bit of time in the edit mode swapping players about and changing names. The most notable addition here is the potential growth meter, which changes how well players progress within the Master League.
Master League is the meat and bones of Pro Evolution Soccer, which allows you to take control of a club team and take them from the very depths of the football league and onto the highs. As you progress through the entire game you can unlock additional features to alter how many transfer points you start off with, to change the difficulty level to maximum and edit which teams enter which league. There’s also the option from the very start to either have the original team available or commence play with a bunch of misfits and lower-league drop outs. The former offers players to jump straight into management with their favourite team and build from there, with the latter offering far more of a challenge.
He’s getting a card for his shameless designer stuble.
When you start out, your little-known players will have dragged the clubs reputation through the dirt, and as such you won’t beable to attract the top talent during transfer windows. There’s not much overall skill, so attention has to be paid to individual preferences and you basically have to battle tooth and nail for results and try to drag the club up the league, achieve promotion and then start to build on European domination. As you keep playing the team starts to gel, which makes things slightly easier at best, and perhaps the key is to keep up fitness levels with the simplified training regimes. Winning games earns you more points, as do cup runs, and at the end of each season the teams wage bill is deducted from the overall amount, and having a negative balance means you get sacked and the game ends. To keep things fresh players develop skills and even deteriorate over time, so you get used to buying in promising youngsters as oldies retire and get regenerated. It’s a never ending process and ensures that even the top teams have to keep an eye out in the transfer market.
There are, of course, other modes of play such as domestic and international cups and leagues, the latter with optional cup matches, which offer the standard yet fun experience of playing without concern. And then we come to internet play.
It was always inevitable that football games would branch out online, and Konami seems to have learnt its lesson with the last Xbox outing. Now, both versions are internet ready, and lag issues have been vastly reduced by ensuring that both players each host a half each. Online rankings have been vastly streamlined; however it’s amazing that although Konami happily allow PESFan.com to set up leagues throughout the UK and generally look after the vast amounts of fans, I find it astounding that they don’t use their option files for use online. It’s incredibly annoying to go from your game on your memory card with correct kits, rosters and team names to the online community where everything is default and out of date. This detracts from the experience somewhat, and whilst most will argue that PES is about gameplay, I’m starting to get annoyed with the same old excuses. That said, games are extremely fascinating to participate in.
Without going further to spoil surprises, PES5 is as realistic to the beautiful game as the series has ever been, with the new gameplay tweaks keeping things fresh for fans and adding challenging elements to tackle and master. It’s a pain to have to almost see it as compulsory to splash out on Datel’s Max Drive* to get the best out of the game, but what with the limited capacity of Sony’s memory cards and the need to beable to backup important data it does seem that most PS2 and Xbox owners now own the device.
Despite the licensing issues, Pro Evolution Soccer 5 is once again the absolute pinnacle in the series, something we couldn’t changing. Some will moan that the new tweaks make the game too hard, but in all honesty each new addition in the history of PES has required players to take the game from a new angle and aspect, going back to basics in an attempt to master the new game engine. As with all games across all platforms, here at Thunderbolt Games we invite readers to our forums to converse on tactics, tricks and tips, and now is no different.
Fans of the series will be pleasantly surprised at how Konami has managed to keep PES on the same rails yet freshen things up, with new gamers finding a challenging yet rewarding experience. And with Konami themselves saying that they believe that can improve the game ten-fold on the next generation of systems, the present and immediate future looks very bright indeed.
*You can download, with the help of a Max Drive, edited option files that automatically change the player names, kits, stadiums and rosters to the most up to date releases, and as a player of the PES series since day one I can whole heartedly recommend investing in one.
For producers of any long-running franchise, eventually there's a conundrum to face. Do you take the road marked 'EA Sports' and gradually move your games on a little each year, without trying anything you'd consider as a serious risk? Or do you try something different, knowing damn well you could alienate the fan base that currently funds your rather swanky Christmas party?
Reading some of the material in circulation about Pro Evolution Soccer 5, you could be forgiven for thinking that Konami's developers have gone for the radical overhaul option. In fact they haven't, but they have taken some measured chances here, and pushed the game still further away from arcade-kickabout land, consequently moving it towards a more serious simulation.
The results, predictably, are excellent, even if they take a bit of getting used to. Gone is the close control that fans of previous versions could, to an extent, take for granted. Gone are the simple backheels, the accurate turn-on-a-sixpence style passes and almost magnetic through balls that could routinely be relied on to turn a game.
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Instead you have a ball that bobbles round a lot, bouncing off shins, never really doing what you need it to do unless you've got it under proper control. It's a bit of a culture shock at first, although a logical one. More than ever, the game makes you think about which of your players has the ball, what they can do and what tactically is the best move to make. All the while, of course, fending off enhanced computer-controlled players who snap at your heels.
Foul play, too, is a far more common occurrence. Those little foot-in tackles of old more frequently result in a yellow card, and discipline is something you really need to watch. Likewise, the tactics of your computer-controlled components vary greatly, with few traditional 4-4-2 line-ups to be found. That works in your favour too, thanks to the far more flexible formation and tactical set up options that are open to you now.
For the single player, the main attraction is once again the Master League, where you take a team from the bottom to the top with a bit of wheeling and dealing in the transfer market along the way. It's a superb way to enjoy a superb game, and whilst the management angle isn't the match of FIFA, we don't ever remember intensely caring about the result of a match in that game in the same way we do in Pro Evolution Soccer 5.
We particularly like the fact that, for example, if you need a draw to get a promotion, you can set out specific tactics to do that, and if you employ them correctly it's possible to grind out the point you need. Contrast that with the continual attack-attack-attack focus of FIFA, and you begin to realise just how deliberately measured Pro Evolution Soccer is. That's a very good thing.
Perhaps the improvement that will interest PC owners the most, though, is the full and proper integration of online gaming. Those who played the last generation of PES will be oh-so-familiar with the cumbersome, unfriendly, unstructured and unhelpful online options, that were seemingly tacked on as an afterthought. No such worries here. This is pretty much what we originally wanted, and can easily see ourselves losing many months to, er, conquering the world. Cough.
Any problems? Well, nothing major. The unofficial team names and at-times bizarre commentary are becoming more part of Pro Evolution Soccer folklore than an explicit reason to chastise the game. That said, it really would be nice to take the official materials away from FIFA and marry them up to a PES engine.
But it's hard to suggest fundamental improvements to a series that clearly knows its game, and is confident enough to take a few risks with it. It's an evolution rather than a revolution, certainly. But this time, it's a sizeable progression, and one that comes very strongly recommended. The best action football game on the planet? It is. Until next year...
It's that time of year again when updates of our favourite football games are released. Here we have Pro Evolution Soccer 5 which improves upon quite a lot so I'll cut out the small talk and get straight on with it. What does Pro Evolution Soccer 4 have to offer then? Well quite a lot actually. Game modes include Match mode where you can play a single game or penalty shootout and League Mode which allows you to take part in either a national league with club teams (you can choose from England, France, Germany, Serie A, Eredivisie or Liga Espanola) or an International league with a country of your choice. Cup Mode allows you to take part in an International or national cup competition and although no official cup competition names have been included it does allow you to simulate a few official competitions such as the World Cup or European Championships. There is also a Training mode, an Edit mode and of course the Master League mode (more on that in a moment). Every aspect of the game has been improved. Quite a few official teams have been included, the Master League mode has been reworked, player animations have been improved and now you'll notice the addition of first touch moves that really make things interesting. A referee can now be seen onscreen at all times and this time the referee decisions are far more accurate. To sum up then amazingly Konami have worked hard to improve the game since the release of the highly acclaimed Pro Evolution Soccer 3.
One of the key features of the Pro Evolution Soccer series is the Master League mode. In the previous versions you picked a team to play as but no matter who you picked you didn't have the team's real players and instead acquired a team that consisted of poor, mediocre and mildly talented players. The teams you played against though would have their correct players which meant you were up against it. The idea was that you had to slowly build up your team by purchasing promising players and taking them all the way to the top division and win the championship. In Pro Evolution Soccer 4 you can elect to start with the usual mixed bag of players (known as Master League Default players) or you can choose to start with Match Mode players which means you can pick a team and start with their true players. Finally you can create your own team. You get to create your team kits, logos and choose their ground. You'll begin with the original master league players but before the season starts you'll have the opportunity to exchange three of your players for any other players in the game.
Money has become a top priority in football and it's exactly the same in the Master League mode. You'll begin with a certain amount of money (how much depends on whether or not you've chosen to play with the Master League default players or the Match Mode players). Essentially you'll have your starting amount of money and notification of how much money will be taken to pay your expenses on week 44 of the season. Should week 44 roll around and you do not have enough money to pay your expenses (or if you don't have 16 players in your squad), it's game over. To earn money you need to get results on the pitch. Winning a match will earn you 800 points (points being the currency) whereas drawing will earn you 400 points and you'll earn no points for a defeat. You'll also get bonus points for goals scored and progression in the cup competitions you're involved in. You may also get a bonus for your final league placing.
The Master League mode also has one other major addition this time around. It's now possible for your players to acquire experience throughout their career and their attributes can increase as a result of their performance. This is an inclusion that longstanding fans of the series will no doubt be thrilled with. Don't think that it's possible to turn average players into superstars though as each player has a predetermined potential rating that can be achieved so an increase in their ability won't exceed their limitations. It's also worth mentioning that a player's abilities will also decline so as your long serving players come to the twilight of their careers you'll have to consider replacing them or be left with a player who just can't cut the mustard any more.
The PES Shop that was in Pro Evolution Soccer 3 can once again be found in Pro Evolution Soccer 4. For every match played you earn 50 PES points and with these points you can purchase a number of unlockables from the PES Shop (found in the options). Veterans of the series will be pleased to learn that a level 6 difficulty level (far too difficult for me) can be unlocked for 1500 points. Extra stadiums, players, a double match speed option, a couple of extra camera angles, a new ball and player editing features can all be unlocked too. For 10,000 points you can even purchase the right to edit the amount of points that you begin the Master League mode with and whilst this may seem like you're cheating I think after playing the required 200 matches to accumulate the required points I think you deserve a substantial reward.
One of my personal niggles with the Pro Evolution Soccer series in the past is that it dropped beginners in at the deep end. Playing on the lowest two difficulty levels gives no challenge at all whilst difficulty levels 3 and above can offer a really stiff challenge. Thankfully level 2 seems to have been improved somewhat and whilst it's still forgiving and allows you to put your new skills and ideas into practice, it does at least give an opponent that will try to attack you and put you under some kind of pressure. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 also offers a substantially beefed up Training mode. The Training mode contains five categories such as Controls, Beginner Training, Challenge Training, Situation Training and Free Training. These categories include numerous training exercises that take you from the basic actions of simply passing a ball right up to the highly advanced techniques that help make the difference in difficult matches. Personally I think this is a fantastic improvement on previous games and Konami have finally allowed a beginner a successful way of truly learning all the game has to offer without resorting to the various guides that are on the Internet.
With all these improvements you'd be forgiven for thinking that Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is pretty much perfect. However this isn't the case and there a few problems. Occasionally the keepers go to sleep and will simply watch a long low shot instead of attempting to save it. Most of the time this doesn't cause a problem as the shot will go wide but occasionally the ball goes in and it's infuriating to know your keeper never even tried to save it. Penalties are also a bit too easy to earn. Dribble into the box and keep hold of the ball and most of the time your player will be hacked down. Whilst this isn't really a problem it does enable you to earn a cheap goal most of the time. The advantage rule is played perfectly in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and you'll notice that many more fouls are spotted but there's still a few where nothing is given. You could argue that in real football many fouls go unpunished but when every single offside is picked up in the game (which is unrealistic) then the same should also apply for fouls. Team rosters are also out of date with Rooney being at Man Utd (I mean Man Red) being the most obvious error. My final gripe has to be with load times. Whilst this is more of a console issue than a fault of the developers it's still a pain. Even substitutions can trigger a loading time where you're left looking at a black screen for more seconds than is pleasant. This is one niggle I expect will disappear with the Xbox and PC versions of the game.
Perhaps the most noticeable addition is the inclusion of several official league licenses. You'll see the official Spanish, Italian and Dutch leagues for example with all their teams in the correct kits complete with club logos and sponsors. Whilst a good many teams still have invented names (Nextbaumedge for West Bromwich Albion for instance) you'll notice a high percentage of correct player names. Whilst the game can't really claim to be an improvement, graphically speaking, the inclusion of many official teams does make the game more visually appealing. Some things don't change though. The cardboard cut-out crowds are still here and still look ridiculous. As I write this review FIFA 2005 has arrived and the difference in the crowd detail compared to the crowd in Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is substantial. Still this is only a very small aspect of the game and one that most fans of the series will easily forgive.
As with all other sports titles the commentary is not subtitled but this doesn't mean Pro Evolution Soccer causes deaf gamers any problems. All information in the game is shown exclusively in text. All the training exercises are shown in text as are all the details and information in the Master League mode. In Pro Evolution Soccer 3, during a game, an icon appeared to show when the referee had played the advantage rule. This time around many more icons have been used to signify offside and direct and indirect free kicks. This is an excellent idea and provides deaf gamers with more feedback than they have ever had infootball game to date.
Well after that rather lengthy description of what the game contains all that remains is to comment on how the game plays. In a word it's sensational! Yes even taking into account the few problems that exist this is, by a long way, the best football game ever created. OK in terms of presentation it could be better but once a match kicks off you'll be very impressed by almost every single aspect of how the game plays. Whilst it's not 100% realistic it's not that far off and Konami have an enormous task in front of them if Pro Evolution Soccer 5 is to be better than this but I'm sure they will, once again, rise to the challenge and impress us all with the result. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 will also arrive on the PC and for the first time, the Xbox (which rather excitingly also features online play). Personally I can't wait to see the game on both of these technically superior formats because once again on the PlayStation 2 a footballing sensation has been created.
SYSTEM REQIRMENTS
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Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP
Intel Pentium III 800mhz or equivalent processor (Athlon/Duron/Celeron)
128mb RAM
DVD-ROM Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 3 or ATi Radeon 8500 video card
Directx 8.1 compatible sound card
Directx 8.1 or higher (included on Disc 1)
Network (TCP/IP 64kbps or higher)
800MB free hard disk space
Recommended Spec
Windows 2000/XP
Intel Pentium IV 1.4Ghz processor
256MB RAM
DVD-ROM Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti, ATi Radeon 9600 or higher
Directx 8.1 COmpatible sound card
Directx 8.1 or higher (included on disc 1)
Network (TCP/IP 1.5Mbps or higher)
3GB free hard disk space
مساحة اللعبه
700 MB
الان مع التحميل
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