Be careful what you wish for…
Posted by: not-Greg in Konami, PES2009, Seabass, tags: Konami, PES2009, SeabassSo. The word is out: PES2009 is PES5 with HD graphics.
That’s the consensus opinion so far, at 6pm on 20th August 2008. Today was—and still is—a very big day for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009.
A next-gen version of PES5 is what many PES fans called for. I called for it too. Now that it seems I’ll get what I wished for, how do I feel about it?
I don’t know yet. I’m still taking it all in.
I’ve been taking in all the news since midnight last night. Early indications were not good. WENB was down even at 1 am last night, which doesn’t really bode well for the next few months. Thankfully I was able to follow the latest developments on the various PES forums. (Or should that be fora? I’m never sure.)
A couple of websites leapt straight in after 12.00. One said that holding X+Square (clamping, as I call it) far too easily wins the ball back from the CPU. I really, really hope that doesn’t turn out to be true. Talk about a game-breaker.
This morning brought better news. I got up fully expecting that WENB would be down and would remain down all day. As it turned out, they’ve been up all day (disabling their forum temporarily eased the load on their server). It’s been a great source of information.
The WENB previews are positive, as I expected them to be. There’s more than a bit of discussion in the PES community about just how trusting we should be of the WENB coverage of PES2009. Their infamous preview of the PlayStation3 version of PES2008—”Three times better on Blu-Ray”—will indeed haunt them for some time to come. (How much wronger could they have been?!)
Last year they were just starting out, just finding their feet. Their connections within Konami were tenuous at best. But the WENB boys’ enthusiasm for PES cannot be denied, and they see the game through fans’ eyes. Casting my mind back a year, it was literally inconceivable that PES2008 could be anything but magnificent. That fixed pre-conception clouded lots of people’s judgements.
I’m disposed to view WENB’s output this year as being more or less trustworthy. No more or less trustworthy, anyway, than elsewhere on the Internet.
They somehow chose the noisiest cafeteria in London in which to record their ‘videocast‘. Knowing how dismayed Suffwan was by his first hands-on with PES2008 last year, it was interesting to watch his facial expressions as he gave his (qualified) endorsement of PES2009. What do the little glances aside, away from the camera lens, signify? Reservations? Or simple camera-shyness?
Later in the day came the first gameplay videos. At the time of writing (just after 18.00) there are only two gameplay videos that I know of. Now I find this damned strange. Why aren’t we up to our necks in shaky-cam footage from the Leipzig hall by now?
Anyway. I clipped the below segment from the best video so far. The clip is around 20 seconds long, and shows two things. One, it is disturbingly similar-looking to PES2008. Two, the new heavier-looking physics (of players and of the football itself), and the slower speed, are very welcome.
It still looks too fast for my taste. It still looks pretty arcadey. But it’s early days yet. Best not to rush to judgements. This post is only my first impressions for now. I think it’s fair to say that I’m still suspicious of PES2009—what I’ve seen and heard of it. I wished for a new version of PES5 a couple of times, but never actually thought I’d get it. I’m confused.
I think a comment made by Adam in his article on WENB sums it up well. By reverting to an older, tried-and-tested set of gameplay mechanics, Konami has played a ‘get out of jail’ card. It was easy for them to do this. For that reason alone there are some PES players who will never forgive them. FIFA09 sure is looking mighty good.
The next few days will doubtless bring more revelations, videos, and hands-on impressions. (In particular I can’t wait to hear what Riot, a regular guest on the WENB podcast, has to say about PES2009.) I’ll hold off saying any more for now while everything sinks in. I’ll post again on Friday with a more considered reaction.
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Hi not-greg,
Mixed reaction from me. I loathed PES2008 and stuck with PES6, however stating 2009 is like PES5 doesn’t really enamour me as I hated that and stuck with PES4!
The proof of the pudding as they say, will be in the eating, I just hope I don’t get another mouthful of cack.
Hi not-Greg,
Like you I was a PES fantanic - until that abortion of a game PES2008 on PS3 came out. Thank goodness Fifa08 was a very decent game. My guess is that Fifa09 will be more of the same and PES2009 will be more of the same crap from Conami - I mean is anyone really excitied by those lackluster video’s from Leipzig?
As for WENB they are already talking about playing a more “advanced” version of PES 2009. Really after all that BS last year will anyone fall for that crap. I think it is sad to see all these fanboys talk BS about more advanced code etc. What is on show in Germany right now is what the game will be - i.e. rubbish for a next-gen game. Compare PES say with Top-Spin? Are Konami really doing there best to produce a great game? I really doubt it. 6 million sales of PES2008 is all the reason they have to carry on as they have been.
Keep up the blog - it’s great to read an intelligent view on footie gaming from someone that can write in more than textspeak
Big Al - I’ve gone from cautious optimism re. PES2009 to deep despair in the space of 48 hours. If - IF - the consensus view emerging from Leipzig players is correct, it’s a slightly-slowed-down PES2008. I absolutely loved PES5, so a true next-gen version fo that game would have done me fine. Looking at the videos, though, I don’t remember the players in PES5 running like Sonic the Hedgehog and insta-dribbling all over the place.
All I’ll say is that demo had better come out before the game.
Jim - For this year only I’m going to give WENB the benefit of the doubt. They really messed it up last year in so many ways. They haven’t started too well this year either! We can only hope that they’re right about PES2009 really being a slowed-down, sim-like game again, and that the arcadey, 100mph videos we’re seeing from Leipzig are, wait for it, “not representative of the finished product”, or whatever the corporate spiel would say….
Thanks for your comment about the blog. I will be keeping it going, but of all the years I had to pick to start a PES blog, it had to be the year of PES2008. Gah…. After the FIFA09 demo arrives I will be returning to daily posts.
And who knows? If my worst fears about PES2009 are borne out, come November this could be a FIFA blog. I keep shaking my head and wondering how it has come to this. Of course, the average PES2008 kiddy would say OMG u r da FIFA fanboy lulzzz…., or whatever, but I know the truth. (Imagine the standard “I’ve been playing ISS/PES since the dawn of time and always loved it and always hated FIFA, but…” disclaimer here.)