PES2009 demo – 1st impressions 16
Now this could get very confusing, with all the overlapping 1st impressions and 2nd impressions posts about both games. My first impressions of the PES2009 demo are in bullet point form near the bottom of the post. ‘Cautiously positive’ would be a good summary.
Yesterday I gushed at some length about the full FIFA09 game. Today I’m starting to see (and wince aloud) at some of the many flaws that FIFA09 undoubtedly has. For example, by now I’ve groaned aloud many times at the way players running onto floated through-balls will sometimes mysteriously spin around on the spot and mess the whole thing up. (Ah, but it doesn’t always happen: it seems to be related to erratic pressing of the sprint button and/or flicks of the right analogue stick. I’m still working on this, but it seems to be just an occasional, minor irritant.)
The bad aspects of FIFA09 will no doubt emerge over time. But I’m still pretty bloody impressed with the whole package. I will stand by my claim that it could be the greatest football game ever made. It’s definitely the best football game ever made for the next-generation consoles (which isn’t saying much, I know). The only football games to challenge it, in my opinion, would be some of the old-style PES games from waaaaay back in the early 2000s (which feels like a lifetime ago now). Perhaps PES2, PES3, and PES5 (my personal three favourites) might have something to offer in the ‘greatest football game ever’ stakes.
I just don’t know. It’s been a peculiar year on the football gaming front. Incidentally, I notice that my blog is exactly 1 year old today. That very first post from October 3rd 2007 was one of my typical long, rambling ones… Ahem. A year ago I never, in my wildest dreams/nightmares, believed I would have spent most of season 2007-2008 on this blog talking about PES as if it’s FIFA, and FIFA as if it’s PES. I still feel confused and conflicted about it all.
This morning I managed to complete my download of the PES2009 demo from the PlayStation Network. Yesterday, for some reason, my normally silky-smooth connection to the PSN was running at little more than dialup levels. I got to 40% after three tortuous hours, and then paused it. This morning, I’m happy to say, I resumed the download at my normal speed and completed it in about 15 minutes.
When I started the game I felt nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. I’d spent yesterday evening reading people’s reactions to it across several forums. I only had time this morning for three full games. Here’s what I thought:
- MENUS – Look like they rounded up a load of students from the local art college, fed them a gallon each of Red Bull, then turned them loose on the design. I was reminded of one of those daytime TV home makeover shows, for some reason. Still, it’s all a departure from last year’s menus. We do not need to be reminded of PES2008 by the menus, thank you very much.
- GRAPHICS - Crisp, detailed, smooth. Lovely! I was genuinely astonished by this. The PES2009 graphics are everything that last year’s graphics weren’t. By comparison, FIFA09’s rather chalky visuals (on the PS3) actually look rather crude. Strange.
- SOUND – I actually don’t mind the rather comical crump noise the ball makes when it’s kicked. It’s getting some fearful stick on the forums, though. I hope the PES2009 sound technician, whoever he is, doesn’t read them.
- GAMEPLAY – The most important thing. As important, or more important, than everything else put together and multiplied by a thousand. And you know what… At this stage, after three 5-minute games on the demo (yes, I know), I do actually quite like it. I didn’t score at all in my first game. I only scored one goal apiece in my other two games. One of them was a cracker, struck at an angle and in off the underside of the bar… It does remind me pleasantly of classic PES gameplay. I don’t quite see where the ‘PES5 in HD’ tag has come from, but it’s definitely slower, steadier, and tougher. You can’t go on ‘wonder dribbles’ any more, which is a massively good thing. I’ve spent most of the past year calling for what I regard as proper, authentic PES gameplay to be translated onto a next-gen console, instead of that farcical kids’ game we got last year. I might have got what I asked for. The big question will be: Is it enough now?
- SHOOTING – To me it feels a lot like the shooting in FIFA08! The ball is heavy, the shooting animations are ponderous. When you get hold of a shot you really know it and feel it. I think I like it.
- GOALKEEPERS – Seriously. WHAT?! This could be the downfall of PES2009. The keepers still play pat-a-cake with weak shots far too often. At least the deflections seem to be away to safety this year. But it’s still not right.
- CAMERAS – I was looking forward to testing the new vertical camera, but it’s not what I wanted it to be. Yes, it fulfils my criterion of allowing a view from behind my team in both halves of the game. But it has a gimmicky tilt and swing to it. It swings around to a view from the corner flags too often for my liking. I suppose it’s intended for use in Become A Legend mode, but I doubt I could ever use it for regular games. A disappointment for me, this.
- THE RUNNING – My God. The players still do that awful ‘chicken run’ thing. Sheesh. PES2010, with its alleged all-new game engine, actually cannot come soon enough…
- OVERALL – I am surprised to find that I quite like what this very short play of PES2009 has shown me. So much so that I have finally placed my pre-order with GAME (I hadn’t until now). Yes, after the rigours of FIFA08 and FIFA09, any PES will now seem hopelessly arcadey and possibly even simplistic. The passing game in particular seems very poor after the one I’m playing in FIFA09 at the moment. But I’ve said it all along when it comes to PES2009: if it really does go back to basics and offer me a classic version of PES on my PlayStation3, I’ll buy it and I’ll probably play it a lot.
There’s more to come. I’ll give the demo a proper good going-over in the next few days, and post on Monday or Tuesday about my further findings. (Will that pre-order find itself abruptly cancelled…?)
Tomorrow and Sunday, though, will be all about FIFA09.
