PES Chronicles

I’m still disappointed by PES5’s PS2 graphics. It’s extraordinary how quickly you can become used to a new console generation’s graphics – how quickly they become the norm.

I experienced the same problem back in 2002. After moving from the PS1 to the PS2, a few weeks later I put on one of my favourite PS1 games – Syphon Filter 2 – and I couldn’t play it for more than a few minutes. The PS1 graphics looked horrible. I couldn’t stand them. Things are not so bad for PES5. The PS3’s upscaling capability helps a lot.

I’m being a bit of a football game whore at the moment. I’m spreading myself around between two console games. Add PES6 and FM2007 on the PSP and I’ve got 4 ‘mistresses’ on the go at once.

I’ve been thinking a lot about PES2008 over the past few days. I’ve been thinking that PES2008 was a nearer miss than I gave it credit for. But for its terrible, unrealistic, perennially butter-fingered goalkeepers, and its overpowered dribbling, PES2008 could and should have been what we all anticipated it would be: the best football game ever. I am absolutely certain.

Which only makes it all the more personally disappointing (even crushing) that we were served up with the game we got. Could Konami issue a gameplay patch for the goalkeepers? Probably yes, if they wanted to. Do they want to? Probably not. They’ve probably drawn a line under PES2008 and already started to plan their marketing strategy for PES2009.

They got the passing right in PES2008. I also now think they got the pace of the gameplay about right – maybe 10% slower would have been slightly more comfortable, but it’s still a long way short of the insane speed of PES5 and PES6. The shooting, while less than entirely satisfactory, is a bit more difficult than the regular 6-2 scorelines might suggest. PES2008’s shortcomings – its lack of the sheer daily satisfaction that its predecessors had in bucketloads – can largely be traced to the atrocious goalkeeper AI. In my opinion.

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I’m plugging away at PES5, and yes, I finally won a tournament (on 4*).

Here’s the winning goal in the final, scored by Owen against Belgium (of all teams):

I hate to be always sounding so picky about PES. Believe me. But I have another picky point to make: Owen clearly shins that ball into the goal. From 30 yards out.

Sadly, winning this tournament doesn’t mean that I am now going to start a PES5 Master League. I was only playing on 4* and I have to win a tournament on at least 5* before I can consider myself ready and able. Ah, but am I willing?

That is the question. Behind all the bluster and grandstanding of the last week, I am experiencing doubts about continuing with PES5 as my main game for the rest of the year.

I don’t think I want to go back to PES2008. Although I have dreamed up a set of House Rules that would make things very interesting – you know, if I wanted to go back (not saying I would; just speculating here, is all).

I might turn my attention to PES6. Or I might – and this is going to sound like the ultimate heresy – turn to next-gen FIFA08.

After 400+ games on FIFA08, I’ve found that the reasons why some people hate it are the reasons why I like it. No, I don’t want to be able to zoom through entire defences with one player, thank you very much. Yes, I like to take my time. Yes, I enjoy dour 0-0 draws. Yes, I enjoy the challenge of a fantastically difficult and unforgiving shooting system. And so on…. I believe FIFA08 is a game that could easily occupy me until October. Now that would be a turn-up for the books. It would also be a considerable amount of egg on my face. Of all the years I picked to start a PES blog, it had to be this one…

I have a couple of days off work. I’m going to spread myself around a bit, see what feels right.

It’s day 3 of PES5 week on PES Chronicles…

Ah… I’m only joking about it being a PES5 week instead of a permanent switch. Or am I?

The peculiar thing about the past few days is that I have not immediately (re)taken to PES5 in the way that I thought I would.

I thought that by now I’d be re-immersed fully in what I still believe is the greatest version of the game ever.

Have next-gen PES2008 and next-gen FIF08 spoiled me for all other football games? Despite both games’ numerous faults?

I’m playing International Tournaments on PES5 at the moment. It’s all designed to re-acclimatise me.

I’ve played a full tournament as England on the default difficulty (3 stars). It’s interesting to look at the scorelines and remember how things used to be on Top Player on PES2008:

Group games:
England 0 – Russia 0
England 0 – Romania 1
England 1- Paraguay 0

I was amazed to qualify from the group in second place with just 4 points.

Quarter final: England 2- Ireland 0
Semi-final: England 0 – 0 France (France won 4-5 on penalties a.e.t.)

Here’s a nice goal I scored with Joe Cole along the way:

I love the grace and style of that diving header. PES has always had that: grace and style. Who says video games can’t be art? Or if not art, then at least convey the flavour of art? Another discussion for another time.

So I was eliminated from my first tournament in the Semi-final. That’s about par for the course for me and a new PES. I really am approaching PES5 as if it is a brand-new PES game that has just been released. I’m trying to ignore the rather dull, chalky graphics, and the crazy speed of the gameplay. Again, I have to say how shocked I am by PES5’s speed.

I’m still (re)learning the ropes on PES5, so you’d expect goals to be at a premium right now. But it’s starting to come back to me. I’m starting to remember some of its little quirks and oddities.

PES2008 had more of an effect on me than I ever would have thought possible. The legacy of those last few weeks of constant attacking, attacking, attacking, and effortlessly dribbling through entire teams, and finishing matches with an average total of 7 goal between the teams – all of this has infected my PES forebrain. I’ve forgotten how to defend. I’ve forgotten that I have to defend sometimes.

Whenever I get the ball I want to charge forward and get a goal or create a good chance to get a goal. That was PES2008, where it was possible to do that. This is PES5, where it isn’t possible. Not for me.

After becoming disillusioned with PES2008 over recent weeks, I have returned to PES5.

In my opinion PES5 was and is the best-ever PES game. As with any game (or anything at all) it is not perfect. Other opinions are equally valid. This is a blog, after all – i.e., just a new-fangled version of a scribbled diary. These are not tablets engraved in stone.

The last time I played this game seriously was one night in October 2006. PES6 was released the next day (whenever that was). Naturally, despite still being perfectly satisfied with PES5, I bought PES6 like the obediently robotic consumer that I was, and played it for most of the next year. ‘Twas ever thus, eh?

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After starting up the game, first on the agenda was re-familiarising myself with pressing Triangle to cancel in the menus. Next-gen developers have universally ditched the previously familiar Triangle-to-cancel in favour of Circle-to-cancel. Now I’m used to pressing Circle, and keep forgetting that I’m playing a PS2 game.

First up: an Exhibition game, England vs. Scotland.

Why Scotland? Nostalgia, mainly. When I was growing up, the annual England-Scotland fixture was one of the biggest games – and occasions – of the season. For various reasons, we’re unlikely to see the fixture resurrected for anything more than a token showpiece friendly at some point. Thank God for computer games.

I chose to play on the game’s default three-star difficulty. That’s another thing that feels weird about PES5. Difficulty stars. Of course, when I accumulate enough PES points I can purchase the 6-star difficulty in the PES Shop. This is another reason why it makes sense to play a load of games in other modes before starting a new Master League. I also have to unlock the alternate balls. The default one is just too wishy-washy. I want to use the famous PES5 half-black/half-white ball – or its yellow counterpart. I used to like both of them equally.

I rearranged the default England formation into my beloved 4-3-3. I played Gerrard as the DMF and Joe Cole as a right-sided striker. Both players are generally superb in both positions, with Gerrard having lots of opportunities to use his viciously effective Middle Shooting, and Joe Cole is a speedy, skilful, dangerous presence out wide.

First impressions of PES5 this time around?

Wow, I really didn’t remember it as being so fast.

It’s faster than PES2008. If PES2008 is 100mph, PES5 is 150mph. The ball pings around between players racing at ludicrous speeds all over the pitch.

I’m genuinely taken aback by this. Was PES5 really this fast back in 2005? Or is the extra processing power of the PS3 somehow speeding up the gameplay? Or – and I think this is the answer – has next-gen FIFA08 and the (it turns out) slower-paced next-gen PES2008 affected my perceptions?

I was under the impression that PES5 was a stately-paced, ultra-simulation. It’s not. Dare I say it, but it feels… arcadey. There, I’ve said it.

The graphics don’t look too bad, upscaled of course on my PS3.

There is one thing that PES5 has got that none of the next-gen football games has got (and how we feel the lack of it). Camera panning – oh, how I have missed you. The next-gen games’ cameras slide up and down the sideline, making your view of the goalmouth unnaturally narrow. It just doesn’t feel right after so many years of playing and viewing from a point anchored up near the halfway line. FIFA09 and PES2009 had better have full camera panning. If not, I’ll be disgruntled.

Just for the sake of it, I played this game with the full pan – setting 9 in the Camera options menu. (Usually I’m a 6 or 7 man.)

Passing in PES5 is ultra-fast. Tap X and aim for a player who’s fifty or so ‘yards’ away, and the ball positively zooms over the virtual turf. It takes some getting used to. Dare I say it (again) but I prefer the passing in PES2008.

Dribbling: I tried to dribble automatically, effortlessly taking on and beating defenders for fun – just like I have been doing in PES2008. No. It doesn’t work. The ball is lost almost straightaway, even on the default difficulty. I said that I was never a dribbler before PES2008. I wasn’t lying.

Just after halftime, I got my first goal. Rooney broke from the left wing and blasted one in:

A typical PES5 goal. It felt very satisfying.

Scotland scored their goal late in the second half. Extra time passed without much happening. Before the match, I had chosen not to have a penalty shootout. I didn’t need to have one to see what they were like in PES5 (i.e. the same as they have always been in every PES).

1-1 the final score, then, and a fair result.

Frankly, I was shocked by just how fast and – yes, I have to say it again – arcadey PES5 now seems. This (rather negative) impression was enhanced by the way I kept stupidly losing the ball due to forgetting about PES5’s R1 knock-on effect. It’s going to take time to settle back into the ebb and flow of PES5’s unique gameplay.

I’ll be scrupulously honest here (as ever – honest!) and admit that there’s a small voice at the back of my mind whispering about giving up on PES2008 too soon.

You could have dumped Elcherino and played on with severe House Rules, the voice says. And there’s a slightly louder voice asking me why I’m not playing FIFA08. You seem to be one of those PES fans with the right genetic makeup to think next-gen FIFA08 is a pretty damn good game, it says. So why are you messing around here on an upscaled PS2 game that feels as if it’s running at ten times the speed?

I’m ignoring the voices for now. I’m determined to give PES5 a really good go.

After resolving my slowdown issues – *touches wood, throws salt over shoulder, rubs a necklace of lucky charms…* – I can finally get back to what this here blog is supposed to be all about: the joy of PES.

An important element of PES2008 that I’m just discovering for myself is the excellent one-touch gameplay that you can pull off if you’re so minded. It all came together for me this morning. Let me explain.

I’m still plugging away with England in my International Cups. Every year I like to play these Cups until I feel I have picked up enough of the new PES to be able to move onto my beloved Master League and give a good account of myself there.

I’m kind of struggling to make quick progress with PES2008. There was the dreaded slowdown issue to contend with, of course. I am not lying or simply being precious about matters when I say that I was knocked out of at least three International Cups because I either conceded a key goal or missed a key goal due to the slowdown. But it wasn’t all about the slowdown.

One thing I have noticed is that defenders in PES2008 are very happy to run forward into attack and leave the back door wide open. I have conceded some hilarious goals where my entire team has been up around the penalty box and opposition strikers have had clear runs through on my goal. (I’ve also picked up loads of red cards when trying to tackle back.)

I am still experimenting with the Formation screen settings, looking for a way to get my defence to hang back more. Maybe it will turn out to be as straightforward a matter as keeping my ATT/DEF levels low. I usually like to raise it when in search of a goal, and I am almost always in search of a goal.

Of course, just as my defence likes to get forward, so, it seems, does the CPU defence…

Playing against Greece in the final group match of a Cup, I was 0-1 down. It was a good goal they had scored, a fine passing move orchestrated by three CPU players that bamboozled Terry and Ferdinand, and was capped with a rasping shot from the edge of the box that beat Robinson (not that that’s a particularly hard thing to do, eh, England fans?) to nestle nicely in the bottom corner of the net. Nestle nicely. You’ve just got to love the alliteration.

Surprisingly, Greece kept coming at me, and coming at me. I was fortunate not to go 0-2 down, a few times. I’m amazed at how attack-oriented PES2008 is. So far it’s a pleasant change from PES6, and from the comparatively sedate FIFA08. Will I end up disliking PES’s new attack-attack-attack gameplay? Time will tell.

During one of Greece’s 10-man attacks, I got the ball with Lampard just to the right of my penalty box. I passed diagonally forward to Gerrard in his DMF position. CPU players were steaming down on him so I passed, first-time, wide to Beckham. No one was threatening him, but I felt like seeing what this suddenly very supple first-touch passing move might bring. So I first-timed a through-ball down the wing to Owen. The ball skated way ahead of him and he ran onto it. A defender followed him. I first-time double-tapped a cross into the box. And there was Johnson – Andy Johnson – near the penalty spot to head the ball home. Goal!

From defence to attack in a few seconds. Five first touches. One goal.

Yes, this ‘arcadey’-style gameplay is eerily reminiscent of old-style FIFA games, and it might be a reason to beat up on PES2008 in the weeks and months to come. Right now, though, it’s a reason to smile, and punch the air.