PES Chronicles

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.

I overcame Brazil quite comfortably in the end. 2-0 to me. It was the first knockout game of the International Cup.

The first half was a stalemate. I played my usual 4-3-3 formation seen in the diagram. Hargreaves is monstrously great as a DMF in PES6. Konami always take note of the year’s football events, and Hargreaves was one of the most notable performers at the World Cup in Germany last year. His value in PEs6 is a reflection of that. I anticipate him being just as good in PES2008, albeit perhaps with a reduction in fitness levels to reflect his recent injury layoffs.

After halftime I managed to work the ball out to Gerrard on the left in a bit of space. I took it on a bit until the Brazilian fullback was drawn in, then abruptly turned a 180, then cut in toward goal while the CPU was confused. As ever, the entire Brazilian team moved to block off the shot, so I had to unleash it before being strictly ready to do so. The ball flew in like a rocket, from 40 yards. 1-0

Brazil restarted, I immediately won the ball with Hargreaves, and chipped a through-ball over the defence for Rooney to run onto. Again I had to get a shot away early before those pesky PES super-defenders pinched the ball from me. Dida saved the shot – easily enough, as it was straight at him – but the ball rebounded to Joe Cole wide on the right… Hit it first-time from an acute angle. Back of the net. 2-0 to England…

The rest of the game saw me defending, and trying to score another on the breakaway – and failing. It really doesn’t seem fair just how penalised the human player is when leading against the CPU on high difficulty levels. I had a one-on-one with Owen – still one of the paciest players around – and he was at least 5 yards clear of the nearest defender. I thought I had plenty of time to go closer and place my shot into the net. But the defenders sprinted back to smother the ball away.

Eventually the whistle went and I was through to the quarter finals. I would face Argentina. It doesn’t get any easier…

I took an early lead. Joe Cole dribbled the ball down the wing to the corner flag, and I sent over a double-tap cross. The ball sort of scuffed off a defender’s head and fell to Owen, who was standing near the penalty spot. I jabbed the shoot button, wanting to get a first-time shot away, but there was no response. Somehow Owen still had the ball at his feet. I took him a step sideways, shot again – and he side-footed it over the keeper’s dive. 1-0.

I hung on under intense pressure for the remainder of the half. Whether its fans believe in the existence of scripting or not, it is undeniable that the CPU teams are programmed to exert tremendous pressure when behind. The answer seems to be nothing more than putting up with it, defending well, and keeping the ball as much as possible.

After half time it was the same pattern: Argentina streaming forward, intercepting all my passes, snuffing out my counterattacks. I seemed to be weathering the storm.

In the 75th minute I got through with Joe Cole on the right. Running in on goal from an angle – 45 degrees or so – with clear space in front of me and the goal at my mercy is one of my favourite scenarios in the game. Time after time I simply pound the ball high past the keeper into the top corner of the net. I ddn’t do so this time. The ball missed, wide, by several yards. I thought it shouldn’t have missed. PES fans can be a paranoid lot. The computer really is out to get us.

In the 79th minute Argentina won a throw-in in my half. Their winger received the ball and lofted in a cross to my far post. Crespo was there to head it in, sending it back across Robinson into the opposite side of the net. A good goal really. 1-1.

In the 84th minute Argentina played another cross in from the opposite wing. Crespo was there again, in almost the exact same spot on the other side of my goal. This time his header went through Robinson – through his hands, in fact – and into the net. 1-2. I’m behind, and it’s nearly all over.

I had one more attack. Wright-Phillips (on for Beckham) screwed a shot wide from outside the box. Argentina kept possession well, and then the final whistle blew.

My tournament is over. By my own house rules, I am not allowed to reload from the end of the group phase. I must now go back and play again from the start, as England, in a whole new International Tournament.