PES2011 – She's be a bit of a looker...

We were told that the next PES instalment is being engineered for freedom, with unprecedented levels of fluidity and animations set to be included - and the info that has been streaming onto the web for the past week seems to work hand-in-hand with that. 2011 will be better than it’s predecessor - and my guess is that it’s going to take a step towards bringing us the real game, at least visually.

We’ve had info on the new defensive system, a sneaky peak at what could end up being the new controller configuration and some info on the passing/power gauge effectiveness. Personally - I’m surprisingly impressed by a little tweak that’s been overshadowed. The pictures that detail the upgrades in player physique and clothing "fit" are hugely inspiring...

Penpas uploaded some images last week which detailed the advances in player model design from the current PES to the next release. The stars that will take to the field in PES 2011 will have more realistic body-shapes and diameters, and their kits will look exactly how they are designed to look.

Drogba and the rest of the Ivorians will have their skin-tight shirt mirrored exactly on the game - showing pectoral and abdominal definition, whilst England et al will no doubt have a more classic fit. Despite the fact that it's a small addition this could have significant visual impacts... After all - there are 5 things of interest on a pitch: the ball, the grass, the nets, the ref and the players... The ball has been/can be updated through DLC, and judging by the screenshots/play-test videos the grass has been improved in 2011 too. Also, Eurogamer quoted Jon Murphy saying that nets are reportedly on the radar (page 4 on the following review):

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/pro-evolution-soccer-2011-hands-on?page=1

If the physical appearance of the stars on screen takes a step towards realism - then that means that pretty much everything of interest in-game will be revamped visually to some degree at least (I'm guessing that the upgrades will be applied to the officials too?). Add to this a newly worked "Broadcast" camera angle, which can be seen in the crowd chorus test clip from the Tokyo demo and we could be looking at a much more life-like game of football.



Obviously - most of you will quickly look past this if the game plays more Sunday league than Premier league... The play-test reviews have been giving mixed signals; it looks to be playing smoothly but there are still some distinct bugs which need to be ironed out (particularly with the keepers) - which is what you expect from a demo build. Significantly though, it’s taking time for people to get used to it, which is a sign that we’re going to be playing something different.

I can’t wait to see the changes. I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the beautiful game - and it definitely looks like this version is going to be beautiful!

What’re your thoughts though - what’ve you guys heard? What intrigues you the most?... Overall - has the news so far been Good or Bad, or are you sitting on the fence ‘til you hear a bit more? Obviously I’ve pretty much left gameplay out entirely here - and usually that's the deciding factor, so if there’s anything you wanna talk about let me hear it...