PES 2011 Preview

Back in June we got to spend some time with an early code of Konami’s latest football offering. With our own and the press’ positive feedback to that code it was with great anticipation that I took the controller once again and sat down to play PES 2011. I was anxious to see how the game was coming along and to see how much the impressive early code had been built upon.



Something that the hardcore PES fans have always loved about the franchise is the player individuality. However with the press release saying that this year’s game would offer up much more freedom in terms of passing and movement, some fans thought that this new level of freedom may hindered that feature unique to PES. Well, even before finishing the first half I had with Man City against Arsenal in the first game, I realised this concern would forever be forgotten.

Picking the ball up with Vieira in around the halfway line, plodding into the opposition half, looking identical to the real life ageing midfielder I stroke the ball out wide to Bellamy. With one quick turn the Welshman immediately quickens the pace with a dash down the left wing knocking it inside to Tevez who’s dropped into the hole behind the midfield. Feeling much heavier and stronger than Bellamy I fancy my chances to hold onto the ball that bit longer waiting for a gap to appear in the Arsenal defence. While Song comes across to try and wrestle Tevez off the ball, using his strength I manage to hold him off which also shows a superb animation when both players jostle for the ball, shoulders charging into each other. Gallas makes a dash forward to help Song out and there the gap appears which I quickly exploit with a lovely lofted through ball to Adebayor, a pass that seemed almost impossible to do in last year’s version, languid and calm with his first touch he places it past the onrushing Almunia to make it 1-0.

The goal brings a grin to my face, not because I’ve gone one nil up but because the move and the resulting goal felt so satisfying, something that I think the franchise had lost in the last few years. The reason it felt so satisfying was a result of all the improvements made this year including; the freedom of passing, the animations, the ball physics, the player models and the pace of the game which all combined in that one move to give an enjoyable simulated football experience.



As I play more and more games I start to notice little things that I didn’t do in the previous code. When you now do a super cancel with a player there are different animations for different players, so Ronaldinho will swivel his hips when performing the move whereas someone like Nigel De Jong will have a more standard animation similar to what’s gone before in previous games. It’s just a subtle animation added by Konami that keeps the gameplay feeling varied and fresh. Another satisfying thing was that the game didn’t feel like it was on rails which is down to the new freedom in passing and the directional movement of players being a lot closer to the 360 boasted about last year. There were also little touches like the centre forward heading the ball into the ground off a cross or the way a player tried to put all his body weight into a back heel if he had to do it at pace.

A major criticism of the previous code was the goalkeepers who, while being better than last year, were still not up to a high standard. They’ve improved again in this code and seem to stop more shots than before but still aren’t that reliable. In the three hours I played there were a few times when I thought a shot was too easily parried or could have easily been parried further away from goal. Hopefully though, the fact that they’ve been improved again from the last code is a good sign that they will be improved again for the next code.

Last year Konami added player cards to the tactics options; while this year they’ve been somewhat buried in the player menu system they added a multiple of options that will whet the appetite of tacticians and strategists. You now have the ability to set different tactics along different time lines within a game using the new feature ‘Edit Manager’. This works with slots of every fifteen minutes being editable with different tactics. So for example you can play possession football with a defensive attitude for the first half but go all out attack for the first fifteen minutes of the second half. You also have three more options to choose from according to different situations in a match. This means you can set your team to play in a certain way according to if you’re winning, trailing or drawing. This feature really will make Master League and online even more interesting and is another step by Konami to mimic real football.



Another criticism of previous instalments was the presentation of the menus in the game because they looked too childish. This year they are looking really nice and seem to have a polish about them that has been majorly lacking in previous years. It reminds me of the Playstation x bar menu in that it scrolls from left to right feeling very slick also looking clean and professional.

Last year’s graphics were pretty special but somehow Konami have gone up another level this year. The player likenesses are outstanding with player looking so much like their real life counterparts again. The big reason for the jump in quality though is the changes to some people’s main gripes in recent years, mainly the level of detail dropping in the wide camera angle and the player models themselves being too rigid and not varied enough from player to player. Thankfully with 2011 these two gripes no longer exist. There seems to be no notably drop in quality when playing in wide cam with kits still retaining their sharpness and no bugs such as players having untucked shirts only when they were on the near touchline like last year. For me, this bug last year made the ability to untuck shirts pretty useless so I’m extremely happy it’s been fixed.

Player models have been improved massively this year as was shown in the earlier trailers with both of the Ronaldo’s. The older one looking like his stocky and slightly overweight real life self while Crisitano Ronaldo looks leaner and more athletic, a nice clear difference which is how it should be rather than the silly wax works of previous years.

One of the first things I noticed last year when I played 2010 was the poor representation of chanting from the crowd. The crowd is much better and it makes Champions League matches come alive with atmosphere. Playing at home with AC Milan against Man Utd you could really hear the Milan chants all the way through the game and they actual sound good this year. Unfortunately the commentary still hasn’t been improved that much and although Jim Beglin replaces the annoying Mark Lawrenson he still sounds as lifeless and clueless., perhaps more is still being added.

Tricks could become a real weapon this year as Konami has decided to add a lot more than previous years. You can do simple tricks like a step over or a drag back with the flick of the right stick. For more fancy moves you have to press L2 plus the right stick. You can now even link four tricks together by storing them to the L1 button although I tried to do this a few times and got tackled every time before I could finish the sequence. Tricks seem like they could be effective (The Boss wrong footed my defenders a few times with the chop trick) but they aren’t easy to pull off every time because you have to time them just right, like in real football. One criticism that people may find with the trick system though is that it seems anyone can do any trick, so even a goalkeeper can perform a rainbow flick.

T o help combat the new trick system Konami added a new defence system (in which you press X and the left stick either away or towards a defender to jockey and tackle) that seems like it will become an art to learn rather than mastering it straight away. Numerous times I tried using it to jockey but the attacker had already passed the ball before I got chance to get near him. It did get a little frustrating at times because I just wanted to play the old way and run into him but was trying to master the new system. I think it will be all part of the learning curve in mastering the new PES.

Overall the game has improved from the early code and I’m confident many fans will enjoy this year’s instalment. There are a few niggling things like there are with all games such as players not making good off the ball runs sometimes but it’s a huge improvement over last year. I never expected Konami to able to improve the game this much in only a year. I look forward to playing the final code and seeing it improved even more while I also look forward to the fans of the series hopefully feeling they’ve been pleasantly surprised.

Make sure you check out the Preview video and screens and the in-depth look at Editing.

WENB will also be doing an in-depth look at BAL later in the week so we will update when they do.

There will be a Q&A session running tomorrow from 9am where you can ask whatever questions you like about the latest Preview.