PES 2013 Review: A Triumphant Return To Form
The beautiful game celebrated exactly as it should be on the pitch, though the frills away from the pitch are still a little lacking.
rating:4.5
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You really have to feel for Pro Evo as a gaming property: thanks to the past few barren years, and the indignity of being forced to live in the considerable shadow of FIFA (thanks to underhand tactics as much as actual quality, if PES Team Leager Jon Murphy is to be believed), a lot of football gaming fans have forgotten the good times, when PES ruled supreme as the best of its type, before EA Sports re-focused and won their lead back. If FIFA is an all-conquering blend of Manchesters United and City, with "history" and financial power behind them, Pro Evo is more like Arsenal - still capable of greatness even in the toughest of times, and still there or there abouts when it comes to the final reckoning. But that comparative barren spell seems to have sparked some life into Konami and Pro Evo, and this year the football gaming runners-up in so many eyes have hit back with something very, very worthy of praise. Pro Evo 13 feels more purposeful, and the gameplay experience smacks of a developer with a singular intention to change perceptions in a positive way, which is perhaps why Murphy felt so confident in openly criticising the practices of his greatest rivals pre-release. And it's not particularly surprising: in the past few years Konami lost their way a little, their "improvements," especially in 2011 feeling a lot like a direct attempt to steal back some of the FIFA market share through aping what EA did best, while still holding on to something of the PES-like arcade tone and pace. That was never wholly successful, and 2012's drastic change in the pace of play, as an accompaniment to the rebuild attacking engine did atone for some of the lack of finesse in 2011, but the speed was just too much, and the game felt imbalanced, despite the obvious good intentions. It all felt like Konami were probing, looking for the right through-ball that would lead to a wonder-goal of a final product, and that understandably came with some compromise for the fans. But not this year, and the annual improvements this time out feel more substantial and more precise, with the impetus on individual player experience through control of the ball and a steeper learning curve that encourages the player to spend more time learning the nuances of playing. Instead of launching into games, Konami want us to practice and to learn their new control system, so we can unlock the skills necessary to pull off more eye-catching skills - and they've confirmed their intentions early on by inviting the player to tackle some tutorials to hone your skills. It's good to see Konami ignoring the accessibility agenda that would usually mean a decrease in the learning curve and skill-set necessary to get the most out of the game, and Pro Evo 13 really does reward those players willing to put the time in. Learn the new Full Control system and you'll see your player controlling the ball deftly with more precision than ever before, and with factors like the player's ability level, which leads to better manual passing across the board. That whole system, in conjunction with the equally effective Deft Touch Dribbling system makes for a wholly revamped gameplay experience and one that feels a lot more precise, and a lot more governed by the skill of the player than in previous years. That is also helped by Konami's decision to give the player more control of team-mates, who we can now direct into space to make runs, or to lose their defender from throw-ins - which of course also allows for defence-confusing fake runs - and by the overall improvement in both offensive and defensive AI. More than ever, play feels tactical, and like team-mates actually matter, as the game encourages the player to consider the overall attacking shape of their team, rather than just how the player with the ball will skip through the defence to score.