1. Digital Footballs Smartest AI ProActive
The heart and soul of the game, the ProActive AI, to me sounds like a cheesy way of giving it weight. However I'd be wrong, as this editions AI made me sweat and swallow my ego as a PES gamer. In fact, when I first heard of it a while back, I was bitter about the fact that in many occasions I can remember my teammates staring at me awkwardly while I held the ball in hot spots. All I was hoping for was a run down the channel but these 3D clowns couldnt guess it. Thankfully, there's none of that this time, and the players now respond to even the slightest tamper with the tactical sliders and read the game intelligently (as intelligent as a constantly evolving AI can) while finding space to open up the game. The whole team now works as a unit and re-adjusts itself according to different situations: defenders stay organised and are harder to beat with new moves added (stretching to flick the ball off instead of tackling), and quick counters are something to be very wary of. The game experience is now more realistic than ever. The combined ball physics and ProActive AIare enough for me to stamp on my authority about PES being the connoisseur's digital choice. Even if they players were dressed in rags, I would probably fall for charm of its solid and flowing gameplay, because at the end of the day, gloss counts for nothing next to the gameplay experience. Ill probably be slaughtered by a few FIFA fans, but I stand by my words here. As an added aside, the best take seems to be the PC version, and having a decent rig shows you what next-gen football looks like, however the game is still a piece of digital art on both Xbox360 and PS3. One for the beautiful game and its beautiful culture.
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