Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 Game Review

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 is Konami's latest venture into the Footballing world and with the slogan "Engineered for Freedom" what can we expect this year after the phenomenal success of Konami's rival EA Sports with their Football franchise, FIFA 11.

PES boasts loudly about freedom and that is definitely what it does this year. The passing system feels much more fluent and responsive this time around and when you get that right in a Football game, your job is nearly done. Passing the ball from player to player feels satisfying and more consistent than the previous game allowing for a richer and more realistic gaming experience. Players will also anticipate passes that go too far and make runs in attempt to help the player, always breaking into space to offer multiple options and creating a much more realistic football experience. When defending in the previous game, awkward ping pong possession would become irritating and frustrate the player in his attempts to regain the ball. This has been corrected and feels much more natural in PES 2011.

This is all due to the fact PES 2011 focuses more on the positioning and timing aspects of the gameplay and chances are if you get on the right side of the opposing player you will be able to defend the attack with much more ease. The game is more rewarding when it comes to simple mistakes, however if you give your opponent too much space and he knows what he is doing, then be prepared to be passed into submission. While the defenders are much improved you should still expect to see the same mistakes from the keepers, while less frequent than previously they are still there and happen often. Let's just hope you are playing with a Jabulani ball, then you have an excuse at least.

The positioning system has been improved tremendously meaning players can now use a much slower build up before an attack and focus more on holding the ball rather than sprinting down a wing before delivering a cross into the box. The gameplay is much more varied and unexpected than before, you will often find yourself testing the keeper from wider distances and angles than before. The unpredictability of the gameplay can force even veterans of the franchise to miss sitters, while scoring from almost impossible positions. This makes the matches much more exiting and provides a thrilling experience with some frantic high paced games ending in unexpected outcomes.

PES 2011 offers a great tactical system allowing players to drag and drop in precise locations creating much more tactical games that can be decided by either a correct or incorrect formation. There is also an elaborate stadium editor, something i personally love due to the lack of licensed grounds in the game. Fortunately none of the tinkering is mandatory, so if you are not the type of person who likes to plan a well though out strategy then you can just get straight to the action rather quickly.

Tricks and feints are much more prominent this time around, players can even create their own feints and map them to the right stick allowing a sense of individual input on the game. Tricks look great and can satisfy the player when pulled off correctly but they just seem a bit unnecessary in PES, unlike FIFA where a trick can change a match and create a chance that would otherwise not open up to the player, in PES it feels more like something that can get in the way rather than help. They are still fun to pull off with your favourite superstar and attempt when in control of a match though, and it's better to have the option available than not have anything at your disposal.

The best thing about the PES is the arcade style gameplay which feels satisfying. While there has been a big focus on realism this year, the game still manages to retain that classic PES feel. PES is fun, that's what is so great about it. I find when i am playing FIFA i feel a more frantic pressurised gameplay experience but with PES it just feels fun and reminds me of the arcade games i used to play as a child.

The biggest disappointment with PES, and the main reason i will stick with FIFA 11 for this year is the licensing restrictions. PES is notorious for it's "less is more" approach and yet again we are stuck with North London, East London, and Man Blue. The majority of players names are fun but it just takes away from the experience when you can't play as Manchester City or Arsenal. Bayern Munich have been added to the licensed teams but not enough has changed to win me over just yet.

The game looks great, vibrant bold colours flood the Television screen and create a fun and exiting atmosphere during matches. Players look great, well the superstars do at least. Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi and more all look as if they have just walked straight into your game. Taking corners and free kicks will allow you to view the details in each player and you will appreciate the work done on the more important names in the game.

Other than an Online Master League fans of PES don't have much to be pleased with when it comes to online features, this is an area Konami could improve on greatly in the future. Considering FIFA 11 has given it's fans a huge amount of online content it's really disappointing and surprising to see such a lack of improvements in PES 2011.

PES has taken the improvements from the last game and carried them through into 2011, with better AI and improvements on the realism aspect of the game while still retaining it's fun arcade like feel. PES will please the fans with the core gameplay but once again disappoint when it comes to content.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 doesn't do enough to be great, but it's still good 8.0