Konami has been pretty aggressive regarding PES when it comes to marketing, their slogan is : “The Pitch is Ours”. The PES series was always one of the best football game series, and they don’t intend to hide it. The quality of the presentation, the licences they bought just to achieve this latest game. This feeling however is crushed when you get a goal in the last minute of match which would determine your position in the leaderboard. The best news is that the FOX engine is used and the game looks great on the PS4.

A new sense of atmosphere was created, and this is first noticed on the pitch. Most noticeable is the goalkeeper movement which killed PES 2008 back in the day. The instant goal stopper movements are finally gone, and the ball will actually find its way to score. For example Neur’s sudden corner defence, or de Gea’s epic catches. The main difference from the previous entries is that the playstyles are authentic for both the players and for the teams.

“The cheek of it!” (Trevor GTA V)

For the big names such as Ronaldo, Messi, Robben, Neymar, is similar to their real life counter parts, in fact even their weaknesses and strengths are particularly well done. Once we play with these big names, we’ll feel the difference. This also means it won’t be easy playing with the smaller teams, because there’s a huge gap between the big and small league players. If we play with Stoke City, we’ll have to use their strengths to win. It’s no longer just about running around aimlessly trying to score. We’ll have to learn tactics, train and learn the strengths and weaknesses of a team we play with. This is especially needed if we up the difficulty settings.

It does what I tell them

When pressing the left thumstick, we will be able to control the dribbling. Pes 2015 really makes the slightest moves feel great on the PS4, so dribbling becomes especially awesome. The midfielders and the strikers are placed a bit more forward than usual, but you can get used to it. In summary , players like Fellani who do not have much technical prowess to get the ball up, however Sneider does ( just like in real life). Dribbling is easier, and we won’t have to waste our time with pointless tricks. We do have to spend a lot of time to experience the new movement sets, but once we are pros we’ll enjoy the gameplay. There’s no better feeling when we go pass the defence and shot the ball into the upper left corner.

There might be something here

Here’s where the improvements actually come in. Shots, passes, and the defence has new meaning finally. In last year’s PES the football felt like a handball and once you kicked into it flew all over the place. The upgraded physics finally fixed this issue and the ball’s movement is more realistic than ever. If we kick now the weight and force of it is better felt. In default or more advanced settings we have better option in controlling the football. Passing is better, but it still has a long way to go to make it natural in terms of movement .
What’s different from the previous one ?

The defence in PES 2015 is still as big as in the previous entries. As usual if you press X the defence line will stick to the offense, but it happens a little bit differently. If we get near enough, the defence will try to get the ball. The success is based on the stats of the defender. This is a great idea, as the AI uses these stats fully, and results in difficult matches. The FOX engine is used to its fullest by the dev team. However the commentators are just plain horrible, which is a shame since it ruins some of the immersion. The player models look fantastic, and the likness of Neymar, Di Marina, and Wellbeck was unbelievable. The lighting effects are also stunning. There’s only one issue, day matches look better than night time matches, also the animation is still not perfect.

There’s also a brand new gameplay mode called MyClub. It’s similar to Fifa’s Ultimate Team, but here the agents instead of focusing on the teams, focus on the players. Transactions can be made within with ingame currency, but there’s also a micro transaction option. This was done apparently so that no one buys the uber players and win every match. I’m interested in this , as the concept seems solid, but it will depend on the online option’s stability.

It still will be good

PES’s best part the Master League is still included. Only one noticeable change was made, which is the transfer system. A game that tries to be the best in the football genre, the Master League requires a lot of effort. However the system for transfers is archaic and illogical. The system forces you to lose 10 days without you doing anything, or any transactions. The fantastic gameplay and matches inbetween sort of lighten this annoying issue. All in all Konami was able to step up their game. PES 2015 looks great on the PS4, more accessible, although the Master League and some of the animations are still lacking polish. While the marketing claims they “own the pitch” it’s still has its fair share of issues.

-Malachit-

Editor: Konami Games

Developer: Konami Games

Genres: sport, foci

Publication: November 2014