PES 2015 is a game that’s very easy to be terrible at and very difficult to be great at. Soccer — or football for you damn puritans — is a nebulous concept to me. It’s a strange no man’s land of kicking and faking injuries.
The only things I truly understand about soccer is that Tim Cahill does 9 Weet Bix, Lionel Messi has always been on the cover of FIFA and that riots happen more frequently than goals. With that in mind, I had the chance to play PES 2015 at E3 2014 and without really knowing what I was doing, I had a good time.
PES 2015, like 2014, runs on the FOX Engine. The same engine that powers Metal Gear Solid V and with an additional year to get the engine really cranking the team at Konami have managed to create a truly gorgeous experience for the eyeballs. Players move with exceptional realism — especially when taking an Oscar winning dive — as does the ball. There’s a swift fluidity to the game that helps makes utter noobs — like myself — feel as though they may have a grasp as to what exactly is going on. Controlling the game is actually incredibly simple thank to an overhauled system. Even lacking the most basic knowledge of the sport, PES 2015 is intuitive and responsive.
Newly introduced in PES 2015 is the jinking run which gives much greater control of the ball at the cost of some pace. By utilising the jinking run players can keep the ball closer, turn more sharply and round defenders sharply and effectively. It’s a simple change, but one that totally changes the way you play. By pressing the right trigger the jinking run is activated and if timed correctly can be activated just prior to receiving a pass to give some additional control from the moment the ball is in possession.
Without being an expert on all things PES and FIFA it’s clear to me that PES is striving for a more arcade style experience, rather than being a pure sports simulation. That’s totally great though. It’s what separates it from FIFA and without a point of difference there’d be almost no reason for both franchises to exist. In my experience, PES 2015 is a much simpler game to pick up and play than any other sports game I’ve played in the last couple of years. The AI controlled team certainly kicked my butt, but I still had fun being a loser.
PES 2015 is coming to PC, PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on 13 November.
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