PES 2019: MAGICAL FRUSTRATIONS
I wanted to love this game so much, too bad it doesn’t want to love me back.
Now I’m going to insult a bunch of guys who I don’t know and who worked hard on this game:
I’m sorry, but I have to, it is your fault and you deserve everything I write here, both the good and
the bad.
I gave you my money, and you lied to me.
First of all, the name of the game is Pro Evolution SOCCER, but everywhere else in the game you
are referring to it as a soccer. That is kind of confusing, and it is also a good term to describe the
19th edition in this beloved franchise which didn’t manage to get back to the track of iconic PES06,
but is always improving.
It just seems it will take them forever to get there, or maybe even never.
GAMEPLAY: YOU PLAYED YOURSELF
PES has a moments when you are not sure if you are playing the game or watching THE game.
Sadly, those moments are more rare then often, and PES is also very scripted.
I am talking about AI here a lot because I’m an offline player, but I will also talk about co-op
gameplay.
I have player every single PES so far, but I’m not a pro player. I play for fun. And this game is no
fun.
That’s bad for a game, because games are supposed to be fun. Even worse, this is a football
simulation and it lacks realism. That’s also not really good, especially if you are trying to portray
something that is real.
So what I expect to be from a football game is fun and real. Because football is amazing, beautiful
game.
Not that there is no realism, there is, even so- more than ever.
Animation are excellent, but connection between the two will leave you wondering if people who
created this game ever seen real life players ever move or even if they ever go run themselves?
Controlling your player feels like they don’t control their body, like running is a problem for them,
like they are digging with their feet instead of moving on grass.
Every turn they make is like, this, separate, move, they, have, to, make.
Often, very, veeery, veeeeeeeery slooooooooooooooooow.
When player you are controlling needs to take a shot or clear the ball it can take for ages for them
to do so and feels like they have to do certain amount of pre animated moves to perform a certain
thing, again, very slow, which can lead to ball been taken from you or sot being blocked. +1 for
animations, -1 for slow animation link
While AI posses some smooth moving player, even from 3 star rated clubs, they always make a
perfect moves, they are always in control and you are the one who has to brake the joystick in
order to take away the ball.
How opponent get to your goal is often ridiculous. I swear there are some written screenplay drawn
on the field and game is completely ignoring your moves so just watch AI make passes until they
score.
Also, very funny, game sometimes doesn’t let you control your own players, so they just don’t do
anything. I swear, for a moment you are not even playing, like you are shut off from the game.
This is unforgivable and again, very frustrating.
Your defenders often don’t defend and attackers don’t go forward when you are attacking.
Passes you make is not passes you made. I get it they tried to force you to be careful about
passing but not in this way. Press of the button is not always the same, even if you press the
button in the same way, for example ‘△’ doesn’t always act the same, even though you pressed it
the same.
And this is let’s say okay and it kind of brings reality of error into a game.
But only to yours, because AI plays like a robot and their error is none or minimum.
This is some serious neglecting of logic and physics.
PES can be hard and I don’t have problem with hard games.
I have problem with dishonest games.
PES should present some new level of difficulty ‘Real’ where weaker clubs perform inside their
boundaries, at least if they want to keep the harder Super Star difficulty to look like you are
competing against machine and not human players. -1 for AI
Goals from long range? Non existent. Even when it does go in it is because goalies mysteriously
leaves their goals. And every time I try to go brave and shoot from a longer distance I could predict
the not just the outcome - keeper will sabe the ball - but even ridiculous keeper-flying-3 meters in
the air animation. It is just not worth it. Which is too bad because when you actually make the shot
it feels so pleasing, so real, and when you score the nets shake in a very VERY nice way! +1 for
nets and +1 for ball behaviour/physics but -1 for long distance shots
What I always like the PES is how every player have their weight. You can feel that weight. It is
very solid, and that is very good.
When you are playing, passing the ball and making the actions everything feel so connected
despite weak animation link and slow player movement.
Gameplay is sometimes overly enjoyable, with actions of magic displaying in front of your eyes.
It’s hard to take away the point for such a joy able
VISUALS: IS THIS A LIVE BROADCAST OF A REAL THING AND PEOPLE
WHO DESIGNED USER INTERFACE SHOULD BE FIRED WITH FOOT-IN-
THEIR ASS WAY
SOUND
This depends of your music taste, because that is all you would want to hear when you play PES.
Music and sounds in menu? Very, VERY forgettable and generic. I miss funky jazz vibe which is
now iconic but long gone.
Commentaries? I don’t know how anyone up to this point can hate this classic disaster! I especially
love when Jim says ‘The game can be floating one way but it could easily be flowing the other.’
Then there’s silence.
Then Jim says ‘The game can be floating one way but it could easily be flowing the other.’
Pure gold. +1 for commentaries because it is so terrible that is so good
OVERALL
PES is beautiful game on the pitch, but the lack of features and often unfair frustration gives it a
bad reputation: Sometimes it feels like 10, but sometimes it also feels like a 1, and even worse, like
a 0.
I’m ranting so much about this game because there are allot of small things they could be done
better, but didn’t, and that is why is so stressful.
It feels so real but then again it is a video game, full of scripts and annoying issues.
PES 19 is another move forward, but to get to the goal, KONAMI has a 1/3 of pitch to run.
7
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Game that could be excellent should feel excellent more often, but for those moments it is worth playing.
It is the best football soccer simulation achieved so far, but often - it is not .
Everything else is not worth mentioning.
