Played a handful of Arsenal/Atletico matches last night. This is the best feeling PES I've played in a long time. I really enjoyed the support/movement of my teammates; they find nice pockets of space to be available for passes. Ozil had by far the most touches on my team and always seemed to be open (in a good way). I LOVE how crosses feel - the have some zip and curl to them, not floaty at all. I scored a couple headed goals with Giroud and they looked great, aside from having acres of space out wide to hit the cross.
So I guess I'm seeing the retreating fullbacks issue too, but overall I feel like defensive positioning is fairly solid. Men get behind the ball and it doesn't feel like always scrambling to catch up. I agree the passing is a bit too assisted (I was on level 1), but it doesn't seem to unbalance the gameplay since the defense is fairly sound. Also agree that body position doesn't affect passing/shooting enough, especially shooting. I unleashed a wicked low shot with Giroud after a quick turn and it didn't look believable.
Keepers seem better, but I didn't test the CPU too much as I get the hang of things. Cech made a really nice diving save, but I also saw some of the stiff and awkward animations too. But I'll accept some awkwardness if they're competent, which first impression is they will be.
Like how the crowd howls & whistles on borderline challenges and reacts to play. It's probably more noticeable since there's no commentary, but still seems well done nonetheless. Player likenesses are pretty impressive; it's such a shame they can't get more robust licensing because it is a good looking game.
Overall, the demo took this from not much interest to possible purchase. For someone who doesn't buy many games, that's saying something.
I'll keep an eye on option file progress and gameplay impressions with a hopeful eye towards Black Friday...

Comment