You can’t get much more exciting than PES, a game that does everything so well that it is going to be hard for me to take other soccer games seriously.
The experience is somewhat different than that of other sports games: you feel less like a player in the thick of things than like a coach who is able to micromanage every player. I didn’t feel like I was controlling an athlete so much as controlling an entire team, as though I were playing a very fast paced military strategy game.
Had I heard this description before playing the game, I would have expected something too tricky or too detached to create the visceral thrill I expect in a sports game, but the design works so well that I now want all sports games to apply the same principals
Gameplay: A Control Scheme That Gives Players Ultimate Control
In the most basic sense, PES still plays like a typical sports game. On offense, you control whichever player has the ball. On defense you can switch from player to player, but usually will want to be the player nearest the ball.
Still, there are notable differences. On offense, you can give commands to other players. If the guy with the ball is heading towards the opponent’s goal, you can point and click your remote near the goal and another player will run over there, prepared to accept a pass. To shoot a goal you can either flick the nunchuk, which tells the player to use his best judgment in taking the shot, or use the remote to specify a place to aim.
Defense is also different. You can, as in any sports game, move a player in to try and steal the ball, but while doing so, you can also use the remote to choose a second player to join him. And if you see an opposing player running towards an unprotected part of the field you can tell one or more of your players to move there and try and intercept the ball.
PES wants to make sure that whatever you can think of doing, you have the ability to do it.
The players all act intelligently, and the effect is as though you are leading a smart team towards victory. For anyone who has ever screamed instructions to athletes while watching sports on TV, here is your chance to have all your wise advice taken.
Nothing is Perfect, but PES 2009 Comes Close
There is also a team management component, as in most sports games, and as usual, I completely ignored it. This will perplex those who spend hours imagining the perfect team, but the idea of trading players and studying their stats fills me with ennui. Other reviews tell me team management is well implemented.
I was disappointed by the game’s tutorial, which seems tossed together. I was particularly annoyed when the game covered tackling. The virtual coach said that when performing a tackle, “timing must be right” to avoid a foul. But he didn’t explain what the timing should be. I am not a soccer player and I don’t really know the rules of the game, so I have no idea what the difference between a legal and illegal tackle is, and almost every tackle I have tried in any soccer game has resulted in a foul. This is a pity, because I really enjoy tackling.
Of course, sports game designers assume the only people who play sports games are sports fans likely to know the basics of their favorite sports. They are probably right. As someone who has had little interest in playing or watching sports, it is fair to say that were I not a game reviewer I probably would have reached the end of my life without ever having played a soccer video game. That would have been a loss: I would never have discovered the intense emotional bond one can forge with a soccer ball.
