Pro Evolution Soccer 2013 PES

Konami
It's probably best to start with a confession. Just like certain allegiances – politics, football teams, that friend your wife really doesn't like – defy all logic, so is my love for PES. There have been years I've flirted with Fifa and yes, grudgingly, I must admire its glossy appearance, official licenses, player animations and clever touches. But it's a dalliance and it's PES that I'll return home to.

You can take the mick all you like (and with teams such as Merseyside Red and West Midlands Village there's more than enough material), you can argue that the old Fifa complaints – it's too easy / it's all about the glory goals – no longer hold water. When it comes to repeat play, you're still more likely to find me grinding out the results in PES than any other game.

It'll be over to Keith in due course to present the case for Fifa 2013. This week you've got me and my attempts to judge PES 2013 fairly (which I'm sure will be analysed and pulled apart in the boxes below in a just a few seconds' time).

So, let's start with that four-out-of-five score. If we did marks out of 10 or offered halves, this would be a 70% title or thereabouts so, given my allegiance (and general glass-half-full take on life) I'm rounding up. Sue me.


In truth, there's a lot to back up the score. This incarnation of PES feels more solid than the past few years, particularly in defence, where new touches such as shadowing and simple face-on tackles mean you don't always have to slide in and risk yellow cards and the console's team somehow bursting the net with a 45-yard free kick that you will never replicate.

As for the bells and whistles, there are some excellent additions. There's a full range of passing available and shooting is more controlled than ever – the duration of the respective button press controlling height and power. And the new tricks – flick ons, instant control, turning defenders – are very welcome.

There is a full training module available which you will need: these moves require a lot of practice to drop them into a full game (and the sort of manual dexterity that occasionally feels like you're playing Pro Evolution Stenographer) but when they come off, and you've fizzed a ball across the pitch, flicked the ball over a defender and embarked on a mazy run finishing with a carefully placed chip into the top corner, you'll punch the air.


Or the wall when you've pressed the wrong button, hit a shot that's closer to the corner flag, got the timing all wrong, conceded the winning goal with the last kick of the game or just feel that the console has deliberately ignored your button pressing (yes, it's a thing).

It would be interesting to see a Top 10 of games that have resulted in controller flinging and property damage; I suspect that PES would be high on the list. Sometimes you can play brilliantly and lose. Sometimes you can go from being a master of the button presses to getting it all wrong – Messi to messy – in the space of a few seconds. But hey, that's football.

A big change is the lack of league competitions, but that's pretty much taken care of under the positively tweaked Master League function. There's also some new music and new commentary but not enough of either that they won't get very annoying very quickly.

Graphically, things have improved with some impressive player likenesses, particularly in their movements. Konami claims to have improved the goalkeeping too. Hmm. On the evidence of the many games played so far, if they have worked with real keepers it appears to have involved Heurelho Gomes.

Once again, the late transfers aren't reflected in the game, and will require a data download (or not if you're a Tottenham – sorry, North East London – fan eager to hold on to Modric for another season) although that wasn't available at the time of review.

Is this the Pro Evo to convince Fifa fans to switch? No. Is it an improvement on the last couple of years' PES incarnations? Yes. Will I be loving it and hating it and still playing it until PES 2014 comes out? Absolutely.