Trust me to open my big mouth.
A few days ago i waxed lyrical about the new FIFA and how unless Pro Evolution Soccer upped their game i would be jumping ship to the long running EA franchise. How on earth was i to know that the new Pro Evo, the demo for which i finally played for the first time today, would have improved quite so much?
The new passing system that i was so worried about is actually just a better implemented version of FIFA's own 360 degree passing system, allowing you to power the ball along the floor rather than any pass i attempted with FIFA 11, which was tempered by the player aids so that it only just about reached the desired player.
PES this year is as graphically stunning a football game as i have ever seen, replays of the action blur player movements so that they look even closer to the real thing and the level of fidelity in general has been greatly improved. FIFA also looks the part this year and as always has slick front end design and in game menu systems that are quick and easy to use. PES has trumped them this year though with a new approach to menu design, everything in the demo is swish and minimalistic, the Vs screen has beautifully rendered images of the two teams star player in their kit and when you delve into the game plan menu things take an even more impressive turn.
This year Konami have given the player complete control of their teams tactics. Drag and drop any player into the position you desire and that's where they'll play, admittedly you could do this last year but it took some trawling through menus to do. This year the tactics are right there up front for you to alter. drag, drop, play.
FIFA has the option to create your own team, complete with club crest, just like Pro Evo. Where the two games seem to differ this year is the level of customisation you can apply to your new club. While you can create a kit and club crest for your FIFA team, Pro Evo allows the player to create their own stadium, right dow to the cut of the grass and the cladding on the stands (which you can also choose from). While i would never want to do so you can even give your players Spartan helmets or Pumpkin heads, have them play with a wrapped sweet for a ball and surround the ground with an 8-bit style landscape.
This year will be a difficult year for anyone unsure about which side to support, it looks like i'm still one of them after all. my best advice? Play each demo to death, rent both games out if you can so you can fiddle with the editing functions that both games have on offer this year, and go with the one you had most fun with.
That's what games are all about after all...
Robinho
If you're willing to ignore the fact that Japan saw the release of the Playstation on December 3rd 1994 then this month is very special in the life of Sony's first computer console.
September 9th and 29th 1995 marked the release of the Playstation in the US and EU respectively, which makes it 15 years old this month.
The Playstation wasn't my first gaming console by any means, that distinction belongs to the Nintendo Gameboy and Sega Master System (i wanted an NES). Along the way i owned a SNES as well, spending many a happy night playing Mario All Stars, but it was the Playstation that stole my heart and took it's place as my favourite games console.
Sony had such a wide array of different games available on the system that any gamer could find something to play and enjoy. Puzzle Fighter, Worms, ISS, Resident Evil, Ridge Racer, Destruction Derby, Gran Turismo, Final Fantasy VII and Grand Theft Auto. All these disparate games have only two things in common, first they were all available on the Playstation and secondly i owned them all. There is just a snapshot of how diverse the games library could be, and similarly how random my taste in games became once i switched to Sony's system.
My favourite game on the Playstation, and still one of my favourite games of all time was released two years after the systems launch. Final Fantasy VII came out just a few short months after i became the proud owner of my own Playstation. The opening cinematic, accompanied by Nobuo Uemastu's stirring soundtrack blew my mind. I never thought a video game could rival movies as a form of visual entertainment, yet here i sat watching, not playing the beginning of a game that would go on to swallow months of my life. I was so obsessed by that game that i spent a whole week in bed (I assure you i really was ill) playing through the final stages of the last disc.
Sony's Playstation was the first system to truely embrace three dimensional gaming. Tekken, Battle Arena Toshinden and Driver spring to mind as examples of developers taking advantage of the systems power to deliver a more immersive gaming experience.
I'm taken back to a time when Grand Theft Auto was the game all my friends were playing, i bought the new issue of PSM as i always did and opened the page to read about a new game being released soon by the name of Driver. My mind once again exploded, this time at the thought of driving around in a 3D environment with absolute freedom. No need to follow tracks, no caption flashing up on screen informing me that i was indeed "Going the wrong way", in fact there were no real rules at all. Half the fun i had in that game was when i was trying to break it, The monster Truck cheat was great fun, jumping over bridges with suspension jacked up to three times the normal height was an obsession for me, watching replays of my stunts afterwards made it all the more addictive.
The graphics of the PSOne (as the smaller yet similarly powerful update was known) pales in comparison to the later PS2 and PS3, yet it retains it's appeal to me based on the strength of the games and the feelings attached to them. I still play destruction derby and worms from time to time, but dare not touch FFVII for fear of losing my social life to it.
Now that they have made FFVII available on PSN i might risk my social life by downloading it again, i still own my copy of the game from back in 1997 but haven't got the room to set up the old PS2. On second thoughts it would give me a chance to play ICO and Shadow of the Colossus again...
Happy Birthday PSOne, I still love you x
Robinho.
After what seems like an eternity i have returned to the world of the Blog, in the hopes that i can once more be ridiculous for a moment.
Today is a landmark day in my life, for today i have finally turned the corner and realised it's time to make a change. Many a year i have revelled in the creative freedoms that Pro Evolution Soccer has afforded me in the editing suite, but that is no longer enough to keep me faithful to Konami's version of the beautiful game.
Wednesday September the 8th saw a bunch of listeners attend the 50th IGN UK podcast recording and i was fortunate enough to be amongst the lucky few. At this event we were treated to a demonstration of Playstation Move (It didn't work) and also had the chance to play FIFA 11 against each other.
For as long as i remember there have been two camps in the football simulation market, those who play FIFA, and those who play ISS/PES. ever since ISS 98 i have fallen into the Konami camp, preferring how a game played over the official licences it held. When ISS became PES it added something else to the mix which cemented my loyalty to the brand, Full kit editing. Last year i played both games at the demo stage and was sorely tempted by EA's game because for the first time in a long time it was more fun to play and actually felt closer to the real thing. Despite this i maintained my loyalty to Pro Evo more out of blind faith than logical reasoning.
This year will be no different in as much as i will play both demo's to see how they are to play, however there is one big difference that could play a vital role in which game i purchase. This year I'm buying the game i enjoy the most and leaving blind faith at the door.
Now onto my thoughts of the game i played today.
FIFA 11 plays beautifully, the passing is crisp and precise when you get it right rewarding you with a defence splitting pass that puts the opposing goalkeeper at the mercy of your centre forward. That's not to say that the computer does the work for you, you still have to direct the pass and choose how hard to strike the ball with the familiar power gauge.
Tackling is challenging but satisfying, meaning that you'll get as much out of a clean sheet as you will scoring at the other end. When playing with the ball at the feet of Marouan Chamakh or Robin Van Persie i never felt like being barged off the ball as easily as you can be in PES 2010. Trickier customers like Andrey Arshavin were easier to barge off the ball in a physical tussle but nippier and more nimble in and around the penalty area.
Graphically this years FIFA is a definite improvement on last years entry, players looked spot on in the game i played (Man Utd were emphatically beaten by a rampant Arsenal 3-0) The shirts looked as vibrant as they do in the real thing and the Stadiums are painstakingly duplicated in all their majesty. Pro Evo has had the edge as far as looks are concerned for the last few years, but now that FIFA has bucked it's ideas up in that area it'll be interesting to see how PES responds.
Finishing chances off has long been a gripe of mine when it comes to EA football games, but on the limited play time i had with the next one it would appear that the chances of pulling a Chris Iwelumo and skying the ball from 2 yards out have been drastically reduced. Great news for me, less so for my opponents.
Oh and as far as commentary is concerned, even though the game i played had commentary turned off FIFA has always beaten PES hands down in that department so i'll take it as red that Mark Lawrenson is still putting through Konami's own net
So how are we doing for reasons to buy this game?
Graphics - Check
Game play - Check
Official Kits and Licences - Check
Commentary - Double Check
The only thing that has me slightly reserved is that EA have still not really come up with a Master League killer and as i understand it you still can't play as your own imaginary team in FIFA. True, you had to edit PES United or Winning Eleven FC if you wanted to play as Brentwood FC in last years Pro Evo, but you could still design your own shirt, crest and sponsor.
I guess old habits really do die hard...
Robinho.
