Goodbye Mark Lawrenson

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.