I have played Pro Evo 4 over the weekend and here are my observations and opinions about the game so far.
I would firstly like to say the game is quality, without a doubt the best Pro Evo yet. It is not yet the perfedt replication of the beautiful game, but it doesnt half try hard to be so and isnt far off.
GAMEPLAY: As you will know there have been several slight tweaks to the gameplay, and all serve to make it a better game. The passing is slicker than PES 3 and the players use different parts of their foot to guide the ball around the pitch which makes for highly authentic in game action. You can create some wonderful flowing and intricate passing moves and by picking the right time for a clinical through ball you can destroy the CPU defence.
The shooting system is a little weird at first, but over a few games you being to become accustomed with it. It is substantially different to PES. Basically the longer you keep hold of the shoot button, the higher your shot will go. There are some incredibly tame shots at times because of this, but thats realistic i guess. The goalkeepers are now much harder to beat on one on ones. For me it is now an achievement that scaresely happens to beat a keeper on a 1 on 1 as they close the space and make it incredibly difficult. The way they dive to make the saves is also now far more life like, but... they do have a tendecny to stand there and watch the ball a lot of the time. Now dont get me wrong, sometimes the effect is exellent, as the keeper stands hopelessly watching a ball fly into the top corner, but when he just lets weak shots pass within an inch of the post it just looks wrong. I trhink konami need to find the right balance of the keepers diving and standing in PES 5 as it is a bit lop sided in this version, but it is only a minor quibble really.
The set pieces have been refined, and free kicks are now incredibly hard to pull off, from my point of view anyway. I rarely hit the target, but i guess it needs more practise. Corners are good and well competed in the area and when a header is met it is far more realistic than PES 3.
CPU AI: Well i have been playing as Valencia in a spanish season ( brilliant to see you can now play a full league) on 4 stars, and have found the AI to be highly intelligent. Defending against the CPU is hard work as they will ruthlessly exploit any positional error and counter attack with precision. You simply cannot dive in as they will pass around you with real ease. After a while you do get used to defending, but it never gets too easy which is great news. Defensively, the cpu AI is also finely tuned and it is very hard to break the cpu down at times and if you do manage to it really is a great feeling, no matter how the ball goes in. I had a cracking game against Barca which i lost 1-2 with the CPU scoring with a corss come cross in the last minute of the game - just shows all the different types of goals that can be scored on the game, there are no limits. The cpu will shoot from outside the area, get down the flanks and thread passes through the defence, itll do everything basically.
Graphics, sound, cameras and menus: The graphics have definitely improved, and i have to say are not far behind fifa anymore. The picutre is a bit bland in colour still, but konami are not far off. The sound is decent. The music is not the bestm, as expected, but who cares. Commentary has improved, but not a great deal, they still make wrong comments at wrong times, but it is betetr than PES 3. The camera angles are exellent, far superior to fifa. I am really impressed by the sheer variety. I like using the broadcast cam as it makes you think youre in a real tv game, brilliant stuff. Menus are ok, nothing to write home about, but they are not bad.
The weather and the pitch: The weather now really effects the way the ball flows on a pitch. A slight shower makes the gameplay fast and the passing slikc across the service, but a heavy downpour slows the game down as the ball hits puddles. It really adds to the realism. The pitches vary in surfaces, some make the ball flow crisply, some slower, again great for realism, as no pitch is the same. Hopefully konami could introduce different pitch sizes too next year??? Highbury is not as big as the nou camp after all.
Nice touches: 1,players wear gloves when it is cold. 2, Players go off for treatment when injured leaving their side down to 10 men temporarily. 3, the advantage by a ref works this year. 4, the refs are greatly improved, far more lenient, which was needed.
Slight quarms - penalties seem to be missed or saved an incredible ammount of the time. The cpu hasnt scored against me in 4 attempts so far, a bit odd to say the least.
Conclusion - PES 4 is the ebst ever football game, verging on the best game ever. Enough said.
I would firstly like to say the game is quality, without a doubt the best Pro Evo yet. It is not yet the perfedt replication of the beautiful game, but it doesnt half try hard to be so and isnt far off.
GAMEPLAY: As you will know there have been several slight tweaks to the gameplay, and all serve to make it a better game. The passing is slicker than PES 3 and the players use different parts of their foot to guide the ball around the pitch which makes for highly authentic in game action. You can create some wonderful flowing and intricate passing moves and by picking the right time for a clinical through ball you can destroy the CPU defence.
The shooting system is a little weird at first, but over a few games you being to become accustomed with it. It is substantially different to PES. Basically the longer you keep hold of the shoot button, the higher your shot will go. There are some incredibly tame shots at times because of this, but thats realistic i guess. The goalkeepers are now much harder to beat on one on ones. For me it is now an achievement that scaresely happens to beat a keeper on a 1 on 1 as they close the space and make it incredibly difficult. The way they dive to make the saves is also now far more life like, but... they do have a tendecny to stand there and watch the ball a lot of the time. Now dont get me wrong, sometimes the effect is exellent, as the keeper stands hopelessly watching a ball fly into the top corner, but when he just lets weak shots pass within an inch of the post it just looks wrong. I trhink konami need to find the right balance of the keepers diving and standing in PES 5 as it is a bit lop sided in this version, but it is only a minor quibble really.
The set pieces have been refined, and free kicks are now incredibly hard to pull off, from my point of view anyway. I rarely hit the target, but i guess it needs more practise. Corners are good and well competed in the area and when a header is met it is far more realistic than PES 3.
CPU AI: Well i have been playing as Valencia in a spanish season ( brilliant to see you can now play a full league) on 4 stars, and have found the AI to be highly intelligent. Defending against the CPU is hard work as they will ruthlessly exploit any positional error and counter attack with precision. You simply cannot dive in as they will pass around you with real ease. After a while you do get used to defending, but it never gets too easy which is great news. Defensively, the cpu AI is also finely tuned and it is very hard to break the cpu down at times and if you do manage to it really is a great feeling, no matter how the ball goes in. I had a cracking game against Barca which i lost 1-2 with the CPU scoring with a corss come cross in the last minute of the game - just shows all the different types of goals that can be scored on the game, there are no limits. The cpu will shoot from outside the area, get down the flanks and thread passes through the defence, itll do everything basically.
Graphics, sound, cameras and menus: The graphics have definitely improved, and i have to say are not far behind fifa anymore. The picutre is a bit bland in colour still, but konami are not far off. The sound is decent. The music is not the bestm, as expected, but who cares. Commentary has improved, but not a great deal, they still make wrong comments at wrong times, but it is betetr than PES 3. The camera angles are exellent, far superior to fifa. I am really impressed by the sheer variety. I like using the broadcast cam as it makes you think youre in a real tv game, brilliant stuff. Menus are ok, nothing to write home about, but they are not bad.
The weather and the pitch: The weather now really effects the way the ball flows on a pitch. A slight shower makes the gameplay fast and the passing slikc across the service, but a heavy downpour slows the game down as the ball hits puddles. It really adds to the realism. The pitches vary in surfaces, some make the ball flow crisply, some slower, again great for realism, as no pitch is the same. Hopefully konami could introduce different pitch sizes too next year??? Highbury is not as big as the nou camp after all.
Nice touches: 1,players wear gloves when it is cold. 2, Players go off for treatment when injured leaving their side down to 10 men temporarily. 3, the advantage by a ref works this year. 4, the refs are greatly improved, far more lenient, which was needed.
Slight quarms - penalties seem to be missed or saved an incredible ammount of the time. The cpu hasnt scored against me in 4 attempts so far, a bit odd to say the least.
Conclusion - PES 4 is the ebst ever football game, verging on the best game ever. Enough said.
