This year’s E3 gave us a lot to look forward, including the new chapter in the ongoing war in soccer simulation games. Konami revealed the newest entry in the annual PES series. PES 17 promises to bring back what fans want the most from the series: its realism and slower paced gameplay. PES’s point of differentiation has always been to feel more like an actual simulation of a soccer match and this new title capitalizes on that, in a sense, returning to its roots and making it even better than it was before.

Despite the natural graphical improvement this year’s entry promises, which is severe if we may add, Konami is basing its hard sell in the concept of “control reality”. With this tagline as its umbrella, the company included several enhancements to the way the game is played, possibly, creating a more distinctive gap between it and FIFA, its obvious rival. Let’s check some of these new features:

Learning artificial intelligence: yes, the future’s here and, with it, a plethora of learning machines. Amiibo were just the beginning; now, artificial intelligences have reached a level of sophistication so vast that you’ll feel like the machine is an actual person that can adapt to your game style. This is incredibly useful for sports based games, because it forces the player not to rely on a single strategy, but to adapt in order to face the new challenge the learning AI poses.

Real touch: in the same thread on sophistication of the AI, we have real touch, which is nothing more than the uniqueness of a real life player’s way to control the ball translated into the digital world. According to Konami, this means all matches are different, because of the many scenarios that can arise from all these uniqueness having a roll at the same time.

Natural Player movement: this also means each player is different from the others. Just like in real life, players move differently, act differently and respond in a different way to similar situations. With natural player movement, you don’t feel you’re controlling an avatar skinned like your favourite player, but the actual man behind the ball, because every player moves mirroring his human counterpart, which amounts to a more realistic experience.

Precise pass: controls have been deeply enhanced and precise pass is a proof of this. With this new system, timing is of the essence. The right situation with the right timing and the right command amounts to the perfect trajectory for a ball. This is especially satisfactory, because now you don’t feel like the ball is passed automatically, but rather puts you in the position of making a swift strategy so you can complete a pass.

Total team control: not only will the game allow you to create a strategy before kick-off, but you’ll be able to change it on the go with the touch of a button without having to pause the game or go back to any other screen. This is incredibly useful and delivers a far more dynamic gameplay. This also goes for corner kicks and set piece strategies, which are fully customizable. This means your strategy can be unpredictable for your opponent and will make you feel like you’re in control of every situation.

It is only fair to mention that Konami acknowledge past entries’ complaints regarding boring, simplistic and generic narration, and that’s why they have improved upon it, with the help of Jim Beglin, which most fans will be happy to hear is back as the game’s commentator.

PES 17 feels like a turning point for the franchise. Not only does it shift from the previous path it took, trying to capitalize on FIFA’s model success, but it seems like Konami took the best features which made PES great in the first place and worked on them in order to deliver a better game for those who prefer a more realistic simulation of a soccer match.

The game will be released in Fall 2016, while FIFA 17 releasing in 27 September; which raises the question once again on which series is going to dominate the industry this year.  For one part, PES fans will be delighted on seeing these features taking shape in PES 17; they actually amount to a very distinctive gameplay, a more strategic one if you like, although, for some detractors, it only seems like PES 17 is implementing some of the features FIFA 16 already had and worked with them. Only time will tell.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
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