I gave the demo of this a go last night and went into it with very low expectations. The annoying thing about the demo is that you can't skip the intro. There's also no option to bump the resolution of the visuals up (unless I missed something), and if you've a decent rig, that can be a bit of a bollox, but it's not a big deal. I'm a bit surprised at how playable it is, actually. It controls a lot better than the past few atrocious efforts, which is a huge thing for me seeing that Fifa handles like silk these days, with Fifa 12 actually improving on that. It still feel very shoddy in comparison, though, but nothing that wrecks the game like before. Big improvement there. As for all the talk of this ground-breaking AI, well, that's a bit exaggerated. It plays like the old PS2 games to a certain extent, though I did have it set on the highest difficulty, there was nothing really special or new worth noting that hasn't been done on a PS2 almost 10 years before this. What is really nice is that they have included a great little feature that allows you to switch players on the pitch on the fly with the other stick, and it's really brilliant to use in set-pieces from corners and free kicks especially. In this area, it's a lot better than anything Fifa does, and it makes taking corners and set pieces exciting. There's a new defending feature in there that is also very nice and feels realistic. Shooting and passing feel a bit lightweight, though, but that is down to the ball physics, which honestly are not anywhere near as good as Fifa's. It's still decent, though, and not every long range shot you ping troubles the keeper at 100mph like before. Speaking of the keepers, this is one area of the demo that really falls flat on it's face. They are absolutely shocking. Think De Gea style phobia of crosses and long range finger stingers, and you've a good idea of the type of clangers they come off with at times. It's not quite a game breaker, but it's almost, and Konami really do need to get them sorted before release. Oh, and one other thing I really liked about the demo that kept me glued playing it was the training scenarios. Like everything else about PES these days, it's a bit of a throwback that seems a bit dated, but after such a long time of it being absent from single-player games these days, it's a welcome little addition and very fun to play; a bit like the old scenarios back in ISS.
So the game isn't that bad. I'd certainly play it now if presented with a pad to play someone 1v1. However, during playing the demo, I just couldn't help but feel something was wrong. There's a playable and fun game in there, but something was missing and I couldn't really put my finger on it until I realised that it reminded me of the early PS2 efforts, and that's when it hit me. Not that it is a bad thing in itself, but that is exactly what felt wrong for me. Everything just looks and feels so dated now even if they have ironed out some major flaws that went wrong with the series years ago. They've only just restored it to a playable high res PS2 title 6 years into the current generation, and it's not good enough. You'd still be better off downloading PES 5 (for all those that still hang on and love it) and that's saying something for the series. I really don't mean to turn this into a PES Vs Fifa thing, but looking at the two (especially Fifa 12, which is looking really fantastic) EA really have nothing to worry about again. PES has made some considerable improvements here over titles that were honestly shocking, and that's a good thing; but it is by no means on par yet, and has a very long way to go before it catches up.
