Andres Iniesta has a different shoulder parry set of animations than Luis Suarez. A well-built stout player, like Carles Puyol, will perform a sliding tackle different from the one Thiago Silva will perform. With the FOX engine, player animations are an absolute delight. The Havok physics engine performs great on games like Dark Souls and Top Spin 4, there is a tightness in controls on these games, and PES 2014 feels no different in this department. You can almost feel the acceleration of the ball, and if you as an attacker are chasing it, you can feel the weight and stress of that sprinting player. The pace of the ball is too lifelike to put in words. Placing a perfectly executed through ball to cut through the last defensive line feels exhilarating. PES has always held the upper hand in ball physics, and PES 2014 further improves on that. Passing in PES 2014 is precise, but playing the perfect ball requires skillĪnd this is where the game builds on further for its more complicated and deeper mechanics. The previous PES games did give you a ‘satisfactory’ illusion of the player weight and his center of gravity, but PES 2014 virtualises it, making it feel almost lifelike. The weight of the player, when he’s stationery or running, is felt in the rawest forms possible. Controlling the ball in PES 2014 is as organic as organic can be. If you want to score a goal, you must learn to control, and keep the ball first. And the FOX engine brings out this characteristic in the most realistic way possible. The ball and the player are two separate entities altogether. You see, PES 2014 doesn’t want you to treat it as ‘just another football simulation.’ It wants you to approach the beautiful game as a real footballer would approach it. I was playing PES 2014 like how I play PES 2013 and FIFA 2013, and that was the mistake I was making throughout. I carried on playing, and then it hit me. Most matches ended up with me having only one or two attempts on goal, and only about 50-60% completed passes. Being in the opposition’s half was as far as I could threat the opposition. I could barely keep possession and execute even the most basic of passes. My first session with the PES 2014 final version was a frustrating one. Players feel ‘weighted’ which makes controlling them more realistic. Before receiving my press copy I did spend a handful of hours on the PES 2014 demo, and I remember how lost I was playing it. There is a bit of a learning curve, even for veterans of the series. PES 2014 is so different from its predecessors. I have read so many PES 2014 reviews since it’s launch date and I can say with confidence that the reviewer hasn’t given the game the time it deserves. So I received my press copy a day before the launch, and I said to myself, I’ll take my own good time with the game and review this ONLY when I deeply understand the core mechanics. How would the game turn out to be? Would the new FOX engine along with the Havok physics engine redefine how we’re meant to play football simulation? It sure is a new idea, but does Konami follow through with it? This is the biggest stride (whether forward or backward, we’ll find out soon) Konami has ever taken in the history of PES.
The build up to the wait has been ever so speculative. With the final release out, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. Myself, being a long-time PES player (since 2003), felt PES 2014 was a new franchise altogether. I played an early build demo at E3, and sure, the game looked different, played different and felt ENTIRELY different.
I started Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 feeling immensely excited, yet a little weary about how it would eventually turn out to be.