Today Konami has revealed some of the details behind it’s major overhaul of the Pro Evolution Soccer series that used to be the cream of the crop before EA’s FIFA series took the helm as the leading soccer game in the world.
This year Pro Evolution Soccer returns with PES 2014. The game has been completely rebuild and is now based on Kojima Productions’ FOX Engine which allows for a lot more freedom for Konami to make the series as competitive as they’d like it to be and give FIFA a run for its money.
Konami sites ‘dated animation systems and AI elements’ that contributed to the regression of the once innovative soccer franchise and notes that the FOX Engine allows for matches ‘much closer to the excitement and variety of a top-level match.’
- TrueBall Tech allows players to fully control the virtual soccer stars’ stance and directions on the pitch for more prices receiving and knocking on of a pass, etc.
- Motion Animation Stability System or M.A.S.S. will replace the preset canned animations when players tackle or go shoulder to shoulder and combined with the TrueBall will see the ball pop based on the impact of both players in a 50 50 situation.
- Heart is a new gameplay element that represents the atmosphere in the stadium based on the way the game is going or a player’s performance and the other way around. If a player is having a bad match his teammates can rally around him and improve his play. This is also amplified by individual players’ abilities in the mental attributes.
- PES ID is a new system that allows Konami to not only painstakingly model players’ faces and likeness to unmistakable levels, but is also capable of animating authentic stance, running and shooting styles for 50 of PES 2014’s players.
- Team Play is a customization feature that will allow players to create unique attacking options between 3 players which includes overlapping or curved runs to make themselves available – all of this can be set up by the player.
- The Core represent all of the other improvements that have been made by the team based on the years of experience at the studio.
While the six pillars are the more obvious additions to PES 2014, Konami also vastly improved facial animations overall as well as an overhauled free kick feature that now allows for more flexibility on the set pieces. Additionally, the penalty kick system has been changed which now allows for a target guide which will change based on player ability and the goalkeepers are able to move ahead of the kick.
“Thinking outside the box for an annual series such as PES is not easy,” explained Creative Producer Kei Masuda, “but the Fox Engine has allowed us to develop such a level of freedom that we are constantly realizing ways of making PES 2014 a true representation of football. From the moment football fans pick up the controller and experiment with the close control, player movement and get to know how teams work and move, we are confident that they will see a game no longer limited by technology, but capable of growing with them and constantly surprising with the breath-taking quality they have to come to expect from the real thing.”
We will hear a lot more about PES 2014 in the future including new online features which Konami considers a ‘quantum leap’ compared to the series predecessors. Platforms have not yet been announced but we have reached out to Konami for more info.
UPDATE – we have reached out to Konami about platforms and the publisher confirmed Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii.
While this may seem odd, the soccer franchise has a deep reach across the world and there are a lot of PS2’s and Wii’s out there.
