Pro Evolution Soccer 2011

By Jay Williams

Konami has thrown their hat into the ring once again with the latest Pro Evolution Soccer in the franchise, PES 2011.

Developers Konami have enhanced the 360-degree passing ratio to offer players a smoother, sharper and more refined level of control over every pass, shot and throw-in. This allows players to pass the ball into space, and move their play with 'total freedom'.

New additions to PES 2011 include a shot & stamina gauge that details the player's fitness levels. Constantly sprinting will affect the player's movements and will affect the players stats, passes and  loss of pace.

Former AI has been improved meaning that defenders now hold their positions naturally and no longer chase any ball that enters their area; preferring to close down the attacker and force them into a mistake.

Animation and player physics have been totally reworked and it shows.  Players move about the pitch more freely giving the game a touch more realism than previous titles.

The physicality between players has also been improved, which fans of the PES franchise have been crying out for. Jostling and blocking now looks brilliant, while there is a larger variety of convincing tackling styles. The smooth animation of the players also adds to the in-game atmosphere, as players behave realistically when off the ball, and walk and run with a variety of individual styles.

Soccer fans and fans of the franchise will be blown away with the level of facial animation and detail that has done into the character modeling. Konami says that over a 1000 all-new animations have been recreated from the ground up using over 100 hours of motion captured footage. Every aspect of player movement has been reworked and we say it looks bloody fantastic!

Tricks and feints play a slightly more prominent role this time around, with PES 2011 players can map their favourite move sequences to the right stick, making them more accessible than ever before.

If attention to detail is your thing then the stadium editor is right up your alley. Players are able to choose capacity (between 1,000-100,000), seat colours, edit the adboards and hoardings, edit the turf style, edit the nets (loose or tight, shape and colour), edit the architecture and roofing to a certain extent including tunnel placement and choose whether there is a running track, plain ground, or grass around the pitch. You can also choose to bring the stands closer to the pitch.

Once players have decided on all of that - you can choose the setting for your stadium. You are given the option to specify a background layout, with a variety of both urban and rural backdrops. After that, you can also add a background image, with stock items including city scenes - and a mountain range.

PES 2011 features 25 stadiums (non licensed), and gives you a total of 25 slots to create stadiums giving you a total of 50 possible stadiums – pretty cool huh?

We didn't really get a chance to experience the Master League but it sounds like it will be a very absorbing and exciting way to play the game online. Players can bid against each other for the world's best players, and attempt to build a squad that can compete with the best against online peers all over the world. As far as traditional online play went, we found it extremely easy to get a match going and games were relatively lag free.

In all PES 2011 is a very solid contender against its rival FIFA11. There is a fantastic sense of realism and the way the players go about there business on screen is smooth and glitch free. In terms of pick-up-and-play PES 2011 ticks the right boxes, definitely worth a look.

Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 2011
System: Playstation 3
Developer: Winning Eleven Productions
Publisher: Konami

Rating: 85%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)