here's my early impressions. Sounds like a lot of people here are really concerned and I wanted to attempt to clarify some things.
I was only able to play about 5 games before heading into work this morning (as I’m in the US), but the overhead through ball felt like you could lead players better.
The game is very tight. And for those concerned about shooting, I personally think it’s better.
For example I was playing DEMO 1 last night a lot, and I usually try and play the game realistically in the sense that I only shoot when I have good looks, but I decided to just shoot from everywhere with everyone and I sorta saw what people were concerned about, just never had done that before. Mostly everyone can crack shots and create problems all over the pitch.
However, in DEMO 2, I felt the shooting was a lot more balanced. Guys like Ronaldo and Rooney will still rip the net. Case and point, I scored on Superstar a BLAST with Rooney from the 18 that was just so powerful, but it’s also more difficult to just shoot everywhere with everyone, which I like seeing. Those concerned that shooting has been altered and floaty need not worry at all, you can still murder the ball with the right people in the right spots, you just appreciate it more when it happens because you have to get into position with the right players to nail those moments which again is quite accurate.
Pace is even a touch slower but spot on, passing around the pitch as man U felt so refreshing, even more so than Demo 1. Players move off the ball more accurately and into positions you want, and there’s more consistency with getting the ball to the correct players.
The refs are certainly more dynamic, pulling plays back and letting play go, but they still have some suspect calls. It makes for fun games with some minor frustration, but in ways that is real soccer/football, hopefully they continue to work on this though as sometimes you’ll get a perfect tackle and your player is still penalized and even given a card. Still much improved from demo 1.
Also, the CPU AI is impressive, not that Superstar was a wimp in Demo 1, it was quite solid but Demo 2 feels stronger and overall better but not cheating. I was man U vs. Barca and while I did out possess them on superstar about 51 % to 49 %, they controlled the game, had a lot of back passes and seemed to play way more organic and real. Messi was very real, Iniesta felt real, Xavi. They move very much like the real thing. I feel it’s hard to replicate an AI team to out possess a skilled human player in this game even on Superstar because you have so much control given to you (unlike the ps2 games, which were a bit more on rails to create that balance), but I was very impressed by how well the AI replicated Barca. I did not play vs. Real Madrid yet. Also I assume if you’re using a lesser team vs. let’s say Barca, they’re going to give you fits. I didn’t use Valencia or Atletico Bilboa vs. Barca, but I’m sure winning that game even on Superstar is a challenge for anyone.
Lastly, while I would love 10 minute vs. 5 minute, and I assume it’s like this because the brass at Konami are worried that by giving longer games the common folk will not buy the game because they’ll think “what’s the point”, sadly I don’t think it’s hard to implement the time change but it’s an issue with fan base vs. general game players. Either that or to get a good quality feedback they wanted the game times to be identical between demos (not positive but my guess on this).
But overall, everything is tighter, no doubt, and I don’t really have any serious issues at all. The game plays wonderfully. Night games too look great, I felt, on my TV. They are so different than the first demo but again, could be my TV. The DeMO 1 was low rez washed out and hard to really appreciate, this one looks like a night game should, sorta like a darker day game but with the shadows of the players and not of the stadiums. Anyway, it sucked me in as I’ve been watching Uefa Champions League games and it, to me, had a similar look.
Bottomline, it’s tough waiting till sept release when you have again these short games, but the game plays wonderful, I’m sure people will complain about this and that but the most telling fact is that I played demo 1 like crazy, will play demo 2 like crazy and I’m sure the full game until PES 14, and it’s been forever since that’s been the case (pes 5/pes 6).
