Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 | Improvements And Expectations

Over the past years, the Pro Evolution Soccer series has created so much hype among both soccer fans and gamers, that their fan base has become almost as big as FIFA’s. Every year EA releases a new entry in their FIFA series, and every year Konami comes forth with a new PES game. This competition has turned into a blessing for the fans, since both series look to improve with their yearly releases. PES 2018 was supposed to be a revolution for the series, but sort of failed to meet the expectations of many fans. Konami tried to pour too much realism into the controls, which made the game difficult and pretty much unplayable for newcomers. Many went back to playing 2017 which being less realistic seemed to be more fun. So this year, Konami has a big task on their hands: that of improving and making a comeback with PES 2019. Below, you’ll find a list of things that I believe could make sure that happens.

5. Tactics/Advanced Instructions

PES2018 made some changes to the gameplay tactics and advanced instructions. At first, it seemed pretty neat. But the more I got into playing the game, the more it started to make no sense at all. For instance, when a fullback makes a dummy run towards the opposition for making space at the other end, his team mates don’t really cover the space he creates. You, thus, put yourself in an extremely vulnerable situation if your opposition starts a counter attack at that very moment. The same can be said for marking opposition players. If you select two of your defenders to mark one opposition forward, these two defenders will completely overlook other attackers.

4. AI Fouls

It gets ridiculously annoying when the AI gets away after committing cheap fouls. Sometimes even AI tackles from behind get ignored, while the opposite happens to players. Even the slightest push done by you will cause the referees to blow their whistles. Refereeing was pretty bad in PES 2017 and this part of the saga continued in 2018. Thus, I think it’s very important for Konami to make the referees a little harsher with the AI, the same as with human players currently when the situation demands it, and offer fairer treatment to players.

3. AI Passing and Difficulty Modes

In PES 2016 and PES 2017 I complained about the AI being a bit dumb, making cheap passes throughout the game even on the World Class difficulty. Konami did listen to our remark and have made the AI smarter, to the point where now it’s way too much to handle. Even on Professional difficulty, it’s damn hard to play against the AI. They pass so accurately all throughout the match that they make life very hard on the pitch. There’s hardly any room for mistake if you lose the ball. Long balls, short passes and even the lobs are done with pinpoint accuracy. Perhaps some adjustments to the AI would be in order.

2. Player Spin/Black Ball Players

I vividly recall how I finally put down my controllers for PES 2018 when I couldn’t find a single Black Ball player worthy of mention after spending nearly 800K points. It hurts so very much, especially after buying gold coins using real money. In the past releases, player spins for Black Balls were somewhat difficult, but in PES2018 it’s just too much. It felt as if Konami wanted to force players to spend more money on buying gold coins. This is something which I couldn’t include in my PES 2018 review, as it only showed its face a lot later while playing the game.

1. Teach Football

This isn’t something that Konami can teach a large group of PES gamers overnight but at some stage, proper education for football must be initiated. The way 90% of the gamers play their online matches feels like bullying. I honestly don’t know how, but they tend to have all the superstars in their team while you’re struggling to even have a proper Lvl. 1 squad. Players should be given a choice before entering an online match or competition regarding how they want to play the game: Option 1) How real football is played and Option 2) Like an a**hole. I mean seriously, this has to stop. Otherwise something that’s meant to be so much fun turns into a massive letdown.

 

Pro Evolution Soccer 2019

 

That’s it folks. This list may be small but if you think closely, these are the very basics that we veteran PES lovers really want in this series. The rest is for Konami to decide.

Many thanks for reading. I’ll see you soon at the PES 2019 pitch. If you didn’t know yet, the pre-orders for Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 has already started.