M圜lub is essentially the same as before: a budget FIFA Ultimate Team with horrible loot boxes. Master League has a handful of new real world managers to pick from but other than that it's exactly the same as last year, and so we must skip all those pointless cutscenes with dialogue choices once again. I've never turned the sound off a video game quicker than when I started PES 2021. It's early days, but Iconic Moments Messi could be one of the most overpowered cards in football video game history. And the menus are still awful, as they were last year, and the year before, and for as long as I can remember. PES can't seem to decide whether the X button or the Options / Menu button should be used for progression. Players also have the annoying habit of sometimes getting in each other's way, bumping together like children in a playground. This doesn't happen often, but when it does happen it's pretty annoying. Players still sometimes abruptly stop for no apparent reason after you try to pass to them. I don't think I ever won a penalty in PES 2020 and I haven't won one in PES 2021 so far. This issue is especially pronounced in the box. And the ref jogs happily on, seemingly oblivious to the bloodbath that surrounds him.
I've smashed into players, fouling so despicably that my opponent - sometimes opponents - fly into the air, their limbs warping to form shapes Cthulhu would be proud of.
He'll blow a foul for nothing, stopping play even when you've retained possession and are through on goal, but he seems allergic to his whistle even when carnage is staring him in the face.
The referee is just as maddening as he was last year. I get more satisfaction from passing in PES than I do shooting.ĭespite this, frustrations linger on. PES' ball feels grounded in real-world physics, travelling in hypnotic arcs inspired by cosmic orbits. It steals the show, coursing through the air like a ballet dancer leaping across the stage. I've said this before, but it's worth saying again: PES' ball is wondrous. It's a slower, more realistic game of virtual football than FIFA, and it looks and feels fantastic when a silky move ends in a goal. Which means PES 2021's gameplay is pretty good! Beautiful, at times, even. Some of the stadium lighting is particularly sharp. At times PES 2021, like PES 2020, looks fantastic. But only the most hardcore of PES fans will notice any difference. The goalkeepers are perhaps a touch more reliable. It feels all players take a heavier first touch, so you always have to be mindful of how you receive the ball. Perhaps there are subtle tweaks to the shooting. Perhaps the players are ever so slightly more responsive than they are in PES 2020. I've seen some say they feel the gameplay is much improved, but I found it hard to tell much of a difference. It's hard to tell where exactly PES 2021 takes its PES 2020 gameplay cue from. In the year since, many of these wrinkles have been ironed out by patches, and so PES 2021 fares much better at launch. PES 2020 had serious gameplay issues when it came out, many of which I covered in our review. It's last year's game although, thankfully, not last year's game as it was when it launched. The upshot is PES 2021 is not really worth writing home about.
PES 20 PC
Official product manufactured and distributed by KONAMI under licence granted by A.S. The FIGC logo is a registered trade mark of the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio
PES 20 LICENSE
The use of images and names of the football players in this game is under license from FIFPro Commercial Enterprises BV. No reproduction is allowed without the prior written approval of UEFA.Īdidas, the 3-Bars logo, the 3-Stripe trade mark and Climacool are registered trade marks of the adidas Group, used with permission. *Please note that the movies and screenshots are from PS4™ system.Īll names, logos and trophies of UEFA are the property, registered trade marks and/or logos of UEFA and are used herein with the permission of UEFA.