PES 2014: Pro Evolution Soccer Xbox 360

Gone are the limitations imposed by dated animation systems and AI elements, and instead PES 2014 boasts a central core that perfectly mimics the skill and awareness that elevates the world’s greatest players above their peers. Six central tenets combine to establish PES 2014 as a new benchmark in football simulations, governing everything from the way the player receives and controls the ball, the physicality of play, and the ‘feel’ of match-day: the rush and euphoria or crushing lows that experiencing an important games can bring. As such, the key pillars on which PES 2014 is based are:

TrueBall Tech: For the first time in a football simulation, PES 2014 centres everything on the ball: how it moves, and how players use it. First touch and sublime control are what set certain players apart from others. The ability to not only read a pass, but to be one step ahead and to know what is needed to gain yards on an encroaching defender. TrueBall Tech allows the player to trap or knock on a pass using the analogue stick with detailed barycentric physics determining the weight shift of the player and the height and speed of the pass, as to how the player’s body will automatically shape to receive it.

Thus, the player has total control in determining how their body is angled to receive a pass, whereas previous football titles present the user with scant options. Instead, TrueBall Tech means that it can be chested or nodded past an opponent, flicked into space or to a team mate, while closer dribbling control is a much more personal attribute in the new game.

The PES series has long since treated the ball as an individual entity, allowing the player huge amounts of freedom to pass into space, run on to a knocked-on counter, or produced short triangular passes to make space. TrueBall Tech adds even more freedom, with the player’s movements worked around those of the ball and, unlike any other football title, as opposed to the other way round. Players will be able to truly control the free-moving ball, use its pace or alter its movement to master close control in PES 2014.

The result is a game that offers full 360-degree, two-footed control within several yards around the player. In addition to steering the ball with subtle movements, there is the ability to shield the ball from opposing players, use deft controls to wrong-foot them, and intuitive methods to master close control.

Motion Animation Stability System (M.A.S.S.): The physical combat between players is a vital part of any match, and the new M.A.S.S. component simulates the bodily contact between multiple players within bespoke animations that segue seamlessly into each other. Rather than a series of preset animations that occur under specific circumstances, M.A.S.S. acts instantly to any situation, with the reaction of a fouled player entirely dependent on the direction and force with which they are tackled. Dependent on factors such as their size and power, players will stumble but instantly recover if clipped, barge others off the ball, and use their stature to block players from possession. Similarly, PES 2014 now has more styles of tackle, as opposed to basic foot in or sliding types.

BRAND NEW, STILL SEALED.

AGE RESTRICTION: PG