'Control reality' is the marketing phrase of the year. Konami came to E3 armed with a lot of buzzwords about its new game, which is built on the Fox Engine. But it's clear that a lack of real teams hurts what is otherwise an excellent soccer simulation. The choices suggest that we'll once again be playing with real Champions League and a handful of international teams, as well as a few others, with generic sides filling in for any unlicensed clubs.įor some people, this isn't an issue, especially those who prefer PES's mechanics. This year's demo involved four teams - France, Germany, Atletico Madrid and Arsenal. Konami promised that there will be no repeat for the new game, which will be released in the fall. It's bad enough that PES lacks the depth of licenses that FIFA holds, but it also released with a lot of outdated data. Last year's release was dogged by launch period roster issues. Konami, a once-great publishing company that has plenty of problems right now, is hoping to string together a run against EA. Last year's PES 2016 was the first to garner higher review averages than FIFA for almost a decade. (You ran read our full report on FIFA 17 here.) It was just something you'd expect from one of the world's top keepers.ĭuring the E3 presentation, just before I got to play PES 2017, a Konami representative showed us a graph comparing average review scores for PES against its far more successful rival, EA Sports' FIFA series. Čech stuck out a hand and made a brilliant save.

One one occasion, the ball took a late deflection off a defender's knee. Playing as Arsenal against a skilled human opponent at an E3 event earlier today, I benefited from at least three occasions when Arsenal's Petr Čech saved my hide against a marauding Fernando Torres. I'm happy to report that the goalkeepers are definitely much improved in the new Pro Evolution Soccer.

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