A peek behind the curtain: to preview an established annual sports game is something of a farce. You sit down in a whitewashed room, buoyed only by the gentle waft of supermarket pastry, and play a few scant matches of a game that fans will eventually sink hundreds upon hundreds of hours into. It doesn’t really make sense in the usual “this does this! That does that!” preview format, because a sports game’s quirks and brilliances rarely become clear until you’ve hammered the thing for months.
In the case of PES, there are two options here. I could analyse what I played against each of Konami’s own bullet-pointed new features, buzzword-y shout-outs like “Adaptive AI” (unprovable), or weirdly straightforward stuff like “Goal Keeping” (I’m absolutely positive that was in the last one - yes, I checked, there are several goalkeepers in it).
I could even attempt to discuss how I squinted to see glimmers of PES 2017’s new “Real Touch” system, that claims players will control the ball in “unique and different ways” depending on the situation they’re in - but in the thick of an improbable match-up between Germany and Atletico Madrid, both pressing each other when out of possession almost constantly, it’s honestly pretty hard to tell.
PES 2017 screenshot
Maybe, 80 hours in, I will see Mario Götze louchely slip the ball behind his trailing leg - like some beautiful tiny dog burying its own spherical muck - as I twist an analog stick to escape a challenge and think to myself, “yes, galloping box-to-box stalwart Sami Khedira would not, in my vast experience, be able to replicate such an eye-catching yet subtle manoeuvre.”
Maybe. That’s the point - it’s practically impossible to tell.
Instead of looking forward then, let’s look back. I have played hundreds of hours of PES 2016 - between the flashing white streaks that are probably Real Madrid, or the lumbering JCB-people that make up some of the more obscure international teams’ back lines, I’ve seen just about the full breadth of possible play styles in often excruciating detail. I’m familiar with its foibles, its presentation, its overall feel and, most particularly, its horrible, Spotify-party-playlist-made-by-mortal-enemies soundtrack. Here are a few important points of comparison:
1) It looks very, very similar
Menus are important - they offer you a sense of style, can tell you how simple or complex a game might be at a glance, even help you improve your play. PES has had some very bad menus (remember the mouse cursor on a console game? Who came up with that? Are they alright?), but PES 2016 turned a corner, generally speaking. It’s perhaps no wonder that its sequel looks practically identical.
In-game presentation is much the same - Konami’s clearly happy to iterate on its move to FOX Engine, and it can look very handsome indeed up close, even if it does continue to lack FIFA’s TV presentation panache.
PES 2017 screenshot
2) It seems to know who you’re trying to pass to
Perhaps it’s cruel to ask a sweltering mess of computer parts to understand that I want to fake out my opponent by appearing to pass in the direction of a stationary Moussa Dembele but am actually attempting a piercing through ball to the right wing, where Kyle Walker flits up the line with his peculiar stomping run. But I have to admit, I still scream in anguish when PES’ detection systems see poor Moussa get pelted in the shins with a proper stinger.
The new game feels immediately a little smarter, seemingly better at reading the power meter on passes, evaluating not just how hard I want to hit the ball, but why I’d be hitting it that hard in the first place (assuming I’m not just awful or gripped by an aneurysm or something).
PES 2017 screenshot
3) Mid-game tactical changes work
PES 2016, perhaps better than any other football game in memory, could create a sense that the team you’re using was playing to its own strengths. Beyond the individual statistics of players, there felt like some intangible approximation of how its teams played in real life - Barcelona sweep up the pitch like a Blaugrana fog, Nigeria dart in odd directions, sprinting and harrying and usually losing in exciting fashion. What it couldn’t handle as well was not playing that way.
Beyond altering the physical formation of the team, or adjusting a nebulous attack philosophy slider, the amount of control you had over how things could be changed felt lacking. Here’s where one of those Konami buzzwords actually comes in handy - Advanced Instructions can now be assigned and switched on during a game, telling full-backs to make blistering runs up the wing, or telling your team to start playing tiki-taka, or mark more intimately. It’s a nerdy, Football Manger-y touch that budding Claudio Ranieris will appreciate.
PES 2017 screenshot
4) It’s still really great fun
PES 2016 was amazing. As with all of Konami’s games, that comes with the caveat of “yes there are licenses missing, and it’s a bit heavy on the needlessly complex terminology, and the commentary’s dog-rough, and that version of Troy Deeney looks more like an old shoe than his actual face”, but play it, get a feel for its more physical, flighty style and it will amaze you over and again.
I’m pleased to report that, handful of matches or no, it’s immediately apparent that PES 2017’s not letting that slide. It’s a trite observation, but a 1-1 scrap in PES can and should feel more hard-fought, more satisfying, than a 7-0 FIFA shellacking, and that’s very much still the case. I won and lost games, helped Paul Pogba score goals that could get his foot banned by the Geneva convention, and found out that the terrible, dream-crushing force of Arsenal FC persists even in digital form.
PES 2017 screenshot
There are many things a hands-on like this can’t show us: whether the last game’s viciously restrictive and time-consuming editing suite has been streamlined. If MyClub mode will be cleaned up and made a genuine Ultimate team contender. Most importantly, if Konami can release a roster update quickly enough after a transfer window that I haven’t visibly aged by the time it arrives.
I might not be able to say how this game will seem after hundreds of hours - but I can say I already feel like I’ll be putting those hours in.
Joe Skrebels is IGN's UK News Editor and is in no way bitter about Tottenham's performance last season. Make him cry on Twitter.
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