Eyeful of balls: Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 screens released

Konami has released a load of screenshots and a few factoids about Pro Evolution Soccer 2014, their latest attempt to field a FIFA competitor. Are you a football person? Do you go down to those big fields with lots of other people on those nights when there are several teams kicking a ball around with their feet, trying to get it “into the back of the net”? Then you’ll likely have a better idea of what’s going on in these shots than I do. Ooh, although it’s using the FOX Engine! I know what that means.

Those factoids are comprised of the “six founding pillars of PES 2014.” There’s TrueBall Tech, giving you total control of a player’s body so you can “nod, chest, or flick a pass into space,” which sounds awfully exciting because I had no idea players were capable of knocking balls into space, as well as a “two-footed control system allowing you to shield the ball from opponents.” I’ll be honest: one-footed football sounds more interesting to me.

There’s Motion Animation Stability System, which is absolutely not just four buzzwords jammed together to make the acronym “MASS.” The details on this excitedly begin with “Collision is finally detected!” which is nice, because collision detection has generally be one of the founding pillars of games since bloody SpaceWar. But apparently, this is more about players reacting realistically to collisions. So, there’s that.

Third up is Heart, lovingly referred to as “the 12th man”, which sounds sort of like a jury deliberation thriller or possibly an espionage movie. But no, this is about home-team advantages, and players becoming disheartened if they do terribly in a match. Those poor men with their gigantic salaries.

Next up is PES ID, which appears to be a fancy way of making players and teams look, animate, and play like their real-world counterparts. The fifth pillar is Team Play, which apparently lets you take control of three or more players to execute tactics.

Finally – which is a relief because I can nearly stop pretending I understand any of this – there’s THE CORE. Apparently, THE CORE actually means “little details”, like facial animation and making sure that animations connect to each other properly, and so on, as well as checking that stadiums look authentic and there are proper post-match celebrations. Also, “free kicks are now free.” Insert your own DLC joke here.

Alright, I’m done. Have a gander at these screenshots, and marvel over all the new tactics you can employ.