Konami officially announced the release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2017 on Wednesday. Per a press release provided to me from Konami, the game is set to premiere during the UEFA Champions League Final in Milan and 2016 PES World Finals of the UEFA Champions League eSports event on May 27-28.
While the debut stage is a large and impressive one, this announcement comes as no surprise considering how well the last two versions of the game have been received. PES 2015 and 2016 garnered Metacritic scores of 82 and 87, respectively. When you compare that to the scores for FIFA 15 (82) and 16 (82), the argument could be made that PES has eliminated the gap between the two franchises.
Per Konami, there are nine highlighted new features/focus areas in the initial information rollout. They can be divided into two categories: gameplay and visuals. Let's look at the planned visual improvements first.
Enhanced Visuals and Player Movement
Per the game's official site, "nothing has been left untouched, from player models, lighting, crowds, pitch and stadiums totally revamped. Never has a game looked so real." That's almost always going to be the verbiage used when graphics and animation enhancements are introduced. The screenshots below are somewhat consistent with the theme, but we can't be certain the jump is as advertised until we see the game in motion.
For now take a look at the new screenshots:
Ball physics is an area both PES and FIFA could both stand to improve. PES did a great job improving collision detection in PES 2016, but a gaming experience free of "how did that ball get through that crowd" moments is what we all want.
Chasing a More Realistic Gameplay Experience
Real Touch appears to be the major push on the gameplay side this year. Most of the new features, such as: Precise Pass and Goal Keeping improvements are all connected to the Real Touch initiative.
In soccer, the level of ball control a player maintains upon first touch and each subsequent interaction is everything. Real Touch aspires to deliver that part of the game to fans in the most authentic way we've seen in a soccer title.
Perhaps the most compelling new gameplay feature is the adaptive A.I. I'm a big fan of dynamic difficulty in sports video games and this falls in line with that theme. How quickly does the A.I. adapt and what's the ceiling? Those are questions we'll likely have answered over the next few months.
No official release date has been announced for the game, but that could come during the premiere. Stay tuned.
