PES 2020 is a weird game. At times I couldn’t help but think, is this the best PES ever? Gameplay wise, I mean. The ball… PES 2020’s ball is a thing of beauty, the best video game football I’ve ever virtually kicked. It feels weighty, it bounces realistically and travels through the air in delicious arcs David Beckham birthed in his pomp.
The animations… PES 2020’s player animations are a joy to behold. Outside of the boot flicked through balls to overlapping full-backs, no-look crosses, deft chips, and, when players collide, realistic scraps for possession. The fluidity of motion in this game is something else. It’s rare that you’ll see a player do that jarring sports video game thing of sliding into place to force an animation to meet the ball, or jerk unnaturally as he realises his atoms should be in one position over another.
But then, there’s a lot that’s not great about the on-pitch action in this year’s PES. I’d even go as far as to call some aspects of the gameplay broken.
