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Pro Evolutions Soccer Management Mini Review
Chris Leyton
14/03/2006
It's Pro Evolution Soccer, but not as we know it...
Whilst Shingo "Seabass" Takatsuka and his team are currently busily working away on the next-generation debut of Pro Evolution Soccer/Winning Eleven, Akiyoshi Chosokabe has struck off on a tangent to while away the wait with the dubiously titled Pro Evolution Soccer Management on the Playstation.
Taking the Japanese direction in terms of football manager titles, along similar lines to SEGA's "Let's Make A Pro Soccer Club" series, PES Management requires you to suspend disbelief and throw out all conceptions you may have with the likes of Championship Manager and Football Manager. In comparison Konami's effort is very much the "fantasy" offering to such popular brands; whilst they can be labelled as "sims", PES Management is most definitely the "videogame" take on the genre.
Choosing clubs from six different countries including Serie A, Eredivise, Liga Espanola, England League, French League and German League, one of the major stumbling blocks to getting into the game is the fact it shares the same lack of licenses as its namesake. As such you'll find yourself taking control of well known clubs such as Man Red or North White London, whilst fictional player names populate the transfer lists; there's little doubt authenticity is a key aspect in other titles from the genre, however the thing to realise right from the start, PES Management is an entirely different proposition. A further such initial complaint, but one that is crucially important, is the fact that the game's data seems to be severely out dated in places, with the likes of Roy Keane still lining up for Manchester United. If you're willing to look past these faults (or spend time in the Edit mode) and are not looking for a contender to the likes of Sport Interactive's Football Manager series (in fact don't go looking for anything like this), then there is a marginal amount of enjoyment to be gained from the title, if only from curiosity and the fact it has Pro Evolution Soccer on the front.
After what seems to be a life-time of pressing the X button without knowing entirely what's going on, although choosing the sexiest assistant and the type of suit you want to wear were definitely some of the tasks on offer, you'll eventually find your way through to the main appeal of PES Management... the matches. Played out with the match engine behind Pro Evolution Soccer 5, there's something to be said about a football management game with full 3D matches featuring the style and finesse we've come to expect from Seabass and his team. As PES fanatics know, the football series has rightfully won its place as the most respected football title because of the depth of attributes behind the players, resulting in the most varied and believable action in a football game to date. This seems to translate well to a football management game, resulting in believable matches that don't feel staged, however there is a constant concern as to whether your decisions are having an actual effect on the pitch. Perhaps the only criticism to be made about the actual matches is the lack of personality, which is a surprise given the attention paid to such aspects during the main game. It's very much a case of sit and watch, leaving many opportunities unexplored - why can't I jump to the touchline when somebody has fouled my aspiring young playmaker; where are the 3D representations of the dressing room complete with a tea-cup throwing mini-game???
Stepping back for one moment, PES Management utilises a definitive structure that provides a sense of guidance amongst the mass of attributes and options available. Governed by a daily timeline which highlights the news from across the globe, the run up to a match typically involves a number of steps. Firstly "Opponent Research" is used to highlight their strengths and weaknesses, which in turn you can use during the next step when it comes to changing around "Tactics" to suit the game. Finally having decided on such aspects as formations and line-ups, it's down to the "Training" ground to specialise on the proper routines to match your tactics based upon allocating a certain number of points to different areas. Despite the inclusion of some nice touches, such as the ability to create Group Tactics which take place once a certain "instigator" gains possession of the ball, the overall feeling is one that's overly formulaic and becomes far too much of a routine, particularly so when your assistant coach seems to be making most of the calls. The likes of Football Manager work well by immersing the player within a highly believable game world, in charge of their own destiny; sadly Japanese management titles appear to focus more on the aesthetics and as such this habitually structured process soon looses its charm after only a few matches.
That's not to say the game lacks depth. As you'd probably expect there's a considerable amount of information to get stuck into, replicating the pages of player attributes witnessed in the PES series and at times often bemusing you with strange descriptions. The squad-size restriction of 33 players takes a little to get used, particularly if you're used to handling senior, reserve and youth squads.
Depending on what you're expecting from the game, there are a handful of further options that continue to help PES Management distance itself away from what we typically classify as a football manager sim. Press conferences and interviews at the training ground frequent the action and ask simple questions which quickly grow repetitive and unable to develop; a Match of the Day styled highlights event, only presented in a hammy American style with dubious dialogue such as "My ranking prediction looks like this..."; and the ability to have a one-to-one with any player in your squad or make requests to the chairman.
Pro Evolution Soccer Management is similar to being manager of Portsmouth Football Club; it seems you're constantly being undermined and not really sure whether your actions are having an actual impact, in short it doesn't feel as though you're going anywhere. The structure of the game bogs down into a routine far too quickly, and despite a handful of nice ideas, it's unlikely to sustain your interest once the mild curiosity subsides.
Far from being a disaster to the franchise that we were originally thinking, Pro Evolution Soccer Management could be developed and refined into a worthy companion to Konami's heavyweight in time, but at this stage we'd advise looking elsewhere...
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