The game’s Deft Touch Dribbling mechanic allows players to tightly control the ball at their player’s feet, allowing them to skin opponents, nutmeg goalies and ping the ball out wide to create space for shots or passing attempts. They can also use the right stick to twist their player’s body to flick the ball on past any nearby opponents, or tap up the ball and take it into space. If they pull R2, the player they’re controlling can trap a pass lobbed at their feet. Naturally, the direction they’re facing, the skill level of the player they’re controlling and the momentum of that player’s run are all brought to bear on the outcome.

This allows for deft manual passing by pulling in L2, players can ping the ball in any direction in a full 360-degree arch, and govern the distance of said pass depending on how long they depress the triangle or circle button. On the pitch action has been tweaked by the addition of what Konami is calling PES Full Control, a feature aimed at giving players the ability to put the ball exactly where they want it on the pitch – at any height, speed or direction. Oh, and you’ll get pasted by more committed players in head-to-head matches. It’s possible to still enjoy it if all you want is a kick about on low difficulty, but it’s kind of like driving a Ferrari and never letting the throttle out. Newbies and FIFA stalwarts face a bit of a learning curve, but players who are prepared to explore the depth of the game’s control system and take their experience beyond mere button-bashing and lame attempts to out-position opponents will truly come to love this game. “The reason for this is that to truly get the most out of PES 2013, one must give themselves over to it. It’s really worth taking the time to practice your on-the-ball skills – even if players find they have to drop the game’s overall difficulty to Beginner level and beat up on the AI for a bit to do so. Here, they’ll learn that taking a penalty is pretty laughably easy, but trapping a lob or heel-flicking a pass over their shoulder takes a certain degree of finesse. Even before players head into their first match, the game suggests they take part in a list of mini-game tutorials in order to get to grips with the controls. Now before the uninitiated start running for the hills, it’s worth pointing out that despite offering considerable depth in its controls, PES 2013 is still very accessible.

The result is a game that is neither simulation nor arcade but a subtle blend of the two, with a control system about as deep as an arcade fighter. It scales back the pace from last year (and thank God for that) while gifting the player with Rasputin-like control over the ball at their player’s feet. Play PES 2013 fuses all of these elements with a lethal degree of precision.

Pes 2013 setting