Have you heard of the Madden Curse? Apparently NFL players featured on the cover of the Madden NFL games would experience a decline in real-life performances, often due to injury. I’m not too sure whether the same applies to the FIFA soccer games on console and PC, but the last guy on the covers (Lionel Messi, FIFA 14) had an injury prone 2013/14 season. In any case, the successor to Maradona is set to be the face of FIFA 2015 (why EA, Ronaldo doesn’t want to tempt the curse?), and Konami has recently announced that World Cup winner Mario Gotze is set to be the face of the upcoming Pro Evolution Soccer 2015.
Yup, he’s the dude that scored the World Cup-winning goal during the recently concluded finals. Check out the following press release for futher details on PES 2015: Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc. announced today that Mario Götze is to be lead pack star of PES 2015, with the publisher also confirming that the new football title will be released across North America on all platforms on November 11, 2014.
KONAMI has previously announced a focus around on-field gameplay, with PES 2015 centered on the mantra of ‘the pitch is ours.’ This mantra sees the game faithfully recreating the heart-pumping and nail-biting tension of top-flight football through all-new control elements, including the most authentic close control system ever, new shooting routines, realistic player and team AI that mimics that of the game’s real life counterparts, and enhanced goalkeepers. Based on the focus of PES 2015, KONAMI chose Götze as a player that epitomizes the pace, skill and moments of incredible brilliance that elevate modern soccer with his eye for a pass, intelligent runs, and goal-scoring abilities and the all-round play of the midfielder. Götze will also be prominent in all marketing materials.
Götze heads up PES 2015 on the back of his most successful season to date. The skillful midfielder helped his club team, Bayern Munich, win the German league this year. At just 23 years old, Götze is already a vital player for his club and national teams, and has been described as “one of the best talents Germany has ever had.” By looking at key facets of modern soccer, the PES Productions Team has completely reworked the game’s features. The shooting and goal-keeping mechanics benefit from a new system that allows precise aim and control over a shot’s power and also unlimited shot styles. Similarly, the goalkeeper’s intuitively close angles are capable of an amazing number of ways to react to any situation.
Passing and goal-scoring has also been expanded, allowing for little knock-ons and powerful daisy-cutter passes that use new physics routines to ensure the ball behaves realistically. The close control system also steps up the realism, with the user governing the positioning of a player, but with greater options of how to dribble into space or beat a marker.
The announcement also comes as KONAMI confirms that the game will be released in the Americas for PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, Xbox 360 games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and PC (Microsoft Windows) on November 11, 2014. This marks the first appearance of the seminal series on the new wave of console hardware. A free demo will also be available on September 17 across the PlayStation®4, XboxOne, PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360 consoles, where users will be able download and experience the most accurate, satisfying and enjoyable football game to date.
