Pro Evolution Soccer 2019

After playing the demo for 28 hours I can fairly point out the major changes made be Konami since the PES 2018, even though this is not a final review given that the full version is yet to come and might have more to add.

Konami claimed to be listening to fans' requests about what should be improved in the game so here's a list of what noticeably changed, at least in the demo:

1. PES gameplay has always been praised for its realism and this one is no exception. Though players' motions were not drastically changed, but their movements are more diverse when running, getting tackled or when dealing with hard situations like changing directions quickly with or without the ball.
2. A bunch of new skills were introduced like the no look pass and the dipping shots and others that you can check out in Konami official website which will definitely add more realistic atmosphere to the game.
3. Physics of the net are a lot better than those of PES 2018. The baggy net was replaced with a straight one and has a modern look that is even more satisfying to watch when the ball hits the back of it.
4. The random ball physics give a variety of scenarios for one situation. For example; when intercepting a pass, the ball won't always stay in that player's range of control, it sometimes might continue its destination or goes back to the original passer.
5. Players have more celebrations and interaction with the crowd. The player can run towards the spectators after scoring and the camera angle will switch and become in the crowd with an unstable image due to the fans' celebration movements.
6. When a player misses an easy chance or a decisive one, they show a reaction of regret or frustration with a lot of facial expressions.
7. Throws interrupt the game less. In other words, usually when the ball crosses the sideline and leaves the camera's range, the game loads for a bit and bring you back to playing the throw which kind of ruins the fluidity of the game and rearrange the players automatically in their original positions making the chance of a counterattack in some situations less likely to come. Now the closer player to the ball keeps following it off the pitch for longer distances without stopping the game.
8. This new feature has a small disadvantage but it's still a cool one. In PES 2019 you can now make quick substitutions without pausing the game with a small menu where you choose first the player you want to substitute and then his replacement. This menu appears when the play stops for normal reasons like when performing a celebration after scoring or when showing a replay of a chance before playing a goal-kick, freekick or a corner-kick. The small disadvantage is the fact that with the option of the quick substitution menu appearing in the above-mentioned cases, you can't skip replays quickly and when the referee blows his whistle for a freekick, you'll take some seconds watching a free HUD screen with just the players roaming around before resuming the play.
9. Graphically, it's overall better than PES 2018 Thanks to "Enlighten" software with its true-to-life effects and Real time "Global Illumination" lighting and shadows. But more importantly, the carpet pitches are gone. Pitches' textures are more realistic and have more spots near the goalie where the grass is less dense.
10. PES 2019 supports 4K HDR across all platforms according to Konami.

Coming to what can be improved, these are somethings that I noticed were overlooked by Konami since the previous edition.

1. Despite being a minor issue, the menus haven't changed for a while since PES 2015. It was the same old style of the square-shaped menus that were just rearranged differently every year and changing edges from sharp to rounded like the ones in PES 2019. Menus attract gamers as they are the first hints about the game before going through the real deal and I have to say that PES menus have been lacking modernism in the past few years. But still don't judge a book by its cover which is the case for PES 2019 too.
2. Loading screens should be appealing to make the gamer feel less impatient while waiting, which is not the case for PES 2019. It's all empty with some light reflection effects or tips for, honestly, already known things since Winning Eleven.
3. The refereeing system has not been improved at all. Even when making a "legal" tackle, the referee will always blow his whistle and sometimes give unnecessary yellow cards. This becomes worse when playing offline and all the fouls committed against the player are ironically tolerated no matter how aggressive they are.
4. Most players are overpowered and have better skills than what they have in reality. This is relative to some situations and I can never assume what a certain player is able or unable to do but while playing you can really feel the easiness in dribbling and shooting long ranged shots with many players.
5. Goalkeepers are slightly better than those in PES 2018 that were good too but in some cases they show unrealistic saves. What caught my attention is when placing the ball in the far post from outside the box. Jumping and reaching the ball with stretched arm all the way then clearing it away is all fine, but catching it with both hands midair looks a bit athletic. However, they are still very vulnerable to freekicks from the sides of the box. They literally don't even try and the ball goes in easily.
6. Directing a pass in the semi-assisted mode is not always guaranteed and I don't think this is related to the randomness of the gameplay. Long passes, especially the low ones, are always faster than the power put in it in the power bar and end up beating the receiving player and leaving the pitch. Sometimes when a player has two other teammates to one side and decides to play a short pass, the ball goes to the farthest player and vice versa.
7. The online experience is not what I'd call great even for the demo. The traffic is a lot less than in the full version but about 80% of the matches I played have unplayable FPS or are withdrawn automatically during the game due to servers' connection worsening according to the error messages that show up. However, sometimes even when the connection is all good, players move slower than in the offline mode. In fact, the whole gameplay is slower even the time to the point where one touch passes are only possible when the player you're passing to is far away so you have enough time to push the pass button and for the power bar to fill up so that the player passes it directly. Otherwise, in tight areas, it's impossible to play Tiki-Taka because players are too slow and will always control the ball first before passing it again which removes the fun and kills the rhythm and also gives more chances to your opponent to take the ball away.
8. While this is not something that I personally care much about, but it has been seriously taken since many previous editions and it's the licensing of leagues and clubs. After losing the copyrights for the UEFA Champions League for the first time since its debut with PES 2009, PES has been losing many "big" teams licenses like Real Madrid and most of the Premier League teams that were never licensed before.
9. This one is specific only to the demo. Matches are only 5 minutes long by default which is something I quite don't understand if you can play as much as you want, what's the point of ending the match quickly if you will just play another one?

Overall, PES 2019 is a promising game that is awaited by many gamers. Some issues can be fixed in the full version and upcoming updates and some others can also be overlooked since they don't have direct effects on the experience. This review is only for the demo version so expect many mentioned things to change in August, 28th in North America and 30th in Europe when the full game is released.