You still have to execute your game plans and tactics, and Konami has improved this with new advance instructions. Barcelona keep the ball on the floor, playing through the middle and using Iniesta’s close control to outwit defenders and create space for the front three. As Madrid I focused on wing play, with Bale and Ronaldo attacking with sheer pace and tenacity. Each team requires different approaches in order to play to their strengths. Build-up play and the variety of ways a goal can be created are amazing.

The contextual system simply serves to remove barriers between what you want to happen and it actually happening. This doesn’t mean the player is a passenger, either.

The fact that PES creates beautiful football with such little effort on behalf of the player is a huge feather in its cap. It’s something which has plagued the FIFA series for years, over-complicating the control scheme in order to add depth and complexity to the football. To be able to know these players possess the ability to make the best type of play according to the context – without me, as the controller of these superstars, having to press four or five buttons – means I feel truly connected to the game. Carvajal needed to make the pass with the outside of his boot to apply the right spin on the ball for the pass to beat the defender, Bale needed to use his heel to control the ball to avoid turning to control the pass, which was behind him, and the same for Benzema’s backheel. The pass with the outside of the boot, the control with the heel and the backheel tap-in required no additional controller input from myself, but were all exactly what I hoped the players would do. A double-tap of the cross button led to a low-driven ball right into the path of Benzema, who had expertly got in front of his marker in the box, and was able to tap the ball home with a backheel. Starting at full-back, an interception from Dani Carvajal led to a long ball up the wing, played deliciously with the outside of his boot, which Gareth Bale controlled expertly from behind with his heel, taking the ball in his stride. As Real Madrid (or MD White, to give them their unofficial title), I scored a Karim Benzema goal worthy of any highlight reel, and pushed all of three buttons. Within my first few matches there were at least half a dozen moments I sat back and watched replays of, desperate to share their glory with the world. Some stand out more than others, starting with the new player animations. We’ve heard boasts of countless innovations in 2017, from ‘Player ID’, hundreds of new player animations improving first touch, and even attacking the licensing issue head-on by securing deals with some of the world’s biggest clubs. Konami has been very bullish in the lead-up to PES’s launch.

Pes 2017 career mode