Pro Evolution Soccer 5

"Yet another great addition to the fluid, excellent and lovely Pro Evolution Soccer series"

Intro - This is another one of Konami's yearly updates to the PES series, AKA the Winning Eleven series. Its the fifth instalment to the series on the PS2, and is fully up-to-date (well, at least until the beginning of the 05/06 season), complete with fully licensed teams in Seria A and La Liga, sadly, not the Premiership just yet.

Graphics - Long story short, they aren't amazing, but they get the job done. The graphics of the player models are very realistic, and movement of the player both during the game, and in cutscenes with the referees or during substitutions are very fluid and dynamic. The player likeness is done very well, and in my opinion; far better then FIFA's. Now, this next point may disappoint some players, it did for me anyway. Konami wanted the game to run as smoothly as possible, so there are huge sections of the crowd missing from the stands during the match, but appear when a goal is scored. The chants and noises however are still there.

Sound - This being a sports title, sound and atmosphere are key, and are done very well by the crowd, however, players that have played other PES titles will know just how poor and repetitive the commentary is. The crowd chant recognisably, and cheers for those vital last minute goals, as well as the "ooooh"s for the shots that hit the post. Now, back to the commentary. It is pretty decent for the first few hours of playing the game. Mistakes aren't made, the problem of the two commentators talking at the same time has been sorted out, and overall, is realistic and relevant to the certain match being played. However, when you have had this game for weeks/months, the commentary gets boring, repetitive, and does start to show its faults with mistakes being made about the teams position in the Master League for example. Some players suggest switching the commentary to Spanish, for some added excitement and laughs.

Gameplay - One word. Fantastic. Players looking for a better football game will prefer this to FIFA. The movement of the players is realistic, with fatigue and the weight of the player affecting how easily/hard the ball can be controlled, and passed about by each player, basically every part you can think of is done very well. The Exhibition mode offers the old classics, with Penalty matches, as well as a normal match against the computer or another person. However, Konami have also added a new feature called "Memorable Match", which allows players to see the results of the last 20 games they have played, and can be stored for that time you beat the best of the best.

But, the mode that will be played the most is Master League. This mode allows you to either create, or play with an existing team, and take them into your selected league, and to play against the rest of the teams in that league, or in other leagues from abroad (the WEFA Championships, ie Champions League). With also being able to buy any player from the game, as well as creating your own and buying them for you team. The retirement system will also allow older players to age, and then become “reborn”, with you the player being able to re-grow them, and build up their stats. This game mode will have you playing for months, which really increases the life span of the game.

PES5 might be difficult for PES4 players to convert to at first, with the new control and shooting system, with the introduction of middle shooting, which allows players like Steven Gerrard or Nedved to really blast them from range. But, with practice and patience, you should be able to overcome those frustrating 0-0 games that we have all had at first, and begin to start scoring great goals.

Buy/Rent - A definite buy. This is an essential game for any football fan to own, and will keep you playing all the way until the next instalment. However, if you are a FIFA fan, probably renting this first might be for the best, because the two games do play very differently, with this being by far better, not fanboyism, just fact.

Overall Score - 9/10, a must have.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/30/06