Pro Evolution Soccer 2009

"Not a world beater, but still acceptable"

Many moon ago, Konami decided they'd release a football game, and lo, it spawned an era of majestic wonderment. Even since the early days, no single game or series could break the dominance of the FIFA Football series from EA Sports. Many came and went, some were alright (Sega Worldwide Soccer, Sensible Soccer), but some were dire (This Is Football, that means you).

The Pro Evolution Soccer series started life as the Winning Eleven series in Japan, but the first of these to really hit western shores was Winning Eleven 5, which we know as the very first Pro Evolution Soccer. Since then, the series has always provided the honest, hard-working alternative to the FIFA series; the general consensus being that Pro Evo had the better gameplay, but FIFA had all the correct licences, so all the competitions, teams and players were authentic. In recent years however, EA Sports seem to be getting their act together, and Konami seem oddly content to release the same game over and over, with little improvement with each instalment.

PES09, for me just had to be an improvement on 08, because I had the (mis)fortune of owning both the PS2 and PS3 versions of 08, and I swear, with the exception of slightly polished graphics, the two versions were nigh-on identical. Thankfully, I wasn't really disappointed. My initial impression of PES09 was overwhelmingly positive. The game just ran an awful lot smoother, dribbling and movement just seemed a lot more loose, thus enabling the player to get much more from the game… right? Well, you'd think so.

Graphically speaking, this year is an improvement on last year's effort. Colours seem a touch brighter, and the pitch itself no longer looks awful, which was dreadfully distracting in 08. The players look great too, the detail in the faces is quite something. I came across a website a while back which compared the appearance of each player in PES09 to their appearance in FIFA09; the difference was quite something, the Pro Evo faces were consistently better than those in FIFA. Naturally, there are one or two question marks in there (Berbatov, what?) but the vast majority of the players look spot on.

This year, the only two Premiership teams to have their authentic kits (and indeed, correct team names) are Liverpool and Manchester United. Now, to me, this isn't really a problem, because we live in a wonderful age of information, in which I am able to import some fan made database that has all the correct kits and stuff, but not everyone has that luxury. There are other leagues around Europe with their correct kits and stuff, but some are missing.

Here's where things get interesting. One licence that Konami have managed to acquire is the official UEFA Champions League competition, so the full 32 team line-up for the 2008/09 competition are there ready to be played. The Champions League mode comes complete with authentic music, logos, and even the real Champions League style TV presentation is there. For me, this licence is only a very, very minor positive to this game, because they don't really combine it with other modes (like Master League, but see later). Then again, playing in this mode really does capture the imagination, and the atmosphere is something as of yet unseen in a PES game, and seeing your captain lift that beautiful trophy is great.

New this year is the addition of certain little things like players raising their hand to call for the ball, or pointing to where they want the ball playing into space, which is actually really nice, but once the novelty has worn off, you notice that when they call for the ball, they aren't in space, and you should only rarely follow their “advice”.

Like I've already said though it's the gameplay that the PES games had going for them, and again, like I've said before, it seems to be floundering a little in recent years. Personally, I'm quite pleased with this year's effort. To those who haven't played one of these games in recent years, you control one player at a time, on your control pad, the basic controls are pass, long pass, through-ball and shoot, as well as the option to sprint and to perform a slow but accurate style of dribbling. With other button combinations, the player can pull off practically the full arsenal of kicks and tricks we see every Saturday afternoon. I've heard a lot of people say things like “the shooting is broken” or “the through-ball doesn't work” but quite frankly, I think it's all a matter of timing. It all works really well, but that said, nothing is quite perfect.

Perhaps my biggest gripe is that when running down the wing with a wide player (say, a right-back), the other player on that wing (say, a right midfielder) will seldom make that awesome run into space down the wing, so you have to mosey around with the ball for a while before they actually make that run. Similarly, the front men, irrespective of the player's skill, well rarely make a well-timed run behind the backline, and that can really kill the realism of the game, especially for the way certain teams play. The way I get the most from this game is to play co-op with someone else, with the two of you playing on the same team, obviously. That way, whoever is controlling the man off the ball can make that incisive run and really cut the defence open. Seriously guys, having this advantage will allow you to put the game difficulty up by one level. For all the progress that the opposing team's AI has made over the years in all games, I wish they put a bit of effort into make your team mates a little brighter.

Remember, I said my first impression of the game was that I thought it played smoother than last years, and that is true to an extent; the game does seem to play a little more fluidly, and the match engine has been improved slightly, so there will be a period of adjustment from 08 to 09. The timing of certain things like crosses and shots is very different this year, and it's all for the better really.

What really frustrates me however is the difficulty level in the game. As in previous versions, there are five levels from easy to hard, but in my opinion, it shouldn't be called “difficulty level”, it should be called “run of the ball” or “rub of the green”. It seems that at higher levels, all that happens is that the opposition will win every single one of those 50-50 balls in the game, they'll win every header, and they'll get every favourable bounce. Also, their strikers will never miss, and their keeper will turn into an octopus. Perhaps I'm moaning because I'm yet to master the game fully, but I bet I'm not the only one who has noticed this.

Within the game, there is an awful lot to do; there the standard selection of cups and leagues, for the hundreds of club and national teams available in the game. There are classic all-star teams to unlock, which is nice, and other little things in there, like the track record mode, which is like an extensive statistics page, which is great if you're that kind of guy. There is the edit mode too, which as I have alluded to earlier, you can use to bring your team rosters up to date, as well as correct team and player names and uniforms. It is probably best to download a fan made database though, which have all the unlicensed teams replicated pretty well.

The marquee mode of this series has perhaps been the Master League. Since its introduction, the player has been able to control a club from a bare bones team of losers to world beaters. You buy and sell players, earning the credits to do so along the way. The Master League mode has evolved slightly over the years, now you can use an already existing team (ie, the current Liverpool squad for example), or you have the option to turn on player progression, in which young players develop over time, and old players dwindle, and eventually retire. I quite like this mode to be honest, it's a quite nice balance between the stat heavy games such as Football Manager, and the hands on nature of a quick exhibition match on Pro Evo. Sadly, the Master League mode has changed very little over the years, and the only difference between this years and the previous version is that players now have a degree of club loyalty, which obviously has an effect on things like signing contracts and moving to other clubs. Another slightly weak point is that this mode has no interaction with the Champions League mode. It would have been great to be able to set up a Premiership league, but with all the buying/selling options of the Master League mode, and have the Champions League available as a prize for the top 4. Instead, once again, we are subjected to some generic “Euro Masters Cup” or something as the depiction of continental competition between leagues.

New to this game is the completely new Be a Legend mode, and accompanying Legends Online mode. I say “completely new”, but apparently it's very similar to a mode FIFA introduced last year or so. I'm told that the Pro Evo version is much better though, for what it's worth.

The main premise of this mode is that you control a single player on the pitch (like that old PlayStation game, Libero Grande, but much, much better) and guide him through his career. He's 17 when you start, and you have say over how he improves, and what he works on. You start off by playing the training matches at a smaller club, but you develop based on performances, and then get picked for full matches based on development. From what I can tell, the general reaction from people is mixed. I know a guy who has played nothing but this mode since the game was released, but I personally can't stand it, I don't like the lack of control, but there you go.

The biggest flaw of this mode in my opinion is that the experience you gain from matches, and indeed, whether you get picked or not is based heavily on the rating you get from each match. Now, the rating system has been absolutely dire since they introduced it back on PES3. No exaggeration, you can score 4 goals in a match and still get a 7, with all your team mates getting 6.5s and so on. This mode rewards those who stick with it long term, and if you don't have the patience, then stay away. If you keep playing, then eventually you'll play for the big teams with the big players in the big leagues, and even get a call-up to play for the national team.

The single biggest innovation in modern gaming has been online play. PES08 had a pseudo-playable online mode, but it was very jerky and laggy. This year, it's slightly more playable, but like before, both you and your opponent need good connections for it to work well. Anything less well take away from the “split second reflex” actions you need to make, and from what I can tell, this places the advantage firmly with the attacking player, who can just take a guy like Messi or Ronaldo, and run at you, thus earning a cheap and cheesy victory.

There is an online mode to accompany the Be a Legend mode, which is basically online play, but you just control one player again, and you share a team with a load of other guys who can also only control one player, and play against a team of similar makeup. Honestly, I am yet to play this mode online, as you can only use players nurtured from the beginning in Be a Legend mode, but I seriously have my doubts. If a normal online match is two PS3 consoles connecting together to play a game, then the Legends online mode will somehow have to synchronise ten plus PS3 units, which to me seems unfathomable. Plus, if you assume that there are six players on each team (defenders and goalkeepers are CPU controlled), then at least one of them is going to be an idiot who does not want to play the game properly.

The only thing more annoying than listening to Mark Lawrenson waffle on Football Focus on a Saturday lunchtime is listening to his irrelevant babble on here. Lawrenson is once again joined by Jon Champion for commentary duty, and once again, it is poor. It's about as good as we can expect from a sport game though I suppose. A lot of the phrases are just cut directly from PES08, but there are some new ones in there.

In conclusion, despite the negative tone of this review, I do think this year's game is actually pretty good. I'm pleased that it's not just the same game repackaged, there is a clear difference, but there are a lot of creases that need ironing out. I think PES09 is a game that will last a long time, and a lot of hours of fun are to be had. Like I suggested earlier, having a partner in crime, to play against or on the same team is one way to absolutely get the most from this game.

Rumour has it that the next instalment, PES2010 is going to be the first truly next-generation PES game, as it will have a scratch-built match engine, so I would suggest that you play the demo, or rent this game before you buy it, because overall response to this game has been seriously mixed. Also, FIFA09 has been getting some great reports this year, so check that out too, you may like that a lot better.

Ideally, I'd give this game a 7.5, but GameFAQs requires me to give an integer, so I'll choose 8, because I have only really scratched the surface of what this game has to offer.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/18/08

Game Release: Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (EU, 10/17/08)