The Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series is legendary. A legacy stretching back to the Playstation 1 of great football games, now is a damaged legacy due to recent releases. Why?

Up till PES5 on the Playstation 2, Konami could do little wrong. The pure football simulation they offered was great year after year, and solidified their deboted fanbase. On release of the XBOX 360, Konami had to create for the new wave of next-gen consoles, which resulted in PES6 which is at best a mediocre quality game. Then came the flawed PES2008, and now PES2009.

From the start, PES2009 disappoints. The presentation of menus is as needlessly confusing as it ever was, making navigation tedious. Then when you go to play a game, teams do not have their most recent transfers (i.e. Berbatov to Man Utd) which is not a disaster, but something you expect to not happen. The FIFA series always has updated teams, why not PES? PES2009 also has fewer licensed teams than PES2008 which has haunted the series from its roots.

Gameplay wise, it is slower than PES2008 without doubt, but poor AI makes the game difficult to play, including poor passing (often doesn't pass to where you want), poor shooting (minimal power yet shots go over the bar), poor positioning (players don't make the runs you want them to) and poor goalkeepers (tend to spill shots too often and are a liability).

The Online mode is also disappointing, with lag often making games unplayable due to the seemingly worsening of the AI creating bugs and glitches, and will generally frustrate you more times than it will please you.

Game modes include Become a Legend which is the highlight of the game, allowing you to play as a player in a team an work your way through the ranks. This is without doubt the most enjoyable aspect of the game, along with the Champions League mode which is a positive introduction.

I don't want to seem over critical of this game in this review, but I hoped for and expected something much better after the poor PES6 and PES2008 releases. Some players will enjoy this game, it still offers a decent game of football, but I don't see many positives that make this game worth buying.