A season Konami will want to forget... (Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Xbox 360))

Member Name: Wolfzilla

Product:	Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 (Xbox 360)
Date:	17/12/08 (235 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The graphics are fantastic, the core engine is still solid

Disadvantages: Generally most other things

Since it's debut back in 2001, Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer series has led a somewhat charmed life. Emerging right around the same time EA Sports' FIFA series was starting to grow monotonous, PES offered gamers their first real decent alternative since the much overlooked Sega WorldWide Soccer on the Saturn. Truth be told the first few games in the series weren't perfect, but they were different enough to FIFA to offer gamers a fresh experience of a football game. Things did come to a pinnacle at PES4 however, which is where the series really did finally grow into the game it always promised to. By this time, PES had garnered a sizable and vocal fan base who were willing to tell every and anyone willing to listen how much better than FIFA it was, and how anyone who purchased EA's title was clearly blinded by the name and was oblivious to the fact they were buying the same game over and over again. Come the release of PES5 this stance became a little ironic as the game differed barely to it's prequel, which went over the heads of many PES fans, themselves now blinded into stupid levels of loyalty to a name.

By PES6, the last entry in the series to use the numbered suffix, the series was almost as big as FIFA in terms of name, it had a fair share of licensed teams and was a major release in the gaming calendar. It was also an indication of just how poor Konami were at making advancements with the game, with it's Xbox 360 release being somewhat of a disaster, proving taking the series first major step up was beyond the PES team. PES2008 did little to remedy it's problems, hiding behind a few more licensed teams. It was only now some of the series followers began to doubt if there really was any progression taking place from game to game. Needless to say Pro Evolution Soccer 2009's release could prove pivotal to the future of the franchise, with Konami looking to not only win over new fans to the series, but also prove to the established fan base that the series is genuinely getting better.

Let's just get this out of the way straight out of the door, they have failed miserably. Before I get on to any other aspect of the game, I'll start with gameplay, which according to your average PES fan is what sets the game apart from every other football game ever released. There has been some changes to the way 2009 plays, and some are for the better. Corners, and headers in general, come off better, and in general the game seems to move smoother than previous instalments, the players no longer jutting about in the stiff, robotic fashion that had almost become a series trademark. Sadly that's about it as far as improvements go. On the flipside? Well Konami have managed to find a way to make Free Kicks as difficult as possible to hit unless you are one of a select few players (Pirlo, Ronaldinho, Totti etc), playing through-balls a matter of luck as they have a tendency to end up nowhere near where you intended them, trying to hit shots or clear your lines first time being a hit or miss (quite literally, it sometimes just doesn't do anything regardless of how much you hammer the buttons) affair and the player sometimes acting completely differently to what you have tried to instruct him to do.

This actually deserves a paragraph of it's own, because it's actually such a game breaking fault and even manages to violate what would be the game's saving grace, it's multiplayer. Now there are the minor instances that annoy you, players sometimes bizarrely stopping to run for the ball despite the fact it is possible to keep it in play and you holding down the stick, but that's small potatoes compared to the game's habit of making players lunge in with, often unnecessary, slide tackles that more often than not resort in red cards and penalties. It's annoying the first time, infuriating the second, and by the time your into double figures you really are considering snapping the DVD into small pieces, eating them and when they exit you as excrement putting it in a box and mailing it to Konami.

I'm not really sure if that's a control issue or an AI one, but I'm in favour of filing it under the latter, given that everything else about the AI is woeful. Players don't make the runs you want or expect them to, if they make the runs at all. Your defenders often go missing, seeming to fancy little strolls out of position. Worst of all is the game's statistics though. Presumably Konami thought it wise to let 12 year olds dictate the player's stats, meaning a select few players, most sickeningly obviously Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka', are just ridiculously good. Now all of the above are good players in real life, no denying it, but the game's rating of them is actually silly. Not a bit over the top, just blatantly stupid.

The game does boast more single-player modes than previous instalments, though sadly there isn't a great deal of improvement. The game makes a lot of noise about the fact it has a licensed UEFA Champions League mode, but the hype proves to be the most laughable thing about the title, as it turns out to be nothing more than a glorified cup mode that doesn't set you up in the actual Champions League groups...possibly because it doesn't even include all the teams in the tournament! While you could try and excuse the absence of Aalborg and BATE, someone might want to point out that overlooking Bayern Munich, one of European football's true heavyweights and one of the first teams to qualify from the group stages this year, is absolutely mind-boggling.

Once you get over how rubbish Champions League mode is, you have the standard Master League mode seen in every game since the series inception, with no real change made. Basically pick a team, start in the bottom division of a fictional Superleague setup and try to get to the top, buying and selling players. It's a serviceable, if somewhat tiresome setup that Konami really should address before next year's game, and the new addition; Become A Legend. BAL sees you create a fictional player and, controlling only him, try to progress through the world of football, breaking into teams and trying to forge your way into the International team and so on. With FIFA introducing an identical mode in recent games, it was only a matter of time before this cropped up in PES, and though it's once again a serviceable mode, especially for a first stab at such a mode, it's far from perfect. Your player doesn't control particularly well independently, and trying to get teammates to pass grows tiresome pretty quickly.

Online is a mode that has been lambasted in every 360 incarnation of PES, and I'm afraid to say 2009 isn't any better. Matches consist of you playing against someone using Manchester United or Barcelona, passing to Messi or Ronaldo, talking rubbish on their headset and utilising the stupidly good players to score tap in goals, facing stiffer competition for the now trademark horrendous lag than any of your defenders. Not worth signing up for a Gold Subscription for.

The game is still rooted in the age old PES engine, which means it is somewhat playable, and it is possible to have somewhat of a laugh on multiplayer, but when the AI issues manage to even work their way into that aspect and cause untold frustration, it really does make you wonder if its worth it. In my eyes it's not, PES has effectively become what its fans claim to hate, a frustrating, unrealistic rehash of last year's game with a bit of a polish.

On that note, the game is graphically far superior to any PES that has come before it. Not only do the big name players look far more like their real life counterparts, but even the generic designs at least appear human as opposed to the action figures that have played out the matches in previous instalments. Even the stadiums, the pitches and in general the lighting gives a more realistic feel to proceedings, and from the gameplay perspective it's even managed to trick a few of my friends into thinking it was a real game.

Sadly the game's sonic attributes continue to let it down, with commentary from Jon Champion and Mark Lawrensen that is identical to last years. Which was atrocious. Mute buttons ahoy.

When all is said and done, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is one of the few football games released in recent years I can honestly say I regret buying. I haven't played this year's FIFA yet, but I do plan on picking it up after Christmas. I've given PES 2009 enough of a chance in my eyes, and it simply hasn't delivered. While those aforementioned ironically blind PES fans will probably lap it up and ignore its shortcomings, the fact is that this is a major slip up from Konami, and while I've no doubt they will bounce back, it's such a fall from grace I've already spoken to plenty of gamers now willing to give FIFA another crack after years of avoidance out of disappointment. While I pride myself on not being silly enough to feel the need to allign myself to either franchise, it is hard to find good things to say about PES 2009, and feel scoring it 2/5 is to do so accordingly.

Summary: Konami have actually managed to make a football game thats actually worse than its prequel