PES 2009 Review

Football means lot things to many of us and we all have our own teams to support as we follow them and we feel joy or sadness by the results of them. That's the case too when we are talking about virtual football. If you played the early versions of FIFA titles, you are more likely to still stick with them. If you happened to play early ISS series of Konami. I'm pretty much sure you cheer for the PES series nowadays. In anyways, these bonds are quite to break, just like in the real world. So, with their own fanbases behind them, PES and FIFA are going to have the closest fight so far between them.

There's FIFA, which is using it's finances to buy itself the official team and competition names from all over the world, an then there is PES, which is concentrating to make the playing experience as good as possible. If we take last years model Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, it was a bad start for the series if thinking about new generation consoles. It didn't run smoothly, textures were quite shabby, and game play was not that good either. How about this year then?

Well, the first impressions from the game are not that good, quite unflattering. It looks like it is struggling to keep up with EA with graphics since it lacks the real-life feeling and looks of EA sports FIFA 2009. Player models are better this year, as are stadiums as well.

Two old commentators, Mark Lawrenson and Jon Champion are back. Though quite often it sounds like they are commentating on a completely different game than you are playing, so you might consider to switch them off quite fast. Sounds also have option to import your own MP3 into the game and you can hear your own football from the crowd.

Quite sadly, Premier league and quite a few clubs from it are missing. So you cannot play official Premier League.

But this year the edit mode is the "good old edit mode" again. As it has been quite limited in the last couple of years editions, it's now back to it's former glory. It allows full editions of players and kits, you can use sliders or web camera to import images to player bank. This makes the playing experience a lot more interesting as you can tailor your own team easily.

Master league is the good old Master league, and you are able to. There's also possibility to start "become a legend" mode, taking charge of one single player when he is at age of 17 and guide him trough his career. Become a Legend is quite interesting add for the game.

Compared to the FIFA 2009, PES has a lot more pace than FIFA's approach to the game. Feels though, that this year the most realistic title goes to EA Sports. But being honest, PES approach to the football is the most fun. You are still able to outplay the deffence with one good attacker, but high tempo and fast encounters make game very enjoyable.

It's a shame that PES 2009 is not doing that well in network play. Yes it's a lot better than last year model's completely unplayable version, but still there's lag and it still doesn't feel like playing with someone who's sitting next to you, also Konami's old and aging online ID system is not that good, especially when compared to FIFA 2009.

Even there are some problems, it's still sure that PES 2009 is the better and more fun to play. Still, there's feeling that more could have been done. This is why FIFA wins this one because of it's complete package. It is still a PES, so for you who are into the series, it is not going to be a disappointment.