Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Review - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

You've got to feel for Konami when a few years ago they managed to get gamers to fall in love with their football game, Pro Evolution Soccer, on the PS2, only for the new generation of consoles to appear and cause them to helplessly flounder before falling from grace at the hands of a rejuvenated FIFA franchise. It's been a long, hard road for Seabass and his team at Konami and it's certainly been humbling for them as they've come to realise that they can't just bank on a cadre of hardcore fans to keep their game on the charts. And with that in mind they've gone out this year and asked fans what they wanted to see. So does PES 2010 bring about the much needed changes to send the PES franchise back into the top position?

PES 2010 is sticking to what it knows best, and that's with the deepest gameplay mechanics of any football game currently released. The level of tactics and number of moves at your disposal might seem intimidating to newcomers but after a few games you'll find your rhythm and start to appreciate the deeper nuances of the game as opposed to FIFA's easy to grasp gameplay. This of course means that if you don't have the patience to stick through the first hour or two you'll miss out on most of what makes PES so special. It's a game that rewards those who are willing to put the time in, much in the same way a fighting game like Virtua Fighter or Street Fighter does. One area where the game does falter though is in the animations of your players, which are now starting to show their PS2 heritage and it impacts on your gameplay experience. Konami has tried to improve things by adding in 360 degree control, the same as FIFA, but players still take an age to turn and refuse to move as quickly as you'd like them too, with a slight button delay that means you'll have to make passes and take shots a split second before you should to compensate for the control lag. It won't be noticeable to most players but it will definitely irritate you if you're used to the smoother controls in FIFA 10. Another irritant is the fact that your goalies still seem inclined to suffer from butter fingers and bouts of insanity where they will frequently ignore shots coming straight at them or crumple dramatically to the ground only to let the ball trickle into the back of the net.

Adding to the gameplay is the level of tactics at your disposal as well as new additions to PES 2010 in the form of player cards and easier team tactical options. Player cards are cards that are unique to each player in the game that can be turned on or off to influence a player's behaviour during a match. So for instance, you can use a card to make Cristiano Ronaldo cut in field from the wing when he receives the ball. Most of the time you'll want to leave these cards on as they're beneficial to winning the game but there might be specific situations in games where you'll want to turn them off to have full control. Changing your team's behaviour is now easier than in previous games, with a selection of sliders to control your team's compactness, defensive attitude and support for the player in possession of the ball. It's certainly easier to understand for newcomers and should ensure that many more gamers get their hands dirty in the tactics screens.

Master League is where you'll undoubtedly spend most of your time in PES 2010 and this year they've redesigned it slightly with an improved scouting system, new menu layout and the addition of youth teams amongst other improvements. I found myself slipping back into that zone I used to enjoy with PES 4 where I'd start a Master League season and stop only to find out that a month or two had passed me by in real life. Signing unknown players and trying to lure big names to your club while at the same time trying to avoid bankruptcy means that you'll end up spending many late nights trying to lead your team of no hopers to glory. It's something that FIFA's Manager Mode still hasn't managed to achieve and means that if you get your kicks from single player you'll still opt for PES this year. As an added bonus, the Champions League and Europa League are both fully licensed and playable in the Master League, although only 139 of the 258 squads in the game are officially licensed.

Online games for PES have been something of a horror story in the past, with games being so laggy that it would be easier to play by post, and the added frustration of the Konami ID system. This year they've gone back to the system used by PES 6 and ditched the Konami IDs, which means that games are easier to setup, although it's still somewhat long winded with the many setup screens you must go through. The good news is that there's not a hint of lag this time round.

Graphically, PES 2010 is at the forefront of football games. The players resemble their real life counterparts to an uncanny degree and the stadia in the game have also been redesigned. The menus received a bit of love and are now much more pleasing to the eye and easier to navigate. A further welcome surprise is that Konami has finally managed to get licensed tracks into the game to replace the J-Pop tunes that drove me mad previously. The crowd sounds have also been improved with the home support being more vociferous when their team scores which adds to the match day atmosphere. Unfortunately the same can't be said of the commentary from Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson, which is about as exciting as watching paint dry and might be very well what Mark Lawrenson was doing when he recorded his lines. It lacks the smooth flow from Martin Tyler and Andy Gray in FIFA 10.

Pro Evolution Soccer has always been the little brother of the football game family, destined to live its life in the shadow of its big brother FIFA. This year's game does little to stop that from happening again, although it does show signs that Konami has realised that they need to step up their game if they want to compete with FIFA. Hopefully this is the start of a much welcomed revival for the franchise that will see PES reaching the top of the football game league. If you're not too concerned about having all the correct licenses or the latest hip tracks while looking at menu screens and you're willing to look past the remaining flaws in PES, then you'll find that PES 2010 can become something of a monster that will eat up all your remaining free time and leave you anticipating next year's release.

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