With revamped controls and brand new game modes, Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is in the best form of its career.
Easy to play and impossible to master is the best way to describe the Pro Evolution Soccer series. Until now, with each annual update, Shingo ‘Seabass' Takatsuka and his team have tweaked the gameplay, rather than overhaul it radically. However, this season's offering, officially licensed by UEFA, introduces revamped gameplay and a host of new game modes, and the result is a solid mix of the refreshing and the familiar.
The first of the new game modes is the UEFA Champions League. This mode allows you to play through Europe's premier club competition with any of the participating teams. It's a great accompaniment to the existing league and cup options, giving the player a real sense of the unique atmosphere that accompanies Europe's premier club competetion. The iconic music plays before each match - Handel's Zadoc the Priest, in case you're interested - and even the advertising boards around the pitch are authentic.
Pro Evo purists will feel at home in the Master League, which is back to have you pondering over formation tweaks, financial management, transfer deals and, of course, winning games on the pitch. In classic PES style, this mode seems basic in the beginning and only reveals how deep it is when you're elbow deep in contract negotiations and studying the opposition form for an upcoming match.
Legend in the making
The second major new feature, Become a Legend mode, allows you to create a young footballer and guide them through their career. You start out, at the age of 17, playing for an unknown side. Good performances will get you spotted by talent scouts and a contract offer from a more recognisable team. Once on their books, you have to shine in training matches if you want to make the first team and, ultimately, earn an international call-up.
In this mode, you only control your created player and the camera moves to behind the goal you are defending to give you a better overall perspective on the game. You can revert to the traditional side-on camera angle, but you don't get such a good view of what is happening elsewhere on the pitch. Positioning is the key to success, as teammates won't pass to you unless you have found a yard of space, and without the ball, you're not going to impress your manager enough to stay in the starting 11. You can also take your created player online and link up with up to three other players in Legends mode, where bonus points are awarded for good link play between human-controlled players.
Reigniting rivalries
The new modes are fresh and entertaining, while the first port of call for many players - Exibition matches against friends, either online or offline - is familiar, yet different enough for there to be a learning curve. Play is more frantic than in the last game, with the less forgiving passing system resulting in a midfield battlefield and considerably less time on the ball. Experts may want to revert to manual passing - a new feature that allows you to direct passes accurately using the right analogue stick. Skills and tricks are now context sensitive and occur automatically depending on the situation and the player.
The animation has been revamped, with players moving more organically, shaping their body around the ball and stretching to make important interceptions. The behaviour of the ball has also been updated and factors such as spin, pitch condition and the weather have a far greater effect on its run and bounce. Pro Evolution Soccer 2009's graphics are a leap forward from that of its predecessor, while the gameplay, with its emphasis on one-touch passing, movement off the ball and steely tackling in midfield, hearkens back to PES 5 on PlayStation 2.
For a series that prides itself on sticking to its roots, Pro Evo has undergone a fairly major makeover this season. Yet beneath the Champions League branding, the new Become a Legend mode and the excellent graphics, lies the same addictive arcade football game that fans worldwide have been trying to master for years.
