PES 2009

After playing FIFA 09 for quite awhile it’s time now to see what Konami has to offer with PES 2009. For years PES was the series to beat, with FIFA lagging behind in nearly every department. For 2-3 years now FIFA has improved rapidly offering the first real challenge to PES and Konami. PES 09 promised improved graphics, a load of new options and many new in-game animations. Playing the game for a week now, we failed to notice any of those improvements. The animations are as robotic as it gets in a game, the graphics are extremely weak compared to FIFA 09 and the new gameplay modes are not all that worthwhile. Is PES 09 a complete mess though? Well, that depends on how optimistic you are.

First off the game comes with the all new Champions League mode. A welcome addition to say the least, the mode comes with the original logo and CL’s very own theme song too. Other than that though, the mode is nothing new. Just the exact same tournament mode we had for years now but with a fancy name on the top. The other hyped up mode aboard in PES 09 is the Be Legend mode. Simply put, it’s the exact same Be a Pro mode we have seen in EA Sports titles recently. While we only could play the mode as a single match in FIFA 09, you can play a full career as your own player in PES 09. This is a mode we enjoyed for a bit, but the AI fails miserably in recognizing your runs up field most of the time resulting in some pretty frustrating moments.

The idea behind the “Be a Legend” mode is pretty solid. Basically, you’re a rookie just starting out in the world of football. Your first match in the game is a scout match where depending on your performance you will attract a certain level of attention and there for receive offers from teams in your selected league. Adding some RPG elements to the game, PES 09 will allow you to improve your player’s ratings based on how well you perform on the pitch. The better you play, the higher your ratings and before you know it the bigger teams will start knocking on your door. You can even be called up to represent your national team later on in the game. The mode overall is a very good idea and you will enjoy it IF you manage to get past the shaky gameplay elements.

There is nothing wrong with the gameplay itself. Simply put, this is the same gameplay and animations we have seen in PES for the last half decade. Nothing has really improved. The movement of the players really looks awkward and the way the ball moves from one player to another is incredibly unrealistic. The game seems to completely ignore the role of physics on the field for some reason. Players running at top speed can suddenly stop, change directions and then continue running at the same speed. If that was possible in real life, most of us would be super stars in the world of football. One good thing regarding the gameplay overall this year is the controls. As usual, the controls are tight and offer a wide variety of passes, shots and tricks for you to mess around with. We were left just a bit disappointed with the shooting system adapted this year though, with some shots flying way off for no realistic reason.

After doing a horrible job with the online game last year, Konami came back with what seems like an improved online system. Before you start enjoying the online game though, you first have to sign up for a Konami ID. After that, the game will force you into creating a game ID with its own password too. Why, as a gamer, do I have to spend 10 minutes filling up information that already can be found in my PSN/XBL account I have no idea. Once you manage to get past all the questioning, you will have to choose which lobby you want to join. After playing the game with many players from the region we can confirm that the game is as laggy as last year. Having played FIFA 09 online with no lag to mention, we were expecting a better performance from PES 09.

As usual the game lacks the logos and kits of most of the teams in the game. Arsenal is still called Northern London and the kits still look like something we would go to bed in. If it makes you feel any better, PES 09 is the official Liverpool videogame this year. So basically it will need a red card against the opposing team to win a game too.

Graphically the game fails to impress yet again this year. Most of the players look miles off their real life counterparts and a majority of them have similar faces. The stadiums do not look all that good themselves but the fans are slightly improved over last year’s version. What is gone this year is the slow down and lag we faced in the offline game in PES 08. Overall, we are very disappointed with how the series yet again failed to improve upon the past generations level of details. Adding to the already unrealistic experience is the lacklustre presentation system. We simply do not feel like we are watching or playing a football match. You can blame that on many things including graphics and fake player’s reaction.

The sounds in the game are decent. Sound track included is a huge improvement over the noise the game featured last year. The sound effects, still a bit off, are identical to what we have seen for 2-3 years straight now. The Commentary is improved overall and offers a healthy variation of statements and facts to keep the game as alive as possible.

After being on top for so long, PES goes down hard this year. We desperately tried to find any positives in PES 09, but we couldn’t manage even that. The game is fun, if you play it once that is. Graphics are sad, realism level is even worse, and the fact that FIFA 09 is so good this year will not make life any easier for PES 09. Being a devoted (Arsenal) football fan and having played so many football games (As Arsenal) for years now, I can firmly confirm that this is not the football game you want to be playing this year. FIFA 09 to PES 09 is exactly what FIFA 02 was to PES 02. For all the hardcore PES fans out there, good luck finding any positives in this one.

About Rabie Hassoun

Rabie Hassoun prefers the 360 over the PS3 but still loves all 2 of his systems and that 3rd white motion filled dust collector as well. He prefers Sports games with NBA 2K, Football Manager and FIFA being 3 of his favorite games of all time. You can find him over XBL and PSN @ Rabie1.