PES 2010 Review

Nothing against the game, series, developer or publisher but last year’s PES was bad on so many levels. The game did not just disappoint long time fans; it also offered nothing new to the genre itself while handing over the “best football game” title to FIFA and EA Sports. The first encouraging sign coming from the people behind this game came earlier this year. They announced that the online mode will not require the annoying signing up process anymore. Further promised additions included an easier to control game, better presentation and more tactical options. How well executed those features are however is another story.

Every sports related game we played this year had presentation as a number one priority. Every game from Live to Madden offered interesting pre and post match scenes that got people excited before even starting a game. PES 2010 has its own set of improvements in this department. The UEFA Champions League presentation, which we called useless in PES 2009, has witnessed some positive changes. Excitement is in the air before every CL game now thanks to the authentic music and pre game introduction of the players. The commentary will even mention how big of a night this is and add some comments about the team and players on the field. If you end up buying PES 2010, this tournament is going to be one mode that you will complete and enjoy more than once for sure.

The problem with the UEFA Champions League mode though is the AI towards the end of some games. After winning 4-0 against Inter Milan in the first leg of the semi final away at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza my mission was to close shop and protect my goal back home to secure the win. Towards the 60th minute Inter Milan scored and were up 2-1. But now, Instead of going on the attack for more goals in order to qualify, Inter Milan started defending to protect their “lead”. The commentary itself was confusing at times. Right after the goal the commentary said that this has surely won it for Milan. A minute later he mentioned how comfortable of a win this is for Barca (Based on the Home-Away score). So who exactly is the winner here? This is certainly not a problem that will prevent you from enjoying the game but something that we would love to see ironed out in any future UCL modes.

PES 2010 was meant to be simple yet realistic. The developers want causal gamers to hold this game and enjoy it while offering the hardcore football fan a chance to compete at a top level. You will notice all of that within an hour of playing this game. PES 2010 is simple for the casual gamers thanks to the friendly menus, large number of different game modes and an easy to adapt to gameplay scheme. For the hardcore gamer, harder gameplay levels and authentic looking players do add a touch that diehard fans would crave and enjoy.

When talking about the gameplay, we can be both positive and negative. The positive is how the game flows. Your team mates are actually helpful and the AI offers you the support you need to build an attack or defend efficiently. The game is also easier to get into this year. You will not be winning 7-0 every time that’s for sure, but anyone that played this game or even FIFA before should fit right into the action here.

Now on the negative side of things you have the running routes. Players seem to run in just one exact direction. Maybe FIFA 10 have already spoiled us with the 360 degrees dribbling system, but the way PES 2010 players run is clearly out of date. Passing is also surprisingly troublesome this year. A straight pass is easily executed with no problems, but if you want to pass to a player behind you or on the other side the time the animation takes to execute could really ruin an attack at times. Any pass other then the direct one to one pass is for some reason always slower and is cut out most of the time. One final issue we faced playing against the AI is how effective crosses are. Both the FIFA and PES games seem to have gone in different directions on this one. On one side FIFA made scoring from crosses harder this year, on the other hand though PES decided to make headers easier to score with. We actually noted on a paper every time the AI scored a goal against us. Out of 20 goals in 30 matches, 14 were headers from direct crosses in open field play.

The game brings back some old modes with improvements this year. The classical master league mode is back with more options. The game now gives you even more control over your team, both on the field and in other issues such finance and motivation. All of that and the number of options and leagues to choose from only mean that this mode is where you will be spending most of your time at. The transfer market in the mode is a bit off though. As was the case in the manager mode in FIFA 10, you are never supposed be able to buy players that just moved to a new club. We were easily able to buy guys like Diego and Melo from Juventus just weeks after they were signed in real life.