Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Review [360]

20 Oct 2009 at 16:35:17 by Chris Schilling
Systems used to review this title: (360)

It would be foolish to pretend that IncGamers is the first website to publish a review of PES 2010. What’s interesting about the critiques so far – in both the printed press and online – is that this year’s PES is getting a bit of a kicking. Certainly compared to the last couple of iterations. There’s a sense among some quarters that this is the year that FIFA can certifiably claim to be top dog.

Poppycock. PES has been on a downward spiral for a couple of years now; it just seems to have taken much of the world that long to take notice. First comes denial, then acceptance, then anger – and it’s only now that reviewers are getting a bit annoyed with the series’ apparent reluctance to progress. Last year, a few commentators were suggesting FIFA was hard on the heels of Konami’s series, or had just caught up, when in reality last year’s game was some distance ahead. Since the advent of the HD consoles, PES has struggled to match the series at its brilliant best – indeed, the PS2 versions of the games (purchased by comparatively few outside Japan) were rightly regarded as being superior to their hi-def counterparts. Simply, Konami knew exactly what it was doing with the game on PS2, with ten years of experience making the franchise specifically for this console. With the greater power of the 360 and PS3 came the greater responsibility of making this hardware sing, and Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka and team couldn’t quite seem to manage it. For the first time, PES felt awkward, stilted. It was buggy. Its lack of licenses felt no longer quaint but archaic.

There are signs this year that things are changing, which is perhaps why all the criticism feels so odd. What’s undeniable is that EA’s series is the best it’s ever been, and thus still quite some way ahead. But PES 2010 has seen a number of refinements to both the core gameplay and the presentation that make it a surprisingly worthwhile alternative.

The menu aesthetic is an unusual one – grainy player pics graffitied onto grey concrete walls – but at least the music is some distance away from the “Football! Soccer!” abominations of previous years, with licensed tracks that might not be as new or as hip as FIFA’s eclectic selection, but at least don’t make you want to pull your ears off before you’ve started an exhibition match. In general, progression to a game is a little quicker than in FIFA, with selections moving swiftly onto the next menu and key data being clearly displayed. It’s not as stylish as its rival, but EA would do well to learn from Konami on getting to the meat of the game with the minimum of fuss (though we still do love the Arena).

The Player Cards add an immediacy to individual player tactics that make them a more palatable option for the casual player wanting to tinker with their strategies in a simple yet effective way. Play an attack-minded card on a central midfielder, and you’ll find him launching lung-busting runs on breakaways, while others might activate individual skills like Cruyff turns or stepovers. Meanwhile, Team Style offers simple ways of changing team tactics to suit your own personal style of play. Elsewhere, the Master League now incorporates the Europa League and Champions League, adding a frisson of real-world excitement to a mode that’s still superior to FIFA’s flawed Manager Mode – indeed, a complete Champions League tournament heads up the main menu, and its presentation is noticeably classier and superior to the main game. Become A Legend still can’t really compete with Be A Pro, but again, there are a few tweaks here which make it a little more engaging than before.

Step onto the pitch, and the differences from recent versions are immediately apparent. The players no longer look like last-gen models with a plasticky, HD sheen, but have been realised with no little attention to detail. They still look a little too chunky at times, but player likenesses are terrific – frightening, even, in a couple of cases – though those less famous often bear little resemblance to the real thing. Put it this way: it’s the first time in a few years we’ve seen Stephen Ireland with a full head of hair. But there’s something classier about the way the action’s presented. It could be the lighting, which on FIFA looks a little too bright, a little too ITV, but here feels less garish and more natural. Ambient stadium noise is louder and feels a touch more atmospheric than its rival, but there are trade-offs in the bizarrely artificial noise of the ref’s whistle and the quality of the commentary. Mark Lawrenson might be a fine pundit when speaking his own mind, but we’ve seen the non-more-wooden Orlando Bloom deliver line-readings with more conviction and enthusiasm than Lawro manages here.

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