Right, I’m going to try and do what seems to be the impossible and not mention FIFA during this review, not because I’ve been told or asked not to, but because it’s becoming a more and more pointless exercise for several reasons that I won't go in to here. Customer loyalty for the PES franchise is extremely strong, and this game is expected to sell well over a million copies so worries about FIFA’s guaranteed number one status seem a waste of time. However, the days when PES had the upper hand seem to be long gone.
The popularity of the game remains undiminished, with versions of PES 2010 available PlayStation 3, PC-DVD, PlayStation 2, PSP, Wii, mobile phones, and the version reviewed here, the Xbox 360. Konami’s Tokyo-based development team has taken note of a great deal of feedback from the console footy-playing public via fan forums and press critique and have promised to incorporate a wide range of “wants and needs” in this 2010 version. New features such as manual goal keepers, more feints and dummies, better penalty and throw-in systems, improved goalkeepers and less Nazi-like referees are promised, as well as 360° control for the first time as a late response to EA including it in FIFA 10.
Another major promise was improved visuals. I’d love to say that PES is now the equal of umm... that other football game but sadly that’s not the case. Some of the player likenesses are very good - facially at least - and PES truly does lead the game in this area, and as ever most players physiques are similar to their real-life counterparts. But despite detailed stadiums and crowds and visible blades of grass the overall look hasn’t changed a great deal and the animation still looks stuttery in places. It looks like it’s using the same game engine as it has for the last few years and could do with a makeover, or even better, a serious technological kick in the pants. Aethestics aside, as usual authenticity isn’t helped by the bizarre fact that you can have a Champions League licence and all the teams that are in it, but still not use the real team names, so for instance Arsenal and Chelsea are North London and London FC respectively, despite having most of the real player names. Once again, it’s the annual PES ‘oh dear, still no flippin’ comprehensive licence’ gripe.
Animations have always been PES’s strong point and there are a lot of new ones. Many are incidental and not immediately noticeable, things like player reactions to fouls and goals are extremely realistic, and you’ll even notice facial expressions if you view a replay from a zoomed-in camera. The ball physics and collision detection have definitely been improved, and even in the first game I played several realistic incidents happened; like a goalie fumbling a shot over the line and a deflected shot going in the opposite side of the goal to which it was aimed, leaving the same poor goalkeeper flat-footed. Another incident did however stretch believability when a half-blocked Paul Scholes shot (that had been deflected wide) was pounced on and converted by an abnormally alert Dimitar Berbatov! When he went and celebrated with the instantly reconisable substitutes (Gary Neville and Michael Owen) that were warming up on the sideline I thought "hey, PES really is starting to look and act the part again..."
PES 2010 plays a fine game of footie, with better response than the last time I played it, and a lot less “remembered” button presses messing up the action. The 360° control may not be that big a thing to many PES aficionados (as most use the D-Pad to play) but it certainly adds a bit of finesse to the proceedings. The AI still seemed a bit dopey or lazy at times and some excellent through ball opportunities are wasted because AI players simply don’t “go for it” and make a run when prompted, or indeed when a real player obviously would have. AI-controlled players will also still inexplicably ignore a ball that’s going very close to them and passing moves frequently break down due to wild passes. Although throw-ins have been improved the mechanic during penalty kicks is also supposed to have had a makeover, but I can’t tell the difference (and still miss as many as I score), and free kicks are still outrageously hard to score from. Nevertheless faking a shot, nipping past a defender with a controlled dribble and smashing the ball past the keeper has never been more satisfying. Players not only look like their real life counterparts but also tend to play like them; Messi is difficult to get the ball off and could dribble the ball up and down the pitch and run circles round most defenders, Rooney runs forever, has a cannonball shot and tackles like a truck, and the elegant and speedy Torres is likely to score every time he gets the ball. AI opposing defenders also now produce less impossible clearances, and you'll often see them realistically put a dangerous cross behind for a corner, or just hoof the ball into touch to break down one of your attacks.
As ever the game allows for numerous tactics, custom moves and formations, and team tactics can be changed on the fly with presses of the L-trigger and a face button. Most other management decisions can be left to the AI or you can be totally hands-on, it’s entirely up to you. Several free kick options improve the set pieces and you can even ‘take a quick one’ or have two players over the ball for a touch–off-and-shot, Gerrard-style. I’d also like to mention that I think the PES menus are the best for some years, and now look crisp and clean and seem easier and more intuitive to navigate (but that could just be familiarity on my part).
Online play has been enhanced with a really playable two-versus-two option, and as well as a notably more stable online experience, new online competitions have been added and allow for all of the major offline competitions to be played online, as well as the Community and Legend elements. We played several enjoyable games online while testing and ended up with a 7-0-3 WDL record, with no unsportsmanlike disconnections to sour the taste, so that's a good sign.
Even with the addition of the Champions League licence the Master League is still where many PES players head first, and it’s had managerial features added that enable players to enjoy a longer career lifespan. Managing a team now includes realistic elements like financial responsibilities and decisions on sponsorships deals and even youth team coaching. A new card system means you can set each individual player's attack level and whether you want to take advantage of the player's unique abilities, and yes, they all have one! The 'Become A Legend' is also retained, and plays the same as before with you taking the role of one customized player and following their career through the leagues to hopefully eventually play for one of the big teams and win the Champions League itself.
The commentary hasn’t been great for the last few years, and this year it’s more of the same as new boys Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson bumble through a script of extremely repetitive and (in Lawrenson’s case) often inane, irrelevant or belated statements and non-facts. To be fair, Jon Champion’s distinctive voice does quite a good job of trying to add some atmosphere and excitement to the action, but Lawrenson’s rather camp tone and frequently shouted “analysis” will have even have Match of the Day fans reaching for the volume controls after a couple of games. I can only imagine Mark was told the crowd noise would be much louder than it turned out, because he frequently yells comments like the mad bloke down the mall, or an old deaf person who’s forgotten to turn their hearing aid on. A better “Match-Day Atmosphere” was promised, it still seems to take a long time for crowds to react to the on-field action (if they do at all), but at least there’s some variation and even some (what sound like to me anyway) team-specific chants and songs.
The replay mode is probably the best yet, allowing all incidents to be viewed from each and every angle and saved for future reference. You can even save individual goals and incidents as you view them in the half-time or full-time highlights. One thing that does become noticeable when viewing replays is how much better the game looks slowed down a fraction, implying to me that it struggles to work smoothly at full speed.
I mentioned the new animations and how well they’ve been incorporated into the game but there are still a few hiccups with some disappointing stuttery (and physically impossible) steps where players try to get where the game engine thinks their feet are supposed to be to kick the ball or control it. There are also still old PES hangovers like when a shot going wide or high will pause for a fraction of a second. How many years has this been happening in PES games, and why haven’t they sorted it out? The player’s sprint animation also looks rather wooden and un-athletic, and when a player should look at his nimble, flat-out best he looks like he’s suffering from arthritic knees. Animation isn't the only place that needed work, but particularly at an aesthetic level maybe this current, ageing game engine simply won’t allow for any better graphics. While some of the players’ likenesses might make you go ‘wow’ their kits look just as stiff and unconvincing as they did years ago – maybe even less so now as many of us are playing it in HD and we expect fabrics to act like fabric and not like cardboard. The players’ shorts look positively painful and appear to have so much starch in them that they could well be the reason for their less than fluid running animations.
So what needed to be improved has been - at least in some places. It still needs work to catch the competition and maybe only a completely new game engine will allow that, but for the time being, and until 2011’s iteration comes along this is a fine game of footy, with a huge amount of depth to it.
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