Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 
Publisher/Developer: Konami
Genre: Soccer Simulation
Price: $59.99
Verdict: A return to form for a former great
Pros: Subtle change-ups promoting more interesting play
Cons: Not enough changes to quite keep up with FIFA 10
UPDATE: Misinformation regards Team Style in this review has been corrected. Sincerest apologies for the mistake.
The pages of gaming history are full of great, unbridled battles for market dominance. Children of the 90′s will remember the epic feud between Sony and Nintendo, and the first-person shooter’s first steps being fought out between Quake and Doom, while modern-day gaming has brought us the multimillion dollar battle of the band games between Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero. Arguably, however, one of gaming’s most long-running rivalries is one that sometimes gets overlooked, probably because its evolution has been so subtle through its many, seemingly greedy yearly updates. I am of course talking about FIFA vs. Pro Evolution Soccer.
FIFA and Pro Evolution have locked horns ever since the first Pro Evo game burst on to the scene in the early part of this decade. For many years there simply wasn’t a contest; FIFA settled for pretty visuals, licenses and overly simplistic gameplay, while Pro Evo looked to bring the beautiful game to energetic life for the gamer, offering a much deeper game engine that provided the platform for experimentation and expression on the pitch. In recent years, however, Pro Evo has meekly given up its crown to FIFA. As Dave Pitchforth pointed out in his FIFA 10 review, the FIFA series has been revolutionized with its swish presentation adorned by engrossing, realistic gameplay. Contrastingly, Pro Evo has rested on laurels and started to feel inferior thanks to its more arcade-like mechanics.
So, with FIFA 10 building upon previous success by refining itself into what Dave called “the most accurate representation of football ever”, what hope is there for the latest Pro Evolution? Thankfully, the answer is “much, much hope”, because Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 represents an unequivocal return to form for the series. No really, it does!
The signs of change are evident right from the start with the game’s new, slick interface. While some facets remain a bit confusing, like qualitative strategy options getting numbered rather than named, PES 2010’s interface is a vast improvement. Gone are the ugly, unfriendly menus of old – with particular reference to 2009’s gruesome, bohemian offering – and in their place is something much simpler. Everything can be found with ease and load times are as short and smooth as a passing breeze. There’s been no concession of the series’ distinctive personality either, in contrast to the increasingly soulless menus that EA Sports games contain. PES 2010 still has that edgy feel in its presentation.
More importantly, the presentation on the pitch has taken a big step forward. While stadiums remain a little graphically repressed compared to FIFA’s sumptuous offering, Konami have done some excellent work with the player likenesses in PES 2010. Yes, some of 2009’s odd discrepancies remain – Nicklas Bendtner, your ears should be burning – but the vast majority of players are instantly recognizable. In fact, the more defined, unflattering likenesses excel beyond FIFA’s superimposed photo-like visuals. Given how Pro Evo still lacks licenses for many of its team names (Arsenal for example are renamed North London FC), and how Konami bewilderingly blunders on with the unconvincing commentary of Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson – the latter couldn’t sound more like he was reading off a script if he tried, the vastly improved likenesses are a huge step towards making PES 2010 feel more like a simulation than an imitator.
Player animations have also been tweaked to the point where it actually improves gameplay as well as visuals. Transitions from stationary into moving positions feels smoother, and player collisions offer greater unpredictability as well. The animation tweaks extend to the far reaches of the field, where the goalkeeper has been given a much greater range and speed of movement.
And that brings us nicely on to gameplay, something that PES 2010 has also improved upon, but of course it absolutely had to. PES 2009 felt more like it took steps backwards compared to FIFA’s march forwards. The latter enforced strategy, considered play and a range of ways to approach the game, while PES 2009 seemed to coerce players into the same old pass-and-move, or simply pass-and-run-and-run-and-run gameplay. At first, it doesn’t feel like much of that’s changed in PES 2010, but the more you play, the more its subtleties are revealed.
Actually, that’s not strictly true. One change is obvious: the difficulty has been taken down a notch. This year’s Professional mode plays more like last year’s Regular, making the latter default setting much easier this time around. That’s not to say the game is any more of a doddle at its hardest setting, although die-hard fans may disagree, but it certainly makes the game a bit more accessible to the newcomer. It’s a small thing to note, but still worth noting. Admittedly, there’s still the frustration of severe changes in difficulty from one mode to another, but that plagues most games with a difficulty spectrum.
Returning to those subtleties: the gameplay is definitely a touch slower than last year’s as well. While it’s still at a frantic pace compared to FIFA, there’s better support for the defender now, with more breaks in attacks, but with less breaks in play, i.e. free kicks. In addition to this, passing has been given a noticeable tweak as well. Whether it’s more to do with 360-degree controls introduced via the analogue stick, or more to do with improved code, issues like passes not going to players or going to the wrong player have been vastly improved. This gives rise to a greater range of passing. Cross-field passes are now an achievable reality, as are long-range through-balls. Though the same hit-and-run gameplay is present, particularly with this year’s easier Regular mode, PES 2010 gently nudges the player into exploring other and more interesting ways to reach the goal by slowing things down and giving the defense a bit more support.
The game is taking a leaf out of FIFA’s book a bit in this regard, but it’s subtle enough to not feel copy-cat. Having said that, it must be underlined that PES 2010 still offers the quicker, more goal-heavy experience that makes it stand out compared to FIFA. Attempting to make the player want to experiment rather than just bomb down towards goal is surely a step in the right direction, moving closer to a simulation experience that incorporates the quick fix value of previous series entries. It still falls behind FIFA in terms of offering something that instinctively feels like soccer when you play it – that arcade-like feel is still lurking - but the fun factor still remains high. However, let’s be clear here: there are still issues with the core engine and mechanics. Shots remain an iffy affair, and off the ball movement can feel entirely too random. Also, while improved, missed passes certainly remain an issue. Not forgetting the opposing defense AI which is also questionable, particularly goalkeepers who tend to dawdle on the ball a bit too much.
Perhaps a lot of the improvement come down to the 360-degree analogue stick controls for movement that debut in this PES entry. Movement still doesn’t feel as free form as it does in FIFA, but it certainly feels more fluid than PES 2009, and that’s a start. What’s most impressive about the analogue controls is the proficiency with which skills can be achieved. PES skills are notoriously complicated affairs that involve pressing the D-pad in various, very quick ways. Not all the skills translate well to the analogue stick, but most can be pulled off. The range of movement certainly makes it a viable alternative to the mainstay D-pad controls, although some players will be hard-pressed to change things up now.
Another subtle improvement, and the emphasis is on “subtle” here, is found in the new Team Style and Player Card options. Team Style lets players change their attacking and defense strategy using sliders between 0 and 100. Now you can customize things like player support (teammates moving upfield to support the player in possession), attacking style (playing down the center or through the wide channels), and defensive line (how high up the field your defensive line is), amongst other settings to help you make their team play the way you want them to.
Actually knowing Team Style exists is another thing. PES 2010 doesn’t point players in its direction, or even towards the Player Cards, which allow players to switch on and off individual skills. It’s frustrating that PES 2010 doesn’t offer any real tutorial or learning curve compared to FIFA 10 and its tutorial videos. As such, it’s a real possibility that both features will get largely overlooked. Having said that, it should be noted that the Player Cards system is part of a greater whole that contributes to individual footballers having more personal AI, which is great to see. PES 2010’s Wayne Rooney, for example, plays just like real-life Rooney with plenty of pace, talent, and the ability to switch things up, all of which makes him an absolute bitch to play against.
Other minor refinements can be found off the pitch, like the improved Master League format that allows the player to take on the role of manager. This year the interface is much better, and more thought has gone into things like training, negotiations and so on. Similarly the “Become a Legend” mode, where players take on the role of their own footballer and lead him through a career, offers an improved feedback system post-matches. The Master League in particular offers more than before, thanks largely to the cleaner interface and strategy elements linked to Team Style. All of that said, “Become a Legend” mode still falls way behind FIFA’s offering, especially in terms of feedback and flexibility.
That leads us on to the kicker; we can’t really, truly compare PES 2010 against FIFA 10 until its online code goes properly live. There won’t be anything to rival FIFA 10’s revolutionary 10 vs. 10 mode, but as long as the 2 vs. 2 mode is easier to set up and lag-free, then that will be a step in the right direction. We’ll know more when that goes live. Either way, for the most part it seems that Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 offers a genuine, viable alternative to FIFA, with more polish than the series has seen in most of its recent incarnations combined. What it lacks, however, is that fundamentally rewarding feeling that comes from a well constructed FIFA 2010 goal. There is nothing better than the feeling that you beat the system and that you really earned it. This impressive return to form, Konami has certainly sent out a warning to its rival EA Sports: this fight is still very much on.
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