Product Description

PES 2009 is the latest installment of the award-winning Pro Evolution Soccer Series, which is known by millions of fans for its superior gameplay and incredible realism. For PES 2009, Konami is already planning a raft of extensive new additions that will further bridge the gap between PES and the real thing. The new game has undergone a stunning graphical update to ensure its players look and move even more like their real-life counterparts. Similarly, all-new options allow users to tailor the game to their own tastes, while new moves, innovative new control elements and key online elements will further the realism of the new game.

• New player models, AI elements and physics routines
• 'Become a Legend' mode - Start your career as a rookie midfielder or striker and work your way through the ranks to become a pro. Play in your favourite attacking position and work as part of a team, as opposed to controlling every player.
• 'Legends' online mode - Use your saved 'Become a Legend' player in online matches with like-minded friends, and show off your skills on the larger online stage.
• Redefined intricacies of first touch, close control and ball distribution
• Enhanced shooting and AI mechanisms
• The new control system makes full use the D-Pad and analogue stick to perform contextual tricks and feints within the players run.
• Weather, air resistance and ground friction all have an affect on the balls motion - alter your play to match the conditions just like in real-life.
• Teamvision AI has been extended allowing computer controlled team mates to adapt their tactics more realistically.
• A reworked Master League means a players' loyalty and mood now affects their performance on the pitch.
• Enhanced realism through aesthetic updates, including stadium environments and atmosphere.
• Improved depth of field thr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1158 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Konami
• Released on: 2008-10-17
• Rating: To Be Announced
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Original language: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
• Dimensions: .30 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
PES 2009 is the latest installment of the award-winning Pro Evolution Soccer Series, which is known by millions of fans for its superior gameplay and incredible realism. For PES 2009, Konami is already planning a raft of extensive new additions that will further bridge the gap between PES and the real thing. The new game has undergone a stunning graphical update to ensure its players look and move even more like their real-life counterparts. Similarly, all-new options allow users to tailor the game to their own tastes, while new moves, innovative new control elements and key online elements will further the realism of the new game.

Customer Reviews

FULL GAME REVIEW
My copy of Pro Evo arrived this morning an I've been playing it solidly all day today as its my day off and I've got nowt else to do!

Firstly, to anyone thats a fan of the series, you are going to love it. Its classic PES, but with a little touch of extra class. The gameplay is a bit slower and more tactical, there is a lot more game than usual, it has the champions league license, and the edit mode is utterly epic and easily the best edit mode I have ever seen.

I'd better get on with telling you about the online, as thats were most people felt last years version let us down on.

Well, it seems to be pretty much fixed.

When you first go online, you are prompted to go to the Konami website and register a Konami ID and Game ID (Which is all done through the PS3 browser without resetting the game). Once you have done this you can go into the lobby area and instead of the game just searching for a game for you like last time, you are presented with a number of servers you can connect to, and you can see all the other users and friend request them straight from that screen. Which is excellent.

Once you get started with a match the difference is very much apparent. Gone are the jerky entrances and there is basically no lag. A message came up saying that it wont be working properly until tomorrow so you may experience some lag, but for me it was completley fine.

I won my first online match 2 - 1 and it was all the sweeter as I was playing against a 'runner' (Basically someone that just gets the ball to the wings and gets their fastest player to run and score). It was very satisfying to beat one of these kind of players cos on last years version, it was all to easy to get Ronaldo and just run down the pitch and score.

The Gameplay is based on posession this time round, which is good. Also the two vs two online is excellent, and just a great laugh.

Then there's 'Become a Legend Mode'. A blatent rip off of FIFAs Be a pro mode, to those uneducated enough to know that this was in PES about 5 years ago, but was dropped for the European market.

This is also pretty damn good. You can import a photo of yourself like Tiger Woods 09, so you can actually put yourself 'in the game'.

The Idea of this is to build up your player from a nothing into a top class international star. This basically means you have to work your way up from the reserve team from your club and go on to International honours. Its really good.

As for the edit mode, well its finally back to the way it was on PS2. You can change basically everything. Stadium names, player names, change players clubs, the clubs shirt numbers, clubs home grounds, clubs kits and lastly and certainly not least - ly you can now change the crowd chants at each individual stadium. There are a number of preset chants for each of the licensed teams (which are laughably awful), and also regionalised chants for each league you can select from.

The cherry on the cake though, is that you can import your own MP3 files into this feature and have those chants/songs sung at your ground. If you are a Southport fan or a Gateshead fan you can create your teams players kits, stadium etc and then get pi**ed with your mates, have a little Sandgrounders related sing song, and record those songs and put them in the game. Absolutley brilliant.

What with this being PS3 too, there are bound to be some people working on totally re editting all this at the moment and waiting to release files onto the internet for you to put on your PS3. Robbie Savage chants included.

All in all this is a top quality arcade footy title thats great for when your mates are around.

Ive not really got into the FIFA Vs Pro Evo debate, but if you really want my opinion, then I actually prefer FIFA this time round. The AI is better, the movement of your players is better and it just feels a bit more realistic (And this is the first year I have EVER thought that). Pro Evo has missed a massive trick in having the Champions League license, but failing to include it in their Master League mode and instead using it as a seperate part of the game.

Theres still something about Pro Evo though, and it will always be the choice when you have a few mates around, especially with that edit mode. I would recommend buying both footy games this year. They are both brilliant, but in compleltly different ways.

EQUALLY AS FUSTRATING AS 2008
There's been improvements yes, so let's start with them.

There's a full edit mode back, you can customise pretty much everything - add your own images, badges and logos etc. The graphics are far better, the strips, the players faces, the crowd, the whole game really, the music has improved tenfold as well. The gameplay is a lot smoother, it's been slowed down considerably but the laggy slow-down from 2008 is gone completely and the highlights are now actually watchable. Konami have exclusive rights to the Champions League and it looks and sounds good, although I'm disappointed they didn't implement it into the Master League. The new Be A Legend mode might prove to be interesting after time but I personally found it quite tedious, although it was good fun playing the BAL mode online with 3 strangers. Online play has improved a lot, most of the time you'll get a lag free match but unfortunately instead of lag you now get players teleporting and popping up randomly! And shockingly (again) there's no 2 player mode online! Which now brings me to the negatives of PES 2009.

The game is VERY frustrating. Passes frequently go astray which makes it extremely difficult to get any kind of passing move going. The shooting system has been changed (again), the ball balloons in the air at the slightest tap of [] which makes shooting from distance pretty much impossible now. When playing against the computer on top player they very rarely lose possession of the ball, pressing X or [] does nothing to get the ball back. The AI of your team-mates is dreadful, far too often your centre half runs out wide or make crunching tackles without you pressing a button. The goalkeepers are pathetic, they seem to punch EVERY high cross or shot and also regularly spill easy shots, making rebounds a common source for goals. The new tricks and skills controls are a complete joke, when you do manage to pull off a trick it doesn't feel like you were responsible for it, it's so random and erratic at times, trying to do the same trick again is hit or miss, basically they've tried to turn in into FIFA...and it doesn`t work. Oh and the referees STILL get in your way!!

The majority of the transfers haven't been done, Berbatov, Wright-Phillips, Shevchenko, Silvestre, Pedro Mendes, Saha...the list goes on. The game wasn't released until 17th of October so what exactly have Konami been doing all Summer?? To call this game PES 2009 and not bother to update the transfers is just laughable. Yes I can edit it but why should I need to do this?

The Master League is the same as ever which may please some of you but I'm not impressed, I want something different, something better. It was fine on the PS2 games but the ML really hasn't evolved at all and frankly I'm bored of it. I started one with Zenit St Petersburg but was bored after half a season and thought 'what's the point'?

I wanted to like this game, I really did, I've loved PES since it's ISS days but after 2008 and now this, I've lost all faith in Konami to make a decent football game. The whole game needs a complete overhaul in every department to reclaim any credibility.

To sum up it plays smoother and looks better than it's predecessor but there's so many faults, irritants and not enough improvements in this game for it to be considered a step up. After putting up with playing the disappointing PES 2008 for a year I was hoping this would be better but it's not. Don't waste your money or your time on this game.

What PES2008 Should've Been
Now this is slightly more like it, the problem is Konami are a year behind. This is what PES2008 should have been in the first place.

The gameplay isn't that far removed from PES08, but it feels like they've taken a step back towards realism as the players feel a little slower and i suppose more lifelike. It boils down to even the likes of Messi can't just get the ball and run through the defenders with it. To make things seem a little more realistic the ball this time feels like an entity in its own right and richochets about a lot more, it seems like a daft thing to say but if you play it you'll know what i mean. It doesn't feel stuck to the players boots anymore. Also in the middle of a melee for the ball bashing the X button wont find your nearest team mate anymore.

In short the gameplay is better but no major leaps forward.

The graphics are better, in that they're up to this generations standard.

Konami have also ripped off EA's Be a Pro mode with Become a Legend where you take control of one player on the field, the only problem is Konami's version is pants and EA's is really good.

I still love PES but with FIFA games coming on in leaps and bounds it wont be long before even the most one-eyed of fans have to admit EA make a better game. PES2009 does just about enough for me that i'd pick it over FIFA09. Already looking to next year, Konami need to pull a seriously big rabbit out of the hat.