PES2010 Review
Now this is one of my toughest reviews, not because of the quality, but purely because of the nature of the game. Yes, I’m not the biggest of football fans, which means I don’t really care for, or bother playing any football titles. Having said this though, I have had some experience with Fifa games recently, and although in many minds comparing the two franchises is like a mortal sin given the fact there seems to be one of those fanboy fights about which is better, who better to compare the games then someone completely objective such as myself.
To dive or not to dive?
For obvious reasons, there is no plot to a game like this, and even if there was one, it would probably be pretty lame such as those you find in NBA 2K titles. Having said that though, you as a player, do get spoiled for choice with regards to different game modes. You have choices such as the traditional choosing of your favourite team and taking them through a season, managing your team through a season, and even making your own player working your way up into bigger teams to become the best player in the world. This would be great, if Konami could actually get the licenses to name the teams in the way they’re named in reality. I can imagine that seasoned veterans in the game would know which team is which, but for a novice, it’s particularly horrible trying to find the team of your choice. Not only is the licenses an issue, but so is the serious lack of stadiums to play in, all of which get a bit boring after time.
Moving onto the graphics and gameplay in particular, you can definitely see the differences between PES and Fifa. You might say that graphics are quite excellent in PES2010, and that player movement isn’t entirely horrible, only if you haven’t played Fifa recently. Comparing the two is like comparing BMW to Audi, one is great and looks and drives like a dream, but once you step into that BMW, you notice that everything is just that little bit better whichever way you look at it. PES is the Audi of the football gaming world, it just never quite cuts the mustard. Graphics are not quite as good and it’s not as pretty as its rival, and gameplay feels too arcady to be 100% enjoyable. Player control feels laggy and you’re never quite sure whether you landed that through ball by luck or by skill.
Stiff challenge
Control of players and their defensive capabilities are where PES falls short of the mark. You could forgive the graphics as it’s pretty up to standard, but gameplay feels too much like you’re getting lucky passes and tackles in instead of proper ball and power control as well is the ability to intercept and defend with a relative amount of ease. It all feels like a chore in some ways and players themselves don’t feel realistic as compared to their actions in real life as you feel all players in the game are on the same skill level where no talent exists whatsoever. You don’t really ever get a chance to play around with the ball or move it around with much ease, but then again, at times it feels better not having the opportunity to do so because player control is so bad.
Another issue I have with the game is the lack in difficulty, I decided to challenge myself and choose a slightly high level that most beginners playing a game for the first time wouldn’t usually do. Notice the surprise I got when it wasn’t actually difficult at all, well at least I don’t think winning 11-1 in a short match is very difficult in all honesty, as the AI seemed quite retarded and even more laggy then humans. This however doesn’t mean trophies are easy to achieve as there are quite a few and most of them require quite a bit of time to achieve, so don’t expect a platinum trophy too quickly and by the time you’ve earned it you’ll probably be so fed up with the actual game that you’ll be using it as a Frisbee.
Head and shoulders above the rest?
One of the biggest aspects of this game is its online mode, but then again, which game these days doesn’t have an important multiplayer mode? Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to give this a go, but as far as I can imagine, it can’t be much different to the single player gameplay besides the fact you’re playing a friend or stranger who’s not a retarded bit of AI, but is actually a human. This either makes things very easy or very difficult, well in normal games at least. If you’re a skilled veteran I’m sure you can defeat most people with relative ease, you do get the feeling that many things in a game are purely based on luck as opposed to actual skill which tends to be frustrating.
Classy finishing required!
Conclusion
Although I’ve been pretty hard on the game, it’s not entirely bad, it has many good points about it and you can see why it has gained so many fans over the years. It is unfair in many ways to compare it to a giant as big as Fifa as you know, in a sense, that it will never realistically be able to compete fairly. At the end of the day you’ll either love it or hate it, however the answer to why more people hate it as opposed to love it is purely because it just doesn’t cut the mustard against its rival, it never feels as good, looks as good or plays that good, it just feels a step and a half behind and in a game, that’s what can make all the difference.
Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Fun: 8/10
Sound: 6.5/10
Total 7/10 Not fantastic, but not bad either.
A big thanks to Ster-Kinekor for making the game available for review.
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