PES2010

With FIFA 10 becoming the biggest selling sports title in gaming history, Konami had a lot to overcome if their world-famous product was to succeed this Autumn. In recent years, they have been criticised for their failure to successfully transfer the winning formula of addictive gameplay and tongue-in-cheek sterile presentation. Since coming to the PS3 and Xbox 360, the PES series has been an onslaught of disappointment. The online modes were a disaster with even the slightest lag throwing the ball over the pitch, and the lobby system appearing to have been designed by a blind chimp.

With PES2010, journalists were touting the title as being the closest to the original formula yet, a major improvement upon past entries and a suitable alternative to EA's now-dominant franchise. Sadly, this is not the case.

Throughout Konami's promotional campaigns leading up to the release of PES2010, the main features being bellowed about were the extraordinarily impressive player likenesses and a new 16-direction dribbling system, two factors which were to supposedly support a fresh and invigorating effort in a bid to resurrect a dying series unable to adapt to the next-gen. Whilt the former is certainly the case, or at least for the big name stars, the dribbling system has not fared well.

Player movement is still as archaic and frustratingly basic as earlier games, and whilst there is a better feel to the overall sense of atmosphere at each stadium, one can't help but feel Konami are losing the plot. Goalkeepers will often save shots at randomly, balls bouncing off heads, arms and legs but with no impression of them actually saving shots, merely providing points off which the balls erratically rebound. The rest of the gameplay suffers as well, referees will blow up for the smallest of touches, players will lose the ability keep a simple pass in play and some shots appear to have fired from cannons, such is their ferocious pace and height.

The final blow is the Master League mode, once praised in earlier iterations for its simplicity and ease of accessibilty, a winning combination when the gameplay is so solid. With this year's title, UEFA Champions League licence again in tow along with the newly named Europa League, the presentation is a mess. Menus pop up with inance pieces of information, presumably trying to ape FIFA's new Manager Mode in terms of depth and level of management-related help. The overall design screams of a mixture between Japanese style grafitti and images of generic football paraphenalia, and the soundtrack, aged in itself seems to change with every new menu screen, the same six or so songs being repeated within a minute of menu changes.

What was once the pinnacle of all football game franchises, PES has fallen sharply from grace. Relying too much on past glories and assumed greatness, Konami have abandoned the notion of accessiblity and refused to update its franchises to please the millions of fans vying for a fresh, fluid and fun take on the Beautiful Game. Hopefully, next year brings with it, a newly-refreshed stalwart.

6/10