pro evolution soccer 5 review

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Picture courtesy of Shearer's Elbow.

Average Ratings

Addiction Level	8.2/10
Graphics	8.6/10
Value for Money	8.3/10
Reviewer Rating	8.5/10
Overall Rating	8.3/10

84% Recommended16 out of 19 Reviews

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By dblock on 27th Mar 2007

dblock's Ratings

Addiction Level	8/10
Graphics	9/10
Multi-player	Yes
Value for money	8/10
Overall value	9/10
dblock's recommendation

Good Points

Best Football Game available on the PS2

Bad Points

More Licensing and Better Referee's

General Comments

Every year in October we await a battle, the football season has barely got underway and two juggernauts come head to head competing for number one slot. No it's not Eastenders vs Corrie, rather it is a far more important and rather more enjoyable battle. It's Pro Evolution Soccer vs Fifa. For years now we have witnessed a one sided contest. The Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) series of football games has comfortably established itself as the premier football game on all formats (be it PS2, Xbox, PC )


Game play

Year upon year, PES attempts to improve it's already nearly flawless game. If Konami had simply updated PES 4 with new physical features, squad lists and teams kits many people would have been content but no this isn't your annual EA Sports Fifa release. You can tell that Konami put in a lot of effort to improve their game on a regular basis. The movement of the players is realistic, with fatigue and the weight of the player affecting how the ball can be controlled, basically every part you can think of is done very well. Ball control in particular looks very sharp, especially chest control from the likes of Ronaldinho. Shooting and tackling and player animations have all been changed as well . It is now easier to place the ball past the oncoming keeper when in shooting position. Passing now isn't a case of pressing the button and the ball automatically goes to the feet of intended recipient of the ball, balls in transit are now prone to being intercepted and you will be punished for sloppy play. The attention to detail is what makes PES far greater than Fifa in this respect, the AI of the players is very accurate and realistically portray a football match. You can play against a partner in exhibition mode as usual as well as a normal match against the computer or another person. There is also a new a memorable match mode where you can play a series of games against an opponent with all the results recorded.

Pro Evolution Soccer has always been more realistic than Fifa when it comes to match outcomes You don't tend to get wildly inflated score lines and in general only a maximum of 3 or 4 goals can be scored and against good opposition the match is normally settled by the odd goal. Of course this makes things more realistic but it is difficult to beat a poor team by 5 or 6 goals. The goalkeeper at times can be exceptional and this more than anything helps keep the score line down. Set pieces are notoriously difficult to score from and the free kick setup is vastly different to the one in previous years. It is difficult to get a hang of and generally the ball either hits the wall, goes over or ends up harmlessly in the hands of the keeper. PES4 had a much better free kick setup. However training mode is available to hone these skills as well as other parts of the game. Strength seems to be a much more important attribute in the PES 5 no longer can weaker player out muscle the strong defenders and this adds a greater amount of realism to the game. Defending can be difficult to begin with, players which are used to holding the light pressure button are likely to find that this results in fouls a lot of the times.


<<<<<<<<<<<<< Graphics >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Graphically PES 4 may not be up to the standards of Fifa. Although it maintains the trademark mix of the rough and the smooth. Satisfactory character models, woeful crowds and sublime animations combine to create a look you either love or hate. The smallest details are covered, from the straps around the players wrists to the puff of smoke coming out of players mouths when it is cold . The players are accurately represented and can be easily edited in the edit mode. The shirts of licensed teams are wonderfully realistic, with detailed badges and creasing. Of course Konami haven't secured all the licensing to the leagues represented within the game. In particular this applies to the English Premiership and it means that all the kits are the official ones. It is a small detail but nevertheless something that can be improved upon. The stadiums look maculate but many do not have their original names, another slight drawback. Of course you can manually change the names yourself but this is rather tiresome.

Sound

Realism is required for all football games and that naturally extends to various sounds within the game. The sound of Pro Evo 5 really creates the atmosphere, but the best sounds of the game come from matches. The crowds cheer and sing (and occasionally boo) depending on what's happening in the match. There is the commentary of course, Peter Brackley as always with his wise words, Trevor Brooking on the hand should be considered replacing. It's slightly annoying at times but is still a great feature that you miss when turned off. We have phrases like 'What was he thinking'. The main theme is Kasabian's Club Foot, however other tracks are not of the same standards.


Game Modes

The Master league returns and you also can play in cups as well as the various European leagues, such as Premiership, Serie A and Bundisliga. There are also the usually continental cups, which are rather mundane effort at recreating different continental and World Cups. There is training challenges that you can hone your skills at and of course the Master League, the meat of the game play apart from 2 players. Largely, is still the same Master League as PES4. There are three parallel leagues, you meet them only in a competition that resembles the Champions League. You could buy and sell players and of course develop them. This is by no means a managerial game so all of this is pretty basic and simple. They had fixed areas such as ridiculous reborn (players age and retire then they reappear), and change off-season training. Is still a very fulfilling mode for those who play by themselves.


Longevity
As with all PES games, you can play match after match after match and only stop because your fingers can't take anymore. Of course this is not something I would personally recommend, but does happen especially when playing against another player of similar ability. It is very much a game you would come back to frequently, possibly one of those that stays in your console for the longest amount of time. You probably will not return to any other modes as is chore really, but you might try out some of the weaker teams as a challenge.


Weaknesses

Of course in any game, improvements can be made. PES 5 suffers from something that the rest of us football fans have been suffering from for a long time: bad refereeing syndrome. The referee blow their whistle to often for meaningless fouls. This is poor and should be changed. Also licensing also needs updating. The premiership would be a good license to get. Of course you can get the updated teams from various websites, but this is rather complicated and tiresome for most fans of this game.


Summary

There isn't much to say that hasn't been said before, PES 5 is the best football game available and easily puts Fifa 2005 into the shade. New animations, a slicker graphical performance, and game play that's more compelling and involving than ever mean that PES 5 is the only simulation that any true football fan could want. I will be looking forward to PES 6, and no doubt there will some more features but rest assured it will be another compelling game that will lead to countless hours of action.

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