Intro:
We have been playing PES 2009 for over 10 hours and will tell you everyting
we have learned
On last years PES-get-together for the press I talked to some really excited
european Konami employees. They expressed frustration about Konami Japan not
understood what was important for Europe and that they tried to get more
influence on that.
In 2008 they started to get some ideas realized. Like licenced menu music.
In 2009 there is a detail that says a lot about the PES series. There now is
much more licensed music, but instead of displaying the song and the artist
as we would find natural, they continue by displaying song title and genre
like rock, techno etc. Like that would be interesting to know. This way of
thinking we see in many other aspects in the PES 2009. Improvements, but
without any thought of how we would like to see it.
Repairs: backline:
Among the worst with PES 2008 was that the defenders all too often were
completely absent and ran around in cirkles which could lead to the
opponents got free passage to a goal chance. It is much better this year.
This is despite the fact that Seabass refused to recognize the problem.
Co-players are also significantly better at finding good spots this year and
if you press L1 before passing the reciever rush into position so you can
pass it to him.
It is also a bit more unusual for goalkeepers making big mistakes. But above
all the frame rate is much better than last years version wich was almost
unplayable.
Improvements: Ball physics
The biggest improvement is that the ball feels more alive. As the players
stretching more after the ball there will be more ”wild” balls. Some strech
out and just get a toe on the ball, and the ball change course. An attemt to
stand and block a pass becomes a real tunnel. Players tries but fails
completely to reach a ball. Shots only touches a player and change course
and in overcrowded areas anything can happen. Because of thi sit can more
caotic in the penalty area in stressed situations. Its probably gonna be a
while until you learn that it can be dangerous to have to many players in a
small spot.
There are many more lose balls.
In PES 2008 for PS3/360 the ball where often locked to the player. Its a
sensitive balance. We don’t want the ball to be a totally unique object like
in Sensible Soccer, but Konami did a good job in PES 2008 for PS2 on that.
Unfortunately it is not as good in PES 2009 but it is better that last for
PS3/360
NEW: Player control
An interresting new feature is that you can chose only to switch player by
pressing L1. With this setting you don’t get switched automaticly when a
player gets the ball. This means that you can let the CPU players pass the
ball around until you switch to one of them and pass the ball to a player
you ran in poistion with. Not that simpelt to get used to but definitely a
nice touch.
Another new feature is that you now can decide wich players you want to
control on the field. Mark an attacker, a left or right midfielder and a
defensive midfielder. Then when you switch players in the game you only
swich between those three players. That way you and up to six buddies (on
the PS
split up the team between you if you like.
When it comes to tricks the technical players does those automatically just
by controlling these players normaly. Ronaldo for instance can do a
step-over trick when you change direction.
Better but not enough?
This is the impression I get: This is better than last version but not as
good as PES 2008 for PS2. In that game Konami made a game where the balance
between the free ball and the passing on field where totally depending on
the player. In Ps3 and 360 versions it happens to often that there are
stupid players and goalkeepers that causes goals to scored. The weird passes
is still there and at times it seems as they have increased. Either the the
direction of passing over-sensitive or else Konami did increase the fail
margin when passing, as the ball still tend to be passed random directions.
Not everytime at all, but still to often.
Become a Legend: the basics
Konami tries this year to copy Eas ”Be a Pro”. Play as a midfielder or an
attacker. Then choose a league or create your own woth the teams you want in
it. Now you are that player the whole time and you get to first play a test
match. You watch everyting from a somewhat zoomed in chase view in its then
about doing the best you can. To get more involved in the game you can call
for passes with two rapidly pressed R2. But unlike ”Be a Pro” they don’t
pass to you immediately. Instead they wait until they feel like they want to
pass wich means that the chance you saw is gone when you get the ball. Again
Konami shows they don’t give a shit about it should be easy and playable.
Become a Legend: in a bigger club
After the test match you get offers from different teams and you will choose
one of them. The bad thing is that you end up in a big club and you start
out being worse than every other player in the club. I choose to play for
Everton and get to play an intern test match agains the other team players.
Its not going to well even if I make great responsibility. I fail two
important passes and misses two goal chances I made. But still I get a 7.5
rating witch was the best on the team. To make a long story short I played
around 20 matches (aprox. 1800 minutes) got to play like in 10 matches and
almost never more than 15 minutes. The rest of that time I had to watch the
game from the bench. You can speed up the time in the match to 4x but it is
still like 5 minutes per match.
Become a Legend: A failed joke?
The sad thing is that when I get to play I almost every time get better
rating than my team mates and I make both goals and assists. After some
matches the other players in the team are totally out of energy and their
form arrows point downwards. I still donøt get to start in. It had been ok
if my player was developing but after 20 matches he has not advanced in any
attribute. The fact is that he didn’t even advance a half point in any.
Hopefully Konami forgot to tell that Become a Legend is not done yet and i
twill be fixed before release. Otherwise its a nothing but a failed joke.
Master League: as usual
Us Master League-fantasts is getting used to being ignored by Konami year
after year. The career mode has almost not developed the last 5 years and
its the same this year.. The only thing that has changed is negotiations
wich now happens over two steps. First with the club then with the player.
So first a transfer negotioation and then a salary and contract
negotiation.. Other than that nothing has happened and it is still as
frustrating as always.
Graphics and sound: better
Graphics has improved some. Players look better. The spectators as a bit
more alive. Framerate is much better. A lot of new animations. The menus at
least has a design this year. And facial expressions are more life like.
Even the sound, besides many songs that are ok at least, is improved. There
are also more fan songs from the arenas even if they get old after a while.
Online: Confusion
Choose name, favorite team, favorite player and a signature before going on
server hunt. Its divided up in British, German and some other variants. You
see where there is people and how many. Then you go to the lobby and find
players. I spend an hour getting started, but hopefully its not completely
ready yet and Konami forgot to say so.
In the menus I choose I want to play 2 vs 2 online. (in 2003 Seabass said in
an interview they could do 11 vs 11 online on the PS2) ans then there is
this Legend mode where each player can take hes own player and play on the
same team with 3 friends. Exactly how it works we have not been able to test
during the day.
Edit: the same
Its exactly the same as always. You can change team name and adjust players
in every aspect from looks to attributes. There is for instance 16 different
shoes (no custom made). About the same amount of settings as last year when
it comes to facial hair, hair, face models and other.. The face you can do a
whole lot to but hair and beards its still not good enough.
To setup dribbles and free kicks feels extremely pointless but the 71 goal
celebrations is just as fun as last year. You can import a picture from
Playsation Eye, but it doesnt seem to be improved from last year, and us who
has a beard can forget to get i ton the player.
Licences: fewer
The big news is that Konami seem to have lost the whole spanish league. They
have fake team names and false clothing. In England Liverpool and Man U. Is
confirmed but they are still named wrong in this version. Bayern München is
traded for Zenit St. Petersburg and in Scandinavia Helsingborg is out and
Brøndby is in. (Hammerby, AIJ, Rosenborg, Helsinki, IFK Göteborg og FCK is
still in. They have in other words not gained one licence without losing at
least one for it.
Other shot impressions:
Replays kan now be seen even after referee stopage.
Still 8 directions for running
To hold in X and SQUARE works extremely well for taking the ball from the
CPU.
Just like in 2008 it happens to often that players are positioned wrong on
the field. A defensive midfielder at a offensive throw in for instance.
Online games require Konami ID – on the PS3 at least.
Infights can end in several ways.
Players still don’t know where the side lines are.
Players sometime stop for a second when missed a pass or lost a close fight
for the ball.
I must still check up on what match is next and what is on stake in it.
Conclusion: almost all the way
A lot has been improved from 2008 and besides watching from the bench in
Become a Legend I have had a lot of fun with PES 2009. It is significant
better than 2008 in many of the most important areas, but I still am i
littel dissapointed. This is what PES 2008 should have been like. I had
hoped for yet another big step. A step closer to the game feel as the PS2
version the year before, lots of licenses, less rigid animations on the
field. Smarter players and many other things. Instead Konami has focused on
new modes that hopefully didn’t work as intended in the build I was
testing. So: Really good, but just not the perfect game I had hoped for.
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