Part-2
The marquee mode of this series has perhaps been the Master League. Since its introduction, the player has been able to control a club from a bare bones team of losers to world beaters. You buy and sell players, earning the credits to do so along the way. The Master League mode has evolved slightly over the years, now you can use an already existing team (ie, the current Liverpool squad for example), or you have the option to turn on player progression, in which young players develop over time, and old players dwindle, and eventually retire.
I quite like this mode to be honest, it's a quite nice balance between the stat heavy games such as Football Manager, and the hands on nature of a quick exhibition match on Pro Evo. Sadly, the Master League mode has changed very little over the years, and the only difference between this years and the previous version is that players now have a degree of club loyalty, which obviously has an effect on things like signing contracts and moving to other clubs. Another slightly weak point is that this mode has no interaction with the Champions League mode. It would have been great to be able to set up a Premiership league, but with all the buying/selling options of the Master League mode, and have the Champions League available as a prize for the top 4. Instead, once again, we are subjected to some generic “Euro Masters Cup” or something as the depiction of continental competition between leagues.
New to this game is the completely new Be a Legend mode, and accompanying Legends Online mode. I say “completely new”, but apparently it's very similar to a mode FIFA introduced last year or so. I'm told that the Pro Evo version is much better though, for what it's worth.
The main premise of this mode is that you control a single player on the pitch (like that old PlayStation game, Libero Grande, but much, much better) and guide him through his career. He's 17 when you start, and you have say over how he improves, and what he works on. You start off by playing the training matches at a smaller club, but you develop based on performances, and then get picked for full matches based on development. From what I can tell, the general reaction from people is mixed. I know a guy who has played nothing but this mode since the game was released, but I personally can't stand it, I don't like the lack of control, but there you go.
The biggest flaw of this mode in my opinion is that the experience you gain from matches, and indeed, whether you get picked or not is based heavily on the rating you get from each match. Now, the rating system has been absolutely dire since they introduced it back on PES3. No exaggeration, you can score 4 goals in a match and still get a 7, with all your team mates getting 6.5s and so on. This mode rewards those who stick with it long term, and if you don't have the patience, then stay away. If you keep playing, then eventually you'll play for the big teams with the big players in the big leagues, and even get a call-up to play for the national team.
The single biggest innovation in modern gaming has been online play. PES08 had a pseudo-playable online mode, but it was very jerky and laggy. This year, it's slightly more playable, but like before, both you and your opponent need good connections for it to work well. Anything less well take away from the “split second reflex” actions you need to make, and from what I can tell, this places the advantage firmly with the attacking player, who can just take a guy like Messi or Ronaldo, and run at you, thus earning a cheap and cheesy victory.
There is an online mode to accompany the Be a Legend mode, which is basically online play, but you just control one player again, and you share a team with a load of other guys who can also only control one player, and play against a team of similar makeup. Honestly, I am yet to play this mode online, as you can only use players nurtured from the beginning in Be a Legend mode, but I seriously have my doubts. If a normal online match is two PS3 consoles connecting together to play a game, then the Legends online mode will somehow have to synchronise ten plus PS3 units, which to me seems unfathomable. Plus, if you assume that there are six players on each team (defenders and goalkeepers are CPU controlled), then at least one of them is going to be an idiot who does not want to play the game properly.
The only thing more annoying than listening to Mark Lawrenson waffle on Football Focus on a Saturday lunchtime is listening to his irrelevant babble on here. Lawrenson is once again joined by Jon Champion for commentary duty, and once again, it is poor. It's about as good as we can expect from a sport game though I suppose. A lot of the phrases are just cut directly from PES08, but there are some new ones in there.
In conclusion, despite the negative tone of this review, I do think this year's game is actually pretty good. I'm pleased that it's not just the same game repackaged, there is a clear difference, but there are a lot of creases that need ironing out. I think PES09 for Ps3/Xbox360 is a game that will last a long time, and a lot of hours of fun are to be had. Like I suggested earlier, having a partner in crime, to play against or on the same team is one way to absolutely get the most from this game.
Rumour has it that the next instalment,PES2010 for Ps3/Xbox360/Wii is going to be the first truly next-generation PES game, as it will have a scratch-built match engine, so I would suggest that you play the demo, or rent this game before you buy it, because overall response to this game has been seriously mixed. Also, FIFA09 has been getting some great reports this year, so check that out too, you may like that a lot better.
Ideally, I'd give this game a 7.5, but GameFAQs requires me to give an integer, so I'll choose 8, because I have only really scratched the surface of what this game has to offer.
Reviewer's Score: 8/10
Buy this game=KENG Ps3 Games Shop Online
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