My experience with PES started on the PS2, with Pro Evolution Soccer, hence why my chart of the series begins here.
I’ve given these games ratings out of 100 from my experience so you can get a clearer image of my opinion.
As you can see the initial high standard was maintained throughout the PS2 years, with some games obviously more favorable than others. (Down to personal opinion).
It seems to have been the move to next gen that has caused the most problems.
PES 2008 was, quite frankly, a disgrace. As next gen bows go it was a shocker.
The graphics obviously looked a bit better than the PS2 ones but they weren’t really stretching the PS3.
The game stuttered and shook, particularly on replays.
And the gameplay was ok but didn’t seem to have improved that much.
The online was the worst I’ve EVER experienced in a game. Some of it was unplayable. Meanwhile FIFA’s games were running, for the majority, smoothly.
We were promised changes for PES 2009 and we sort of got them – the problem being PES 2009 was the game PES 2008 should’ve been.
It left PES a year behind and allowed FIFA to close the gap.
PES 2009’s online was better than 2008 and the gameplay was much improved but I have no inclination to play a Master League (Career Mode) – I’ve played one on every other version (even PES 2008).
Yes there is Be A Legend Mode which is pretty cool (and hopefully will be updated and improved for the next installment) but the major faux pas for me is giving the player 20 blank teams to create but not letting them use them in solo game modes! What. The. Hell? 😡
I played FIFA 2009 and I found it to be a little slow and lacking in control of players, however it was easily the best FIFA game I’ve played since the turn of the Millenium.
I have faith in Konami. I think they lost their way and the one glimmer of hope is that there was a (small) incline at the end of the graph.
They really do need to nail PES 2010 though otherwise it might be time for me to end almost a decade of PES and switch to FIFA.
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