Pro Evolution Soccer 2010

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For the record, neither EA nor Konami has made any innovative upgrades to their franchises for many years. Back when Konami wasn't releasing a new game every year, there used to be surprising innovations in the PES franchise. FIFA hasn't changed much in terms of gameplay since FIFA98. So both FIFA and PES are far from what they should be.

If you have been playing FIFA: there is little justification for you to switch. PES 2010 doesn't offer a much more enjoyable experience.

If you have been playing PES: This is the PES that you are used to and love, it's a nice upgrade from PES2009 in almost any aspect of the game.

If you have never played a soccer game before: Take PES, it has better player movements, tactical support, good AI (except for the refs and the goalies). It may lack the realistic feel outside the penalty area that FIFA is slightly better at, but it is much more exciting in the penalty area when it comes to passing and shooting for goals. Goals in FIFA are a bit more boring than PES goals.

Pros

* Slightly improved Become a Legend Mode

* Slightly improved online play

* Much improved Master League

* Much improved graphics

* Much improved tactics and strategy support

* Brit-pop heavy tracks

Cons

* Slow response for some moves and some parts of the field

* Brit-pop heavy tracks

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For those worried about being disappointed with another poor iteration of PES can rest assure that you won't be disappointed this time around. It's apparent that Konami really listened and actually made huge, noticeable improvements based on gamers' feedback. The graphics are top notch (Rooney, Messi, Torres, Ibra, and other players are uncanny in their resemblance); gameplay is a bit slower and more realistic but not to the point of being dull and laborious. You still get that classic excitement when you hear a big "thump" and a "swoosh" noise when you strike the ball to make that hard earned goal something that you can't experience with FIFA for some reason even with it's vast superior graphics and official team/player licenses. I'm not a PES fanboy (too old and busy with life) and admit that FIFA have made some huge strides in terms of game realism, graphics, and online play in the past few years. But whenever I have time to play and host games with friends and family, we keep coming back to PES because of its gameplay, not eye-candy.

I'm extremely satisfied with PES 2010 with its much improved graphics, gameplay and most importantly, online play. Thankfully, you no longer need a separate Konami ID. You choose "Online" from the main menu and you're in the Lobby, seconds away from playing someone online. Most of that awful lag is gone this time around with smooth online experience. The game actually disconnects during joining if it detects sub-par connection, not during gameplay or worst, forcing you to play lag plagued game. You still get that "jitter" from time to time (playing people with slow connection) but not to the point of playing with disappearing ball and players. I have played fair amount of online PES 2010 games and my experiences were 95% lag free and enjoyable for the first time.

PROS:

1. Vastly improved graphics and online play

2. Classic PES gameplay with improved controls and animations

3. Slower, more realistic gameplay with easier set piece play

4. Soundtrack I personally like them

CONS:

1. No licenses but you should know (but not expect)that by now if playing PES

2. Awful hot pink menu selections it'll hurt your eyes

PES 2010 highly recommended!

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I've been playing the franchise since ISS 64. This is definately the most exciting game yet. The gameplay is fluid and feels more like a simulation style compared to last year. Graphics are great, new soundtrack with actual music and a great master league mode. There are small small nuances that get annoying, but that is the case with all footy games. This game does not dissapoint and the editing option to update the licenses is easily taken care of with a US option file. There are many out there already.

Don't go the FIFA route this year. Although it is a good game, which I've played, PES 10 simply delivers the more realistic feel. The demo on the ps3 or 360 network doesn't do the finished product justice by the way.

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In recent years PES has been a source of disappointment, with bad next-gen games and lackluster performance following the magnificent PES 6 (2007). FIFA had gained some hype thanks to great marketing by EA Sports something Konami should watch for and learn from and was being hailed as the best game. It bothered me how an average game suddenly became magnificent... it's not that FIFA improved so much, it was because it was showing it was trying to improve AND because PES has been dreadful since 2007 on the PS2. Next I am going to go over some points that I've read in too many places, some by biased people, some by people who don't know any better.

How can FIFA have better graphics? It's the same engine as FIFA 2007, graphics not changed since FIFA 2008 and it looks old-gen compared to PES, which even has player hair, skin pores, higher resolution textures, better grass... PES it's better everything in graphics, for example you can even see the tongue-clip of the Adidas boots while in FIFA we have a blurry thing when we zoom in.

Tactics in FIFA are a pain, it's very limited and there's very little freedom to change anything at all, again I don't understand how you can say FIFA is better. PES continues the same format however it adds Player Cards and other very specific sliders (marking, pressure, support...). Player Cards feel useless most of the time as in most cases it will be just one or another attribute which shouldn't make much of a difference.

Soundtrack and Menus: FIFA has a TON of stuff, no denying, however most of it is annoying music to me. Just because it has something from a lot of countries doesn't mean it's good. It's appreciated they do that but more and more I feel they worry about putting some "have-been hits" more than they do about improving the rest. PES has some songs that were hits going back last year but it has a better overall track, more solid, far less annoying songs, lesser known groups but the track choices are good and even I enjoyed some of the upbeat pop/electronic stuff (there are other types too). On Menus, I prefer PES's menus over FIFA, they are straight forward and easier to navigate, finally Konami's overhaul Worked! The menus look very good now, it feels modern and vibrant even though I don't like pink, which does work nice with the black, while FIFA has kept the same format from years back.

Licensing: true, FIFA has a ton of leagues and PES doesn't. We wish it did but we have to make do with the very good selection in Other Teams A, and edit as we wish on Other Teams B. I am actually working on my own Option File to release with a few German and Brazilian teams. However, the UEFA integration is ASTONISHING.

Edit: My Other Teams BBayern Munich, Werder Bremen, Bayer Leverkusen, HSV, Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow, Botafogo, Corinthians, Flamengo, Fluminense, Grêmio, Palmeiras, and São Paulo. Option Files for each region of this game have been released, which update all of the leagues without any hassle for the player.

Editing: PES allows you to edit anything, FIFA makes you buy Live Season which only takes care of a handful of leagues, you won't get to change the stats for vastly underrated players in any other leagues. Want to create a team? PES gives you a lot of freedom, though some options have been gone for a while, PES 2010 has the best editing of the next-gen games (from PES 2007 to 2010). FIFA you cannot change one thing on a team, so if you're stuck with a team having an orange instead of red shirt, or want the goalies to actually wear their real life shirts, you can't. In Other Teams B you can create up to 18 new teams.

Master League is an unmatched game mode. Manager Mode in FIFA 10 is supremely buggy, and Be a Pro and Become A Legend are similar to compare much. PES lets you play BAL for 18 years, FIFA gives you only 4 years in Be a Pro. However, the one aspect that FIFA has the upper hand is that we play Reserve Team matches, in PES we play a training match with either A or B teams. Master League and Become A Legend have UEFA Champions League and Europa League integration, with BAL also including National team integrations.

PES 2010 is the best in the 360/PS3 era, and PES 2010 is the best and an improvement over PES 2007 on the PS2, PES 2007 being the last great PES. PES 2010 is a few major steps in the right direction, it's building the foundation for 2011 to return to the top. It doesn't have the bugs FIFA has, it has better game modes, and everything else EXCEPT for the nice 360 movement and motion capture, it has a faux-360 which feels like a 16-direction thing.

PES 2010 needs improvement on goalies, who know DO make some great saves but their one issue is giving rebounds. I can't complain about online lag, and I have to say the same regarding FIFA. With PES, however, I couldn't connect with players whose game is from a different region, like UK/Australia or Europe. A must buy for players who skipped 2008 or 2009, and a "should buy" for players who have previous versions as this one is far superior.

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This game is great!

I do wish we can purchase update every year instead of paying full price for new copy.