I've played quite a few games on PES 09 now, about 20 in all modes. Here's my views on it.
Gameplay:
Can anyone tell me anything that's better about the gameplay in this than PES5 (or any of the PS2 PES games)? I am struggling to see a single thing which they have improved upon in terms of gameplay.
The passing system is as scripted and basic as always, with almost every pass being perfectly aimed and weighted, with you having no control over it at all.
If I see a player free on the far side of the pitch and want to play it ahead of them, I can't, unless I am fortunate enough for the game to "lock on" to them and play it to them, or have the direction I want to play the ball in in one of the 8 directions available for manual passing - that's stupid.
The shooting is random - you can be in space with nobody around you and just smash it over the bar or pull it miles wide for no reason, even with a world class player. It would be understandable if I was shooting with a centre back or a bad player, but not with a world class player renowned for his shooting ability.
One thing that's remained from PES 08 is the ease of drifting by everyone with a good/quick player, this would ruin the online side of the game again as people would just exploit it and do cutbacks all game.
There are only two good things about the gameplay for me - the dribbling and the action in and around the box, these have been the main positive things throughout the series though, and as the game hasn't been reworked, you'd expect them to still be there.
AI
This element of the game may be the weakest in the game - I only conceded 2 or 3 goals in all of the games I played, and these were against the top sides on Top Player. If that's the best the game has to offer, then the single player side of the game is no good really.
Your teammates also don't offer you much support going forward, they will often just stand still instead of making runs, or run right by defenders instead of making space for themselves.
I tried the BAL thing as well, and your teammates don't pass to you when you're in a good position and generally do really stupid things most of the time.
Keepers affect the gameplay but are controlled by AI, so I will comment about them here - they are still retarded and parry any shot with a bit of power, a lot of the time straight into the net or out to a striker.
The referees are card happy and give fouls for good challenges a lot.
I havn't seen the advantage rule played.
Animations
The animations are a joke, the running animation is especially laughable.
That 90 degree auto-feint thing is very annoying - nobody in real life can shift their body weight that quickly, keep their balance and keep up their speed, it's impossible.
Overall, the animation technology seems to be from last gen, because animations don't flow, can be interrupted, and most just look unrealistic (mocap not used?).
Graphics
The graphics are fairly good, especially the player faces.
I've said it before but the length of the shorts is a joke, look at them, they are as long as the shirts! Not a big thing, but annoying and looks silly.
Sound
The chants are rubbish, and the sound when the ball is hit is too loud and unrealistic. When you watch a football match you can hardly (if at all) hear the ball being struck above noise of the crowd unless it's hit hard next to a camera.
Jon Champion is a good commentator, that's a plus point.
Presentation
The menus look amateurish, not important though, but as a lot of editing would need to be done on the consoles, looking at those screens for ages editing stuff would hurt my eyes. The overlay in the game is fairly bad too, made worse by all the player names being in all capital letters.
Overall - 6/10, it's got a few of the positives from the old PES games in it, but it's just not improved whatsoever through the years.
The PS2 editions still seem to play a better game of football than the next-gen versions.
simply becouse it never disapoints,and i just heard it also has a Be a legend mode.
