So Pro Evolution Soccer 5 then, how is it for you? Personally, I'm really enjoying it. The players feel more solid and grounded, using their bodies to shield the ball. Passing is more difficult and hence more satisfying, while scoring offers the same joyous head rush as before. The Master League is as arcanely addictive as ever while the option that allows you to keep a running tally of results against a friend is a simple and effective addition. Generally then, PES5 lives up to the hype and deserves its praise. However, take the game online and things go downhill.
The game is still excessively laggy, despite changes that swop host at the break and allow at least one half of decent action. When you consider the relatively lag-free action of most Live games – I've not tried PES5 on PS2 online yet - then it becomes even more frustrating.
Then there is the whole ranking system. It is more representative than before – the guy at the top isn't just the one who has played the most games – but is still overly confusing and flawed. For example, it is easy to lose all your accumulated points simply by being defeated a couple of times in a row. Sure, you can play friendly matches where points are not at stake, but in my experience this has simply led to players competing in these rather than risking depleting their coveted points tally. Also the rush for ranking points means everyone still tends to pick from the same dull selection of top clubs.
The biggest disappointment though is the "co-operative mode". In theory this sounded fantastic – pair up with a friend and compete against another pair, 2v2, in the finest footy game around. For a lot of people this would have been the killer app of Pro Evo online. Ridiculously though this option is only available if the two players are sat in front of the same Xbox – players can't team up with someone unless they are in the same room. You could almost hear the groan on Live last Friday as this became apparent. What makes it worse is that the first Xbox Live footy game – the mediocre England International Football- not only allowed open co-op play, but also allowed 2 strangers to team up and play against the AI teams. So whatever excuse Konami have for not enabling proper co-op is pretty much redundant.
Of course, if you get a relatively lag free match then the quality of the game makes for some stellar entertainment. However this only tends to highlight how good Pro Evo 5 online could be if Konami had done it properly.
