This is a new innovative way to play football on a console. It's the best to date!
And it was a fantastic gameplay. I had to complete the training sessions and play free training to master the techniques. But the real way to learn the game was to play matches. I started at beginner level, but fastly I improved and switched the difficulty to Regular.
Football today is really complicated and so. It requires you to think tactically every time you shall break the opponent defence, or stop the opponents attackers. This game it brings you further to real football.
There are three methods to play the game; the Playmaker Style, the Traditional style and the Co-op Style. I use the Playmaker style. The way it's played is like you draw a lot of arrows, making the players run and pass. You shoot and clear by shaking the nunchuck. It might sound and look difficult, but when you learn it, it's actually pretty simple.
On penalties you can now perform a Penenka (Zidane in the WM finale). It's a nice little detail, I like. :)
I began on the game mode Champions Road, which isn't in the other PES 2009 versions. It's about starting a team and improving the players. You gain new supporters and earn price money for the tournaments you play in. With the money you earn, you can use them on facilities at the clubhouse. There are side missions like "make 10 shots in a match". You will also earn some money by completing them.
If you runs tired (or complete) in the Champions Road, we got the good old master league as we know it. It's got some lovely improvements for a good manager. Now the players have got a barometer that shows whether they like being in the club or not. And it plays a part when you negotiate. You can also now put transfers on hold.
Apart that it has also got the new Champions League mode and the well known Cup and League.
When I played this Champions Road on regular, I began to discover some mistakes in the game. Champions Road is good, and I don't find anything wrong with it, but I miss some things in the gameplay (the playmaker style).
- It's hard to dribble. You don't have many options. There is a way to dribble, but when you do it, it just chooses a feint. You can't choose which feint by yourself. If you want to do the flip flap or the roulette, you can't choose it yourself.
- You can't make a distinction whether you will make a high or low pass. It chooses it by itself. (you can do it, if you choose the manual pass style)
- I miss a lobby in the network part. It takes a long time to find an opponent when you play online. It just searches for a long time, when you choose to play a free match.
All things considered I rate it 9,5. Without those mistakes I would have given it 10. This way of playing football on a console is very enjoyable. I'm so addicted of playing PES I play it everyday. It's like in the old days with the PES 5 and 6. It's a good feeling. I'm going to spend more 100 hours on this game. And I strongly recommend it for football fans and football game fans.