A half decent game made unplayable by pathetic commentary and diabolical stadium & chanting sound effects.
Pros:-
- It looks nice and the player likenesses are pretty much spot-on
- It has the UEFA Champions League licence, inspiring theme tune and all
- It still plays a decent game of football
Cons:-
- Nothing much has changed in the gameplay department, it just feels the same as previous versions
- Goalkeeper AI is poor. They don't really seem too interested in making saves and find it preferable to stand rooted to the spot as the ball flies past them
- Despite the Champions League licence there are a few CL teams missing from the game. What's the point of that? If you're going to use the licence at least do it properly.
- The commentary is diabolical (in keeping with the previous games in the series). Jon Champion just says a load of stuff he'd never actually say when commentating on a match and Mark Lawrenson is prone to just shouting his lines unenthusiastically at inappropriate moments.
Having weighed up the pros and cons this would be a half decent game to just pick up and play a bit of a knockaround for a while. However, there is one final nail in the coffin which just ruins the game for me....
I can play the game without commentary and in the case of PES 2010 (and FIFA 2010 for that matter) I'm more than happy to do that because quite frankly, it's rubbish.
I cannot however play the game with no sound at all. Unfortunately this is what I've found myself having to do due to the fact that the crowd sound effects and chanting are atrocious. I just don't know what Konami were thinking when they designed the crowd effects like this; did they seriously sit back and say 'Yep, well done boys. I think we've really nailed that Premier League atmosphere this time around.'?
Anyway, if you can play the game without sound or put up with the sound effects, by all means buy the game but don't expect anything groundbreaking.
It's just same old PES.