Pro Evolution Soccer 2010

Next year’s Pro Evolution Soccer update is here, complete with Konami’s annual claims of a whole new game and a whole new experience. But what you really need to know is what (if anything) is significantly new, so you know whether to upgrade or to reinstall last year’s comprehensive, back-of-the-net, undefeated soccer sim instead.

Beginning on a superficial level, the realism of the players has been upgraded. We’re not convinced this adds anything to the gameplay or the overall appeal, but it’s hard to criticise Konami for achieving such impressive levels of lifelikeness to the players. Undoubtedly this depth of detail extends beyond the players to make the grass, the goal nets, the footballs and the entire experience more accurate, and that’s no bad thing.

But moving away from the gravy and getting our teeth into the meat of PES 2010, probably its most important addition this year is the tactics system. The team feature now allows you to refine the defensive and offensive behaviours via a simple and surprisingly easy to understand set of sliding bars.

And they work, too. Having your players in place – being the place where you’d be, if you were out there on the field, that is – is the silent intelligence that puts you in control of a whole team, rather than a single player. Relying on either an over-intelligent hoax or a dim-witted AI spoils that illusion, so at least in PES 2010, if no one’s in place to receive the ball, it’s probably your fault.

You’ve still got complete control of the keeper, too, which isn’t something most football sims bother to tackle, and the PC version certainly gives you plenty of acuity when it comes to surveying the pitch. But is it worth buying a new version, if you’ve already got PES 2009? That comes down to your addiction to the series.