[VIDEO GAME] Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 PC Review

This review is going to be somewhat biased because of my previous experience with FIFA 09 on the XBOX 360.  I loved that game.  Since my XBOX 360 has been broken and out of warranty, I've been looking to get a decent soccer game for my computer.  Now there are pretty much only 2 choices: FIFA 10 and Pro Evolution Soccer 2010.  FIFA 08 and later have been stunning on the next generation consoles, but the game has not yet updated the graphics engine for the PC.  In other words, FIFA 10 looks like shit on the PC.  So I bought PES 2010.

Now the overall game is alright.  The graphics and gameplay are at best decent.  The players' movements look a little forced.  Passing can be a pain when your players don't make the runs you want them to and passes to the wrong player are still annoying as ever.  Crosses are horrible.  My crosses always seem to over hit my target no matter how lightly I tap the cross button.  What's even worse is that the clearing of crosses only goes as far as the 18 yard box, only to be pummeled in by an unguarded attacker.  The difficulty of the computer is very disappointing.  On old PES versions and FIFA, I had the difficulty near medium, but for PES 2010 I have it at the highest level just so defenders actually chase my forwards.  Just like previous versions, many team names and player names are still fake, I guess because KONAMI has not bought the rights to the names.  Pretty annoying when I can't find the new talents from the World Cup 2010 because their names are something along the lines of "ASDJFOS."

The refereeing in the game is bad.  80% of the time, direct slide tackles go uncalled, yet the slightest of pushes will trigger a foul with the commentator going "That should have been a yellow card."  The commentating in this game is pretty horrendous.  The same lines are repeated over and over in the wrong situations.  Xavi shoots a free kick that barely misses the crossbar, and the commentator goes "Well, you're not going to score if you don't test the keeper.  That was way off!"

I haven't played FIFA 10 for PC, but reading the reviews and comments on the gameplay and graphics, I'm a little scared to.  It looks like PES 2010 will reign supreme on PC this year.  And that's not saying much.

7.5/10