THE Pro Evolution Soccer franchise has become akin to a once great football star who now rests on the laurels of his reputation and turns out mediocre performance after mediocre performance for his team.

In short, the series has become lazy. Its once bright star is diminishing, and it is a very sad sight to witness indeed.

If you are new to Pro Evo, you will probably think the 2009 is not too bad. But fans of the series (myself included), are used to great things. Hope springs eternal in football and we had hoped last year's version was just a blip in form- but we were wrong.

Pro Evo 2009 still has the same last-generation graphics, the same boring masterleague, and the same unlicensed teams.
Most annoyingly, it still has the same broken on-line play full of lag, which completely spoils Pro Evo's greatest joy- playing against fellow human beings.

If Konami had got just this one aspect right, I would have heartily recommended the whole game, such is the fun that can be had. When most other games, including graphically complex shoot-em-ups like Gears of War can provide seamless on-line play, it is criminal that a game which only has to provide a simple green rectangular box on the screen cannot.
The two new features of Pro Evolution 2009 are the Champions League mode and Be A Legend mode. Konami has the license to the greatest club competition in the world, yet they don't include it in the Masterleague, which would have freshened the mode up some-what. Instead they just lump it in as a dull stand-alone tournament.

The Be a Legend mode, where a single player is controlled throughout his career, does show some promise. However, the main camera angle needs improving, and because your player starts his career with such poor skill levels, it takes about five seasons for the mode to become fun.

Pro Evo's rival, FIFA 09, offers a more immersive environment with proper teams and a great management mode. However, its gameplay is still not quite as good as Pro Evo, making this season's match-up a dull 0-0 affair.

bucksherald.co.uk rating: 6/10

Availability: out now.

Platform reviewed: Xbox 360. Different versions of the game are also available on the PS2, Wii and PSP.

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