This follow up from Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is not the evolution you've been waiting for.
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GAMEPLAY - 2/5
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The biggest, and most irritating, drawback to the gameplay, is the noticeable fact that many teams, kits and player names are not licensed. This is a really unlikeable feature, and even more reason to go and pick up a copy of FIFA instead. Most players are unrecognisable, only the popular and famous football players have been created separately, otherwise the vast majority have been created using the edit tool.
The edit mode is really good luckily, and there's all sorts of in depth creation tools to use, and it makes creating your own team, really fun, as you are able to stylise kits and flags, and even the celebrations of each person you create.
On the pitch, the gameplay is, at its core, rather simplistic, and doesn't require much pre-match strategies to get your team wired up for a match, the only time you'll be changing players, is if they aren't in good form, or their stamina is low from a previous match, and depending on the difficulty setting you choose, it varies in how challenging you have to swap players around.
Passing is simple, and only requires a tap of the button, and while the gameplay is a nice and simple way of enticing beginners to the football genre, its nothing that can pull in or attract long-time fans of the sport. Character models unfortunately use pretty much the same animation for running and shooting, with only some minor exceptions. so with this all taking into account, the game is far too shallow, just like the entire manager mode portion of the game, and its basic display is built for fun, rather than thorough long-thought strategies worth implying. Its repetitive use of animations doesn't bring a sense of realism, as you feel every player is the same one, but with just slightly different in the form of their abilities and skills.
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GRAPHICS - 2/5
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The graphics and overall menu presentation aren't impressive, and because of the over-used animations, every player moves similar to the previous player who had the ball. The physics of the goal nets are very good, and when a goal is scored, the net moves realistically in reaction to where the ball was placed, but overall, the visual presentation during matches isn't of good standard.
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SOUND - 2/5
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2 well-known commentators provide overwatch of the football action, but the commentary is often broken, and there are many instances where it really shows. When navigating through the menus, there is a long list of songs being played, but the soundtracks all consist unheard of songs, and pretty much all football based. There aren't really any that are good, but it is effective for the game. Crowd responses also poor, and don't correspond with some of the action occurring. If a goal is scored, sometimes the crowd go ballistic, whilst other times an important goal might be scored, but there's a somewhat dull atmosphere which don't respond to the unfolding events.
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CONTROLS - 4/5
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The controls are really easy to get used to, and are set out in a simple formation which is designed to attract younger gamers. They are also responsive, and won't set you back from any concentrated timed kicks that must be correctly pressed to gain a positive result.
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ATMOSPHERE - 2/5
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Previously mentioned, the dull atmosphere can mislead your potential enjoyment, and the poor commentary, consistently repetitive animations, and weak crowd responses all establish a simple fact, that this game doesn't feel like a realistic take on how football is meant to be shown.
Occasionally you may encounter some tense moments when you're losing the game, and you're a causing heavy amounts of pressure to the opposition, which eventually leads to a good result and late goal from you, but these few moments are spaced too far in-between, and the easy difficulty levels will mean you'll rarely be losing anyway, even on the hardest setting.
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ENEMY AI - 2/5
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Dribbling is underdeveloped, as its so easy to take it round an opposing player, by quickly changing direction with the analog stick, and not even making use of the very few available tricks. The opposition do a fairly good job of defending, but even if you raise the difficulty, their attacks aren't well constructed, and its quite easy to maintain a clean sheet. The tactics quickly change depending on how well your playing, so if you have a lead in the match, they'll attack more aggressively, while if they are winning, then they'll sit back and defend for the remainder of the game, so its not all bad, but not overly impressive either.
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LENGTH - 5/5
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There's no end to the football experience, ad there's countless opportunities to try out new teams, buy and sell players that you want or don't want, and overall, create the team that best suits your needs. Depending on how long you set the time limit, a manager mode season could last a day, or possibly a week or two, taking into account how often you play the game.
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REPLAY VALUE - 4/5
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Every match will evolve differently from the last, so considering that fact, Pro Evolution Soccer 09 could keep you playing for a very long time, because even though it's a shallow game and weak competition on the market compared to other football games, its a fairly enjoyable soccer sim if working out strategies is not your thing. However, if you're looking for a more substantial football game, then you may want to consider FIFA a more viable option for a greater in-depth experience.
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OVERALL SUMMARY - 7/10
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Good Points: Some very life-like player images, Excellant edit mode, Controls are nice and easy, Slight improvement from its predecessor.
Bad Points: Not enough variation in player animations and stances, Commentary is noticeably poor, Simplistic and shallow manager mode, Many unlicensed products and player names.