This is an improvement on 2008, simply because you can no longer just pass to one quick player and skip past the entire team - but still a long way to go. I was a huge PES fan but I would be the first person to say that FIFA has been the better game the last two years.

After playing both demos I got FIFA 09 first and really enjoyed it, I only became a little bored when the game became too easy on legendary (top difficulty). But its a top game. So then I though I would try PES 2009, there is still something appealing about the gameplay in PES, being a long time fan. PES is still far from its best, this has slower gameplay which is fine but there are lots of annoyances with the gameplay.

First they need to introduce a power bar for passing, because the number of times your player passes it short is woeful. As long as the power bar goes up quick to avoid losing possession this would be a good addition. Tackling is another problem, do a slide tackle and win the ball, a good… more »

This is an improvement on 2008, simply because you can no longer just pass to one quick player and skip past the entire team - but still a long way to go. I was a huge PES fan but I would be the first person to say that FIFA has been the better game the last two years.

After playing both demos I got FIFA 09 first and really enjoyed it, I only became a little bored when the game became too easy on legendary (top difficulty). But its a top game. So then I though I would try PES 2009, there is still something appealing about the gameplay in PES, being a long time fan. PES is still far from its best, this has slower gameplay which is fine but there are lots of annoyances with the gameplay.

First they need to introduce a power bar for passing, because the number of times your player passes it short is woeful. As long as the power bar goes up quick to avoid losing possession this would be a good addition. Tackling is another problem, do a slide tackle and win the ball, a good old fashioned slide tackle - and you get a foul against you and a booking. Come on this is not realistic. Also you get took down after playing the ball and no foul, what ever happened to the advantage rule and pulling it back for a free kick? The game is very very scripted I found, the computer makes slide tackles for you. Passing is the worse though its like its stuck under the players feet and half the passes are too soft and it never goes where you want it to go. It can be a fluent game as you figure out after a while that you can only make the most basic of passes or you lose the ball. Overall too scripted and a very minor step in the right direction. Certainly not the best PES ever made. And with FIFA's improvements Konami have lost alot of fans.

As a long time PES fan I can say - after playing both games this year - Fifa is ahead on every department: graphics, gameplay, sound, licenses, game modes, online. The only thing where PES may be better is that I have so far found it a little more difficult that Fifa when playing against the computer, but I have not played enough to really test this out so far. I always though a 'next gen' PES would be mind blowing but its gone backwards.