We don’t do “multi-format” reviews, generally. Why’ Well, because they take up too much space mainly and generally, one format is pretty much identical to another when it comes to the major “franchise” releases, so why rewrite what we’ve already written about a title, just so we can triple our review count and add the word “Xbox” a few times’ But, we’re making an exception here. Pro Evolution Soccer 4 is the first time Konami’s first eleven has ventured out onto the Xbox and also, the first time they’ve trotted out online. So, we’re mainly going to be reviewing the online play, since the offline game is exactly the same as the PS2 version, barring the controller, of course…
Which leads me to my first point. My initial reaction to the news that PES4 was coming to the Xbox saw me running over to Google to find a site that sold PS2 to Xbox controller adapters, so that I didn’t have to change my method of play. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded, as the Xbox edition works perfectly well with Microsoft’s controller. Your “back” shoulder buttons (L2 and R2) are mapped to the white and black buttons, but everything else remains in a similar location. For me, using the more spongy right trigger of the Xbox controller feels better than the R1 button of the Dual Shock 2, but that’s going to be all down to your personal preference.
If you were expecting graphical improvements, you’ll feel a might let down here. The game is an exact port of the PS2 edition, right down to Rooney being omitted from the “Man Red” lineup. The supposed sixpence in this football pudding though, is online play, and without a doubt, this is one area in which Konami have not excelled.
Most of the time when playing PES4 over Xbox Live, you’ll be thinking about what’s missing from the game. Tournaments, leagues, a decent lobby system, even “Country of Origin” markers for other human players would be a bonus, given the amount of lag found in the gameplay when playing against a player from a different nation. If you do get a good connection, the game is classic PES though, with all the tension, desperate clearances, shots against the post and everything else that goes into making the game what it is – superb. Your simple win/loss statistics are tracked online, with points being given based on the outcome of the matches you play, and the level of the opposition that you play against. When you’re not in a game, you can see how you stack up against the best this week, this month, against your friends list or in an all-time ranking table. Rushing online the day before release, I hoped to get a bit of a head start and climb the leaderboard quickly, but found that the Swedes (who I later found out have had the game in the shops for weeks) were dominant, with some having played 300 or so matches. Work to be done, then.
The lag is being worked on by Konami on the server-side, apparently. Some games can run as if you’re sitting next to your opponent, whilst some can feel like you’re playing on a 33.6k dial-up connection. If the game is unplayable and the opponent doesn’t have an Xbox Live Communicator headset, then all you can do is drop out of the match and look like a bad loser. It isn’t that you want to, rather you have to – or you could always just sit there and get trounced 10-0 unfairly since you can’t control your defence, I suppose.
And talking of defenders, the online AI seems to be on a very low difficulty setting. Matches are wide open, with defences being up on the halfway line for 90% of the match, meaning the through ball – played along the deck or otherwise – sometimes feels infallible. Also, the ‘keepers can react a lot more slowly than when playing offline, meaning that cheap goals are often conceded. This makes the game a little more fun in my opinion, since 0-0 draws are all but eliminated – undoubtedly, some purists won’t be happy with it.
In a nutshell, the online aspect of Pro Evolution Soccer 4 feels unpolished. That same annoyingly childish font is in use everywhere, and the lack of online options leaves you wanting PES5 to hit the shops tomorrow. It gives us a reason to come back next year, and is perfectly addictive as it is, but some of the annoyances could have been ironed out easily enough, and a little bit more value-for-money could have been thrown in too.
And now, the score. You’ve already checked it, I know. PES4 is a perfect ten on the PS2, simply because I don’t feel it can get any better than it is right now and nothing comes close to it on the format. The Xbox edition is still head and shoulders above any other soccer title available for the Xbox, but the online play is far from perfect – and this is why it loses marks. A lot more could have been done with PES4 online, and a lot has been left out. Still a cracking title for anyone’s money, and if you’re not going online, you could consider it to be a perfect ten. If you’re looking to connect to the world and show them your skills however, eight out of ten is fair.
