The last couple of years have been a bit disappointing for Pro Evolution Soccer and its fans. The title has been criticized for its failure to innovate, and subsequently it has lost its crown as the king of football games to the increasingly fluid and more realistic, FIFA series.

As a result, this season is perhaps the most important one in the history of PES. Konami must be confident of reclaiming number one status though, as it proudly furnished us with a preview release a full two months before the official release date. Naturally, we were pretty excited to see how it plays and, for the first time in years, the new version of Pro evolution Soccer doesn’t manage to disappoint.

Off the ball

One thing that was widely panned in Pro Evo 2009 was the menu system. The set-up menus looked like they were built in half an hour by a four-year-old. Navigating the in-game tactics and formation menus on the other hand, was like trying to crack the entry code on the front door of the Pentagon. Thankfully, things have been improved greatly in PES 2010. Although the garish pink and black color scheme remains, all the menus are better organized and more ‘professional’ than the previous version.




The tactics and formation system has been treated to a complete overall, and it’s a thousand times better than the previous fiddly series of menus. Team tactics are controlled using slide bars, to precisely set elements such as pressing, defensive line, counter attacking etc. Preview windows explain exactly what will happen to your line-up as you make changes to these tactics. Player ‘cards’ are another feature that’s been talked up in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010. Each player has a series of cards when you view his stats that show you instantly the areas he is good in (e.g. free kicks, goal poaching, heading, etc.) This system is far easier on the eye than having to focus on huge lists of stats, like you had to in the previous Pro Evo.

In terms of the team line-ups and clubs included in the game, it’s too early to say from this preview version exactly who, and who won’t be featured. But rest assured, all the major European club leagues (with the possible exception of the Bundasliga) will be included. The international team selection has also been updated and a few new countries have been added. So, if you’ve always wanted to take control of Montenegro, Oman, or Mali, you’ll be in luck.

On the ball

Of course, as with real football, the most important stuff happens on the pitch. And here, thanks to a completely revamped game engine, Pro Evolution Soccer is more realistic than ever before. In fact, it’s almost too realistic.

The player likenesses are better than ever before, naturally. Faces are rounder, limbs are less jagged, and the animations are fluidly lifelike. Not only this, but individual players techniques and physical attributes are accounted for in PES 2010. Take a shot as Henry and it will be an Henry-style strike; Make Rooney run and he’ll run like Rooney; Fall to the ground as Drogba and he’ll dive just like the real Drogba (however, we didn’t find a way to make Drogba swear at the camera or attempt to intimidate the referee - features we hope to see in the final version).



The ‘feel’ of Pro Evolution is still as absorbing and you’ll be able to pick it up and play it in much the same way as you have with the last 10 or-so versions. However, there have been plenty of tweaks to the gameplay to make it more realistic. The first is that it feels a little more sluggish. The ball feels much heavier than before, and it doesn’t quite zip off the surface like it used to. What’s more, turning and dribbling now feel like you’ve got treacle on your boots.

Although the primitive free kick controls haven’t really been improved, the new penalty system in Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 marks a departure from previous releases. Instead of bringing up a completely different behind-the player screen, the camera doesn’t change anymore, so you take a penalty as if it were any other set play.

Collision detection has been smartened up in Pro Evolution 2010, and you can’t just expect the ball to stick to your foot once it’s been delivered. Mis-control it and it can go flying off your toe into row-Z, or worse still bounce of your shin and into the path of an oncoming striker.

No doubt the new gameplay features will infuriate you at first and you’ll feel like it’s ruined the game for you. Remember though, that it always takes a while to settle into a new Pro Evo, and once you’ve got used to it, you’ll be praising the ingenuity of the developers for creating such a realistic and challenging simulation of the beautiful game.

SCREENSHOTS

  

Batman: Arkham Asylum review and screenshot

Batman: Arkham Asylum is unquestionably the best licensed game I've ever played. At the end of the day, however, that's a fairly low hurdle to clear -- it better reflects the game's quality to say it's one of the best stealth-action games ever made, and easily the best video game 2009 has had to offer thus far.

Considering Rocksteady's extremely limited pedigree, the amount of polish and detail present in Arkham Asylum is remarkable. I'm not referring to the game's graphical detail (though Arkham's visuals are impressive in their own right) -- but rather, the unsettling atmosphere which pervades the titular institution. Arkham Island is realized in a very imaginative way -- what was once a soulless "supervillain deposit box" in Batman's theatrical outings has become a living, breathing world. It's very much a character in the game's proceedings -- akin to how Rapture became more than just a series of underwater pipes in BioShock.

                  

Arkham's underlying menace is personified by Batman's anarchistic foil, the Joker, who's expertly voiced by Batman: The Animated Series veteran Mark Hamill. He's eerily omnipresent from the very first scene in the game, where even when strapped to a stretcher and wheeled through the halls of Arkham like a death row inmate, he playfully pesters everyone within shouting distance.

As his role shifts from captive to captor, the Joker's presence becomes even more overbearing. He constantly jeers at his subordinates over Arkham's PA system, his dispatches mostly consisting of harmless bat-puns and empty threats. As time elapses, more hints of the bile which has accumulated during his career of countless thwarted plots begin to slip into his messages. It's very, very unsettling, and adds even more gravity to Arkham's hopeless atmosphere.

I wish all of the game's characters could have received the same amount of exploration -- though most are simply given sizable bios. In addition, the main villains' deeply troubling psychoses are revealed in recorded interviews with Arkham's too-helpful (see: naive) staff. Every single one of these interview tapes is worth locating, from the puzzle-filled ramblings of the Riddler to the downright terrifying admissions of Mr. Zsasz.

The Batman franchise's lore doesn't just lend itself to the game's rich storytelling -- in fact, all of the players' arsenal and combat mechanics are dictated by a timeless, completely inflexible tenet of Batman's credo: He can't kill anyone. Even in self defense, Batman doesn't kill people. When placed inside a madhouse, chock-full of the scum of the land, being stripped of one's lethality is an alarming prospect.

Fortunately, his credo doesn't prevent him from punching, kicking, bataranging, or batclawing people. Heck, it even permits him to pull people off ledges, provided they can survive the fall.

The aforementioned methods work well enough when pitted against a group of pugilistic thugs, lending themselves to long, stylish combos -- but things start getting complicated when said thugs start packing heat. The necessity of strategy in these precarious situations is one of the best parts of the game -- and amazingly, never fails to feel fresh.

You've got a number of ways of neutralizing the roomfuls of gun-toting thugs you'll often encounter -- stringing them up by their feet on gargoyles overhead, swooping down on them and knocking them out, incapacitating them with explosive charges and pulling them off ledges are just a few possible outcomes. However, if you fail to mix up your strategies -- or carelessly saunter into their field of vision -- you will be shot. Most likely to death.

Once you start executing these stealth segments with finesse, there's no way to describe the exhilaration you feel as you effortlessly shatter the fragile bravado of a group of Joker's lackeys. You almost feel bad for these nameless guards as their numbers begin to dwindle -- especially once the unseen Joker begins to laughingly root against them.

While not stylishly dealing with the Joker's henchmen, you'll spend a fair amount of time simply exploring the Asylum. The Riddler has sprinkled 240 secret items across the island, ranging from tucked-away trophies, the aforementioned interview tapes, and actual "Riddles," simple clues pointing out environmental objects you'll need to locate and scan. Most of these riddles involve references to other Batman nemeses -- an additional treat for fans who're disappointed that their favorite baddie didn't make it into the game.



The game's weak points are few and far between -- the largest misstep being the boss fights, which almost universally fail to be as intense or dramatic as the non-boss slugfests. There's a mercifully small number of these repetitive encounters, but the ones that are present somewhat subvert the game's seamless storytelling. There's one notable exception which is less of a boss fight and more of a lengthy, terrifying subterranean showdown -- but again, I don't want to spoil it for you.

Also, about halfway through the game, you'll realize that Batman spends a startling amount his day ripping grates off of walls. I get it -- Batman's gotta climb into some ventilation ducts to get the job done. Still, regardless of how much I appreciated the game's constant attempts to stay relatively within the realm of realism, I would have had no qualms with equipping Batman with some kind of futuristic grate-bolt dissolving goo.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is completely delightful, and definitely warrants your hard-earned money. It's a crisp, refreshing oasis tucked within the mid-year drought -- fortunate, as its lowly licensed trappings would have surely drowned it in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.

I certainly hope it does well -- if only so Rocksteady can continue to take the Caped Crusader in other bold new directions. Whether DC knows it or not, this franchise is Rocksteady's now -- and while its potential future Batman titles might not possess the uniquely unnerving backdrop that Arkham Island provides, I can't wait to see that Batsignal illuminate the sky once again