Pro Evolution Soccer 5 Review

By Tom Bramwell Published 25 November, 2005

From now on.

Version tested: PSP

It's all just "now on" in PSP land these days, isn't it? "The most blah blah of blah, now on PSP." Virtua Tennis, Grand Theft Auto, Burnout, etc. - now on PSP. Hurrah. Brilliant news for those of us with enough disposable income to waste on portable versions of games we already own. Except, more often than not, it's actually "mostly now on". The PSP's very powerful, but it's not at the point where top PS2 games are just copied and pasted onto those little plastic magi-disks.

Pro Evolution Soccer 5 illustrates this with the precision of an architect's pencil. Glance at it, stare it, even pick it up and have a poke, and you'll be left with the impression you're playing the PES5 you've already got at home. And indeed it's a remarkably complete facsimile of the PS2 game on the pitch - the only obvious change is that in the absence of L2 and R2 buttons on the shoulders of the PSP, you have to double-tap a shoulder or direction for a few key functions and relearn some of the subtler stuff.

But if you explore things a bit more, you start to notice more and more concessions and things that put you off. There's no Master League mode, for example - just straightforward national and international leagues - while the vaunted USB link-up option with PS2 simply lets you download Edit Mode changes made on the PS2 to your new PSP version. If you've moved players about, you can tweak things on the handheld to match, then, but you can't download and take your Master League games with you, which is what people wanted.

'Pro Evolution Soccer 5' Screenshot 1

Pfft, that's never going in.

Then there are the load times. These are bad even by PSP standards. Getting to the game's front-end from the point at which you press the button on the PSP's load menu takes 80 seconds, and that's with an option file already created and skipping the intro movie as soon as you see it. Once you've picked your players and set up your formation for an exhibition match, it takes a full minute to reach the pitch itself. Once there, you can't pick a wide camera angle (or angle it toward either end as you can on PS2), and the action slows down enormously at free kicks or corners - basically whenever a large number of players are bunched on the screen.

Which, as anybody who's familiar with the way the AI defends in PES well knows, is pretty much every time you linger in the opponent's final third for longer than it takes commentators to mention Peter Crouch's good-touch-for-a-big-lad when they spot his name on the team-sheet.

That said, PES itself remains an excellent football game - far more fluid, tactical, intelligent and rewarding than the relative codswallop EA churned out in FIFA 06. Compared to last year's version, the most noticeable change is that while it still offers the option to press players in possession by holding X and square, you'll find that you give away a lot of fouls unless you make an effort to secure the ball manually.

'Pro Evolution Soccer 5' Screenshot 2

You can still save replays, which is nice, since you're actually likely to show them off on a handheld.

In fact, the game's been refined for so long that it's cleverly geared to encourage you to learn more about how it works. Sprinting may be the obvious thing to do, but it quickly becomes equally obvious that you get further by thinking and passing, putting one-twos together, learning how to cross effectively, and generally paying attention to the minutiae. It's harder on a system where so many controls are crowded onto fewer buttons than were even intended, but even if this is your first experience of PES you're going to find yourself in awe of the way the football's structured before too long.

Players are not born equal and their relative skill levels are hugely significant. You can become a far more effective player simply by learning how the various attributes and stars rankings affect the performances of the players in question and those around them, how fatigue affects players over the course of a game (and what contributes to fatigue), and how best to use players with certain leanings.

All of this remains true of the PSP version, despite its obvious limitations in certain areas, and there's still a PES-Shop with an unlockable expert difficulty level and the full range of teams, the game has an Edit option of its own, as well as Training, and if you meet someone else playing it you can link up with them and go head to head wirelessly. Unlike a lot of early PSP wireless multiplayer, this works very effectively - with little evidence of lag.

'Pro Evolution Soccer 5' Screenshot 3

One of those rare occasions where the keeper's kit clashes. With the goal.

Ultimately though PES5 on PSP can't escape that same feeling that pervades so many of its format stable-mates: that it's slightly over-ambitious. Konami even includes an option that allows you to turn off crowd chants and some other extraneous effects to boost battery life, perhaps aware of this, and the commentary's been cut out completely. Admittedly, the absence of my arch-nemesis Trevor Brooking ("He should have done better from there," "What a miss," "His sexual organs must be desperately inadequate,") isn't something that I'm that bothered about, but it is symptomatic of the wider shoehorning cuts.

PES5 obviously took a great deal of effort to get here, and Konami's coders have done a truly admirable job (and even shaved a few seconds from the load pauses in the Japanese version to this reviewer's eyes), but for all the fun you can have sat on a train scoring wonder-goals and feeling like you really earned them, its technical shortcomings are a recurring irritant, and the lack of a serious single-player mode leaves you with an exhibition-style game. That it's built on the best mechanics in the genre guarantees that it'll rarely leave a football fan's PSP, but it's easy to see where it could have gone further.

8 / 10

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About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (39) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • caligari #1 6 years ago

    !

  • caligari #2 6 years ago

    Okay, I'll stop with the FIRST thing...

    I feel so ashamed

  • caligari #3 6 years ago

    Oh...and I still don't want a PSP

  • Teeth #4 6 years ago

    Think before you post.

  • caligari #5 6 years ago

    Okay...I've thought about it and it's still a'NO' Teeth...I'm still dating someone else

  • Eighthours #6 6 years ago

    When a game like this is released so long after the PS2 version, I have to wonder which informed punters are going to buy it.

  • caligari #7 6 years ago

    "When a game like this is released so long after the PS2 version, I have to wonder which informed punters are going to buy it."

    The 95.7% of gamers that are uninformed

  • Furbs #8 6 years ago

    This'll be interesting.

    I foresee in this thread the following conflicts:

    FIFA fans vs PES fans
    DS fans vs PSP fans
    Sony Fans vs MS fans
    Fans vs Anti-fans.

    I predict by the time I come back from lunch this thread will be a train wreck :)

  • Perry #9 6 years ago

    Load times sound like a huge hindrance. i was waiting for this. But it seems that I'd be waiting a fair chunk of my trip in the morning for the damn thing to load.

    Still love the PSP though. GTA is just amazing. Really an outstanding achievment - but can see whilst everyone wont be a fan.
    Edited by 1 at 25/11/05 @ 12:22

  • Jaggy #10 6 years ago

    I moved away from gaming as I got older, but the PSP has restored my faith. I love the pick up and play element, and the fact that I don't need to argue with my wife to get access to the TV!

    I've always loved footie games, but have never actually played Pro Evo (I don't have a PS2).

    So, I'm a bit conflicted by this review. It sort of says its crap, but then gives it 8/10.

    My quesiton is - if I don't own pro evo, don't like the arcadey sound of FIFA is this worth my money, or am I going to get frustrated and hope to god someone releases an update of Sensible Soccer??
    Edited by 1 at 25/11/05 @ 12:29

  • TommyUnderwear #11 6 years ago

    am typing this on a psp now, backpacking through oz. will def be getting this as i dont have access to a ps2. i need to play pro evo, this is the only way i can

  • caligari #12 6 years ago

    If you've played Sensible Soccer your entire life (which isn't a bad thing!), the fast paced style of Fifa may be more your st-st-style.

    Pro Evo may well appear a little sluggish and overly 'technical' at first, but keep at it and it'll be your secret boyfriend (even if you're not gay!).

    Actually...I would just keep playing Sensible Soccer for the rest of your life.
    Edited by 2 at 25/11/05 @ 12:34

  • markypants #13 6 years ago

    Bah! PSP needs to find its own identity already. It's becoming the PS2's cloned little brother who also has learning dificulties and is probably on crutches.

    DS (I don't have one and am not fan boy) is not (on the whole) a mini Gamecube. It has its own identity.

    PSP so far has done nothing other than become a mini-PS2 with crapload times and less buttons. When are we going to see games actually geared towards the console?

  • kuzanagi #14 6 years ago

    The review text screams "Don't buy!" but then it ends with an 8/10 score?

  • Hog-lumps #15 6 years ago

    PSP so far has done nothing other than become a mini-PS2

    Isn't that why its called the 'playstation portable'? ;P

  • caligari #16 6 years ago

    So from all I've heard and seen and played, the PSP appears to be the Atari Lynx of this generation.

  • posh_geordie #17 6 years ago

    Post deleted at 18:45:04 02-01-2012

  • Jaggy #18 6 years ago

    hmm, update of sensi would be great but I'm a bit wary of it.

    I also hugely enjoyed kick off which was slightly more technical than sensi.

    Because of the overwhelming eulogies you tend to read about Pro Evo and the underwhelming stuff that I have heard about FIFA I would tend to lean towards Pro Evo. This review has confused the hell out of me. I don't want to buy an amazing technical achievement thats actually crap to play.

    *Just looked at the screenshots for Sensi on the PS2. That looks like it would be perfect on a handheld. Hope they release it on the PSP.
    Edited by 2 at 25/11/05 @ 13:44

  • Tomo #19 6 years ago

    I'm tempted to buy this, also owning the PC version of PES5 (with PS2 controllers!). Is it v2.5? Because I don't wanna have to upgrade my PSP. Mario Bros is far too much fun.

  • Furbs #20 6 years ago

    Its interesting how many people forget things like Mercury, Lumines, Pursuit Force, Metal Gear Acid, Grip Shift and so on when saying its a PS2 rip off. Like mentioned above anyway, its meant to be a means of playing PS2 games on the move. Its a Portable Playstation. If you bought one for something other than this as your primary reason, then seriously, you made a wrong decision.

  • #21 6 years ago

    The review text screams "Don't buy!" but then it ends with an 8/10 score?

    So should EG just abolish review scores altogether? Or mark games out of 5 stars? Or let readers just rate the game themselves? Or something...

  • ImGameCube #22 6 years ago

    If I was a reviewer, in order to maintain the quality of the discussions boards that follow my review, I would simply delete those comments that critisise my review.

    But then again, I am a Sith Lord.

    Really I am.

  • Neverness #23 6 years ago

    "There's no Master League mode, for example - just straightforward national and international leagues...

    ...and the lack of a serious single-player mode leaves you with an exhibition-style game"

    I haven't played PES since version 2 and even then only for a couple of matches. What is the Master League and if there are national and international leagues isn't that the same as normal footy games?

    I hate football but have always loved football games so am tempted by this.

  • Aretak #24 6 years ago

    "So should EG just abolish review scores altogether? Or mark games out of 5 stars? Or let readers just rate the game themselves? Or something..."

    I think they should just try and keep a little consistency between the review text and the final score. It's almost as if the reviewer couldn't bring himself to mark down a poor edition of a great series.

  • binky #25 6 years ago

    One for those that have played this...

    Q. Do you use the Digital pad or the Analogue nubbin, to control the players on this?

  • Feanor #26 6 years ago

    Any news on how the Xbox version of Pro Evo 5 plays on the 360, Tom?

  • Furbs #27 6 years ago

    For anyone who isnt having any luck, all you have to do is keep passing and shooting. They go in from any angle. :)

  • lost_soul #28 6 years ago

    "Q. Do you use the Digital pad or the Analogue nubbin, to control the players on this?"

    Both work, though I prefer the nubbin. For some reason this is the only game in whick I don't like using the d-pad.

  • El_MUERkO #29 6 years ago

    the psp is the ultimate confusion device, i just dont know what to do when one is in my hand, it has all the promise of a sturdy stick in my pet dogs mouth yet one day its up to the job and the next its not, PSP games dont get mixed reviews, the console itself does, at times i cant understand why i bought it and at times i cant understand how i'm not playing it

  • Viktor #30 6 years ago

    For me, the lack of a license AND the lack of good edit mode options pretty much ruins the PSP version. I play the PS2 version with PESFan option file all the time. Also the AI is really bad, I have no problems beating every Premiership team with Newcastle with the opponent scoring no goals (quite an achievement with Newcastle defence, I say).

  • OnlyMe #31 6 years ago

    Not much of an achievement if you put the difficulty on 1 or 2 stars.

  • kuzanagi #32 6 years ago

    So should EG just abolish review scores altogether? Or mark games out of 5 stars? Or let readers just rate the game themselves? Or something...

    No. Consistency between review text and overall score would be a good thing IMO. I can understand what seems to have happened here, as sometimes it's easy to focus more on the bad and the omissions than the good when discussing a game which can unbalance a review.

    I'm not criticising the score system, or trying to argue that the game deserves more or less than it got. It's just surprising and a little odd to read through a review like this, and then see a good score awarded.

  • grazla247 #33 6 years ago

    I bought this after already buying it for the PS2 and have to say am very disappointed. After playing Pro Evo for many years on PSOne and PS2 I was naturally very excited about being able to play Pro Evo while on the move. The main problem is that after being so used to playing it on PS2 the PSP version just feels....lifeless. - Holding the PSP is as we know not the same as holding the PS2 DualShock, therefore it just feels cumbersome. Pro Evo is so ingeniously developed around the versatility of the PS2 Pad that when on PSP it feels as though your wings have been clipped because every move and tactic that you have perfected over the years simply gets lost here. Add in the fact that there is no master league, no training challenges, no cup competition, horrendous slow-down, and blurry visuals it’s a real let-down. I have always been the biggest advocate for the Pro Evo series, and have NEVER bought FIFA which is why I am so disappointed, especially after having had the sheer brilliance that is Pro Evo 5 on the PS2.

  • Jaggy #34 6 years ago

    Just been playing this for the first time, and I have yet to see any slowdown. It moves quite quickly and fluidly (so far).

    My first experience of Pro Evo (except 3 on my laptop, now THAT slowed down).

    All in all, looks pretty good to me.

  • grazla247 #35 6 years ago

    I did the test too here is the result:

    From booting the PSP up from start (i.e. not on standby) and skipping all the front end screens intro's as quickly as possible. Selecting Match > Exhibition > Europe A > Team Select > Exit Detail Screen > Skip stadium fly-by > To Kick Off.....

    3 minutes 15 seconds.

    Might not sound a lot but the load times to the match is 45 seconds.



  • Jaggy #36 6 years ago

    So when you talk about slowdown, you are talking about the load times etc? They aren't that much of a pain to me. I thought it was slowdown in gameplay that was getting everyone exercised. Haven't seen it, or haven't noticed it.

    As for master league cups etc, sure they might be an ommission, but this still looks to me like the best mobile football game I've ever seen.

  • Arwin #37 6 years ago

    That's the whole thing, Jaggy. People keep comparing stuff to their consoles, but at some point you just decide whether or not you buy the game for your console or for your PSP. Notice how some reviews say 'the DS this, the DS that', but if you come to a very popular format like this or for racing games, the PSP way, waaaaaaaaaaaaay dominates the DS.

    Sure, when you have the choice between playing a game like, say, Pro Evo, on the PSP or on the PS2, then it's an easy choice. But with the PSP, it's more typically the choice of playing Pro Evo on the PSP, or not playing. The level of what you expect from a game drops when you're playing on a handheld. Or it should anyway - perhaps the PSP is just too good for its own sake, and fools reviewers into a different mindset.

    As programmers, publishers and reviewers get more used to the PSP, hopefully things will get better eventually. I currently play Prince of Persia Revelations, and I think it's awesome. Everyone I talk to who played it agrees. The only dissenters are a few reviewers. It reminds me of reviews of the movie Narnia, which was disliked here by reviewers because it was supposed to have an overly religious theme. Yeah, whatever.

  • whirlpool05 #38 6 years ago

    everybody says PSP is the PS2s little brother.SO WHAT. Is that a bad thing? Also you talk about lack of orignal games.The 360 has the same problem so dont worry about it.Just marvel at how they managed to fit a ps2 in your had ok.Oh and I have pro evo 5 for psp and the load time are very bad.Wait for pro evo 6

  • lars36251 #39 6 years ago

    what, would someone mind explaining, are the problems with fifa? some technical points would be appreciated not just a partisan tirade.