A pretty good review here (I wont post any more - promise).....
From Christosri at pesinsight.com
Here's my review of the game after a week or so of playing:
As the hottest weekend arrives in the UK, the Charity Shield kicks off, and Alex Ferguson starts preparing his excuses for another defeat by Wenger and his band of Frenchmen, I make my annual online trip to lik-sang.com and place my order for a Japanese PS2 and the new Winning Eleven instalment. Now, I know it would work out cheaper if I just kept the Japanese Playstation 2 every year, instead of buying a new one every time, but the lure of Ebay is too strong, and besides, when the UK version of Pro Evo comes out for that year, why would one need the Japanese version, with PS2 anyway?
From about June to August, I scan the web, looking for news, screenshots, videos, forums… anything to get some info on the game that will nestle in my PS2 for the next year. Pro Evolution Soccer 3 hasn’t left the PS2’s CD bay for more than a day or so since I have owned it, so that should give you some idea of what this game means to me. It’s not just me either. Hundreds of thousands of people worship the legacy of Konami’s football games. The FIFA - Pro Evo war may rage on, but there is really only ever one winner.
And so to this year’s offering. It is noticeable immediately that they have given everything a bit of a revamp presentation wise, and the menu screens now feel polished and more FIFAfied than ever before, which is no bad thing.
After a couple of hours of going through the edit mode, and changing the Japanese names of all the major clubs to their English counterparts, and playing around with the size of Ronaldinho’s teeth (a little odd, I accept) it was off to the cup mode to try my luck as England in the International Cup campaign.
It was here that I discovered something a little alarming at first. Had I accidentally picked up a copy of Fifa 2005? Wayne Rooney was standing in the tunnel, chatting to Beckham, and both he and Sir David looked exactly like their real world counterparts. Now the Pro Evo series had always managed to achieve a general likeness for the players in most squads, but to see a near perfect recreation of our nation’s heroes in Konami’s footballing kingdom was something of a shock, albeit a very welcome one.
After parading around for a while, posing for pictures that aren’t being taken, and bopping up and down on the spot every now and again, the players were ready, and the referee (now visible though out the entire match) blew his whistle to start the first match of a long year of football. As with every instalment of the series, it felt very different at first. Slick, crisp passing was the order of the day, with a somewhat hefty percentage of said passes being pinged with the outside of player’s boots. Some lovely new animations held everything together superbly, with players launching themselves into the air and deftly flicking balls on with their favoured foot to the waiting midfielder, who would turn with grace and finesse, have a quick scout about, and launch a soaring 30 yard pass back to his defence. (I was playing it cautious ok?)
And then it happened. The first goal. James had cleanly claimed an early corner from the Czechs, (realism can never truly be reached in any video game), and by accident, I tapped the run fast button. The ball dropped to James’ feet. Somewhat surprised, I punched the circle button, and before I knew it, Gerrard had chested down the clearance facing his own goal line. A quick tap of R2 saw him spin round 180 degrees, to face the foray, and he slipped a ball out wide to Beckham who squeezed round his defender and slid the ball through to Joe Cole. Now at this moment, I should say, that whenever I play a new Pro Evo for the first time, something amazing happens that I never see again for about 8 months. This time was no exception. As Joe Cole sped towards the by line, I backed off the sprint button a little and hit circle to cross the ball in to Rooney who was loitering at the far post. Instead however, of just crossing the ball like any normal person, Joe Cole, as he would in real life, crossed his left leg behind his right and launched a fancy pants ball right on to the head of Rooney who stooped low to head beyond Peter Cech in goal. I was gob smacked. Needless to say I watched that replay again and again... That is one of the major enhancements over the old Pro Evo iterations, signature moves. Nearly every major player has his own signature animation or move which makes him easily identifiable. Be it their running style, passing technique, or positional play (Lampard is always at the edge of the box, just when you need him, to rifle a shot at the awaiting keeper) things just feel right. The match itself seems quicker, and as far as I could tell, there is no speed adjustment setting, so you do have to get used to the faster pace if you have not played the game at a higher speed setting than default before. There are plenty more tricks and flicks at your disposal, from stepovers, to feints, to quick 180 turns. Tapping R1 whilst running also stops your player dead, allowing you to survey your options before delivering that killer pass.
Free kicks have been revamped too, giving you the opportunity to involve another player. You can have him flick the ball off to the side for you to either hit or run off with, have him step over the ball and allow you to strike for goal, or fool everyone and get the player standing over the ball to take it himself. Direct and indirect free kicks have been added to, so sometimes you will need a player to roll the ball to one side if you wish to hit a shot anyway.
The game play overall has been improved, with AI reacting more realistically to your inputs. The neat little touches, such as dirtying kit, injury time boards, extra cut scenes, shirt pulling and injuries (players now have to leave the field of play before coming back) all add to the feel of the game, and Konami have made a huge step towards Fifa in this respect. There is however one negative point regarding the game play, and that is slow down. The game really does chug along at a feverish pace throughout most of the match, that is until you swing in a corner. I tend to play the game a couple of camera views away from the pitch, giving an easier view of runs on and off the ball. Konami however frown on this it would appear, as the game drops to a few frames per second for most corners when the penalty box is littered with players. Granted, this only last for a few seconds, and isn’t really THAT much of a distraction, but it certainly is something that needs to be rectified for Pro Evo 4, if they want to keep their perfect football game creating record intact.
And so to the game modes. Master League has been bolstered with new teams, leagues and options. You can now choose to start a campaign with the existing squad, so pick Liverpool, and Owen and co will be at your disposal from the off. Players earn experience points after every game, with a breakdown being shown to you after the final whistle, so you actually see the improvements in your team first hand. The transfer market has again been enhanced, and you can watch flourishing new talent or stick with the big guns as you look to strengthen your squad.
All the other usual modes are present too, from cups to leagues, and the points system is still in place, allowing you to buy new stadiums, ball effects, hair styles (!) and the like.
The edit mode is far easier to navigate now, and the transfer system is in place from the start, allowing you to switch players from one team to another with minimum fuss, a must for all Chelsea fans. You can edit everything from the names on players shirts, to the colours of the team flag, to the stadium your team plays in.
And so it would appear Konami have done it again. I had always said that id EA and Konami would combine, and produce a football game that played like Pro Evo but looked like Fifa, it would be the finest piece of software that the beautiful game deserved. Konami were obviously listening, but decided that anything EA could do, they could do better.
The ultimate football experience? So far… yes.
