Table of Contents

1) Presentation/Graphics

2) Sound/Audio

3) Options

4) Gameplay

5) Replay Value

6) Overall

Presentation/Graphics 90/100

1) Player Models

As we near the end of the PS2’s life-cycle it is perhaps possible that KCET are maxing out what they can do with Sony’s hardware, though a look at God of War or Burnout 3 would tell you otherwise. Regardless, while WE9’s player models aren’t a massive jump over those in WE8:LE they are improved and more polished. The first thing that’s immediately noticeable is that many more of the player faces are instantly recognizable and it’s not just the big-name players that look like their real-life counterparts. There are also a lot more little details such as shirts hanging out, even more boot styles, writs bands, tape and other such paraphernalia. WE9 also features licenses for La Liga, Serie A and the Dutch Eridevise so those teams have accurate kits and sponsors and, interestingly, the game features licences kits for a few other random teams as well such as Chelsea and Arsenal.

2) Animations

As with all KCET games from the original ISS Pro Evo, the animations in WE9 are phenomenal with a host of new additions from WE8:LE. There are new animations for tacking and jostling between players that represents the increased player vs. player interactions. These animations range from the dramatic slide tackle that ends up with a player flying in the air, to small subtle touches like a player almost losing his balance after going to shoulder to shoulder with an opponent and instead of falling just leans to compensate with his hand out to steady him. Also tying in with the interactions are the plethora of animations for when a player is shielding the ball such as the ball carrier leaning back with his arms out behind him, and the defender with his forearm in the ball carrier’s back. The shooting animations have also been improved with even more variation especially when it comes to volleys and the new ‘instep’ shooting move has a gorgeous animation. Finally, and most importantly, the transitions between these animations are silky smooth and not jerky at all.

3) Slowdown

The slowdown that plagued WE8 has been pretty much eliminated (as it was in WE8:LE, but I just wanted to mention it again).

4) Stadia

WE9 features a bunch of new stadia such as the Mestalla (home of Valencia), Estadio Riazor (home of Deportivo), and the new Berlin Olimpiastadion which brings the total number of grounds to 33. Each stadium is wonderfully modeled with gorgeous pitch textures as well as crowd details. Snow has also been added as a new weather condition and along with the white-stuff when the temperature is low you can see the condensation from the players’ breaths. Another addition I love is the long-awaited appearance of 3D modeled fans on close-ups (usually at the beginning of a match) rather than flat 2D models. There is, however, one problem with the crowds;

Once the match starts they….wait for it…..DISAPPEAR!

I’m not kidding, when you watch the intro to a match you’ll see the teams walking out with a stadium full (or half full depending upon how you’re doing in a season) but the moment the game switches to a gameplay view the stands are EMPTY! Of course, these invisible fans still make a lot of noise, but what’s even more unerring is that when you score a goal, commit a foul, end the half, make a sub or get a goal kick – basically when the camera angle changes for a moment - the crowd REAPPEARS! Now I understand perhaps KCET are having problems with pumping quality graphics out of the PS2 but there is a word (well actually two words) that describe this approach by KCET to keep up the framerate; fucking lazy. Hopefully this garbage gets sorted out for PES5 and the North American release of WE9.

5) Menus

Menus have been reverted back to the old-school vertical tree style and the menu graphics have been changed and look pretty sharp. One particular addition I really like is the fact that if you choose to skip the intro sequence to a match you get to see the opposing team’s formation and line-up as the game loads which is useful.

6) TV-Style Presentation

I think the presentation in WE9 is just fabulous. As I mentioned in my hands on impressions there are more varied in-game instant replays of shots wide, saves, etc. The end of match (and halftime) highlites are also better and now show the actual foul that led up to a penalty kick rather than 3 separate replays of a boring spot-kick. I also love the fact that there are more variations in how an injured player presents himself – rather than always being taken off via stretcher players can often limp off the field gingerly or even shake off their injury and get up without needing the physio to come on.

Speaking of injuries, one moment that had me pissing my pants with glee occurred just a few days ago when two opposing players went down lame and the CPU kicked the ball out of play to get a stoppage! And better yet, when play restarted the ref did a drop ball! I’ve only seen this the one time but it was bloody sweet.

There are also a bunch of new goal celebrations (a lot more group celebrations….which still have more than a hint of the homoerotic but some would argue that that’s accurate….lol) and there are better celebrations following a penalty shoot-out win. My favourite goal celebration has to be one where the camera switches to the view from the stands looking out onto the field – in the foreground you get to see the silhouette of fans moving in celebration and in the background you see the players whooping it up on the pitch! The animations for substitutions are also better and it’s nice to see the player coming off giving a massive high-five to the player coming on (though it doesn’t always happen which is nice). Ref interaction sequences are also more varied and there’s a lot more sequences of players bitching to the ref and also a few more scuffles between players after the whistle (and these don’t necessarily lead to a red card for one of the players).

7) Miscellaneous

The in-game displays have been changed with a different look for the attacking bias indicators (now vertical instead of horizontal) as well as an option to have your controlled player’s stamina bar be displayed when he has the ball which is neat (and something that’s been in other sports games for a while now).

Next Page: Sound/Audio