My Review...
To start off, WE10 is definetely a step forward for Konami for the most part. The new kicking animations are excellent, often on PES5 there wasn't actually any contact when you kicked the ball. However there is on WE10, not to mention the style and natural technique in which they strike the ball. For example, if your taking a Free-Kick in your own half, you often give it the boot downfield. If you use outside curl to kick it on WE10 the player will smoothly float it with the lace/outside of his boot. Whereas if you intend to use inside curl it will sweetly glide it with the players inside step. Very good touch by Konami. Also when players pass the ball, it seems to be fizzed more unless your playing a 5 yard pass in which they often play it gently with the outside of their foot, looks very cool. The cross-field passes and long balls are animated better too, some have the Beckham-esque ankle technique which looks great and some are nicely lofted with the inside step. The shooting kicks are much better too, they really look stylish in the way they strike it. I had a shot with Rooney in which he mastered the Beckham technique by going over on his ankle and curling it in off the bar, almost like his Everton goal against Arsenal which vaulted his career. In a match I played earlier today too, I saw my opponent which was Thierry Henry on the edge of the box for France. He was played the ball on the ground, he then flicked it up with his left foot and lept into the air performing a side volley somewhat like Cahill's for Aston Villa a few weeks ago. Overall the kicking animations are incredibly improved since PES5, Konami have hit it top notch here.
As many people are already aware, the 3* level is remarkably easy, a stroll in the park more than anything. However I then notched it up to 6* and found it fairly difficult although no real difference in difficulty from PES5. In my opinion, 3* is about right as it could reel people in from the Commercial aspect however I think 4,5 and 6* should be incredibly difficult. Especially 6*, Konami must make sure that you have to really be a master to fight at the top level. Hopefully this may be arranged on PES6 for PS3, if not then WE11.
The goalkeepers are hit and miss in terms of improvements. New animations of one handed leaping saves look superb and very realistic. However the lack of catching ability in the game is quite silly. I understand a lot of keepers nowadays tend to punch and palm it away, but established goalkeepers on WE10 spill the ball too often. I've conceded quite a few goals from should-be simple catches by Van der Sar in which hes dropped or spilled straight into the oppositions feet. So concerning goalkeeping, its improved in areas but also dropped, literally.
Editing, a key element in Konami's book has only just gone and improved itself vastly in terms of kits. Now the kit templates provide a hell of a lot more choice, maybe just under twice the variety of the previous installment. How Konami get away with such things I do not know, they've got identical replicas of the Nike kits in the templates which is great, all up to date. As well as Umbro templates, Adidas, Diadora, Puma and more. Its now possible to create many kits pretty much perfect, an example in the Premiership is Fulham's kits, identical to reality. Middlesbrough have perfect kits just about too, Newcastle are up there, United's kits are perfect, Wigans, Lyons and many more I just don't want to make too much of a list. Theres no real improvements in terms of Logo/Emblem making which is a shame but I haven't really got any complaints. They have a couple more Number templates to choose from, one which seems like the Adidas numbers for the World Cup just without the several stripes going through them. They also seem to have the Nike numbers which they use in the Champions League.
Theres no real changes in terms of stadiums, only a few added but the Santiago Bernabau is indeed on the game. Many pitches seem to be improved too, they look greener rather than their previous yellow dull colour.
The choice of footballs is great too, starting with 10 and able to buy an additional 5. The buyable ones from the WE Shop are pointless and only there for novelty reasons really. But they have many styles of footballs, the new World Cup Teamgeist ball, a black Tunit ball and more. Great overall.
The Master League is pretty similar to that of PES5, the menu backgrounds look better but the actual Menu don't look that great. Overall they look okay but Konami could definetely do a better job. The options of having Classic players in the ML is a good touch, as well as the difficulty of negitiating transfers etc.
Hope you finished reading the review, and if you have any questions there is a thread for it around here I think. So just pop them in there and I may answer them if Zyg doesn't.
