Online Demo Review PES 2010

The online aspect of PES 2010 is one that's been under intense scrutiny from all areas. And for good reason, as it's often been seen as a sort of "missing link" in the evolution of the series.

Konami have been making clear over the past few months how determined they are to finally bring PES 2010 up to the online standards it should be at. Previous games have suffered from warping, severe lag, and a host of other problems that have plagued the enjoyment of anyone wanting some some simple multiplayer fun.

But aside from a few videos pertaining to be taken from the Tokyo Games Show showing lag-free online, little evidence has been seen to support Konami's claims of advancement.


Well, as some of you may have been aware, we've recently been partaking in a specifically built online stress-test, in the form of a tweaked version of the PES 2010 demo released last month. Registrations are now closed for entry to this test, but for the many many of you who won't get a chance to see for yourself prior to the game being released, hopefully this small review will provide a good indication as to what performance you can expect in the full game.

Well, quite simply, the results are fantastic. I've personally played many games on both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the test against people from all around the world, and not once have I suffered anything other than the input problems associated with the old demo itself. Just to make that clear, there were NO issues as a result of lag, as far as I could tell, or at least nothing noticeably bad as it affected my enjoyment. Several times I played against users with red or yellow connections, but nothing impeded my green connection at all, whereas previously a bad connection on one end resulted in both users sharing lag.

As mentioned, despite playing against users from several different countries, the results were the same across the board. Not even playing in 2 v 2 matches changed the experience at all, this really is the most lag-free PES I've ever played, and if the servers hold up properly, we should be in for a treat.

At the end of the day though, the fact that Konami are going to these lengths is in itself a good sign, and bodes well for the full roll-out to all users when the game is officially released on the 23rd October.