While this may seem unbelievable for a football game, it doesn't make PES any less enjoyable - it just makes it more addictive, as you work out new ways to beat it Some matches may be ugly, but a piece of skill or a clever passing move may unlock the opposition defence - and the reward of scoring a goal is so much greater. Yep, the main difference you'll notice immediately is that you have fewer chances to score goals.
Can it improve on last year's version? The answer is most definitely yes, but like any successful team, you're going to have to work hard to achieve results. Like the beginning of a new season, there's excitement, hope, trepidation - maybe even a little fear -about PES5. Now the fifth iteration of Konami's footie extravaganza is here.
Pro Evolution Soccer is the game that has deafened the ZONE team, due to my daily battles with previous editor Dave Woods that once filled the office air with gutteral snorts, loud exclamations and language that would embarrass Billy Connolly (see the secretly-filmed video footage on issue 150's DVD for proof).
An absolute screamer - and the goal wasn't bad either (ho ho). Challenging one of our freelancers, Sam Kieldsen, to a quick game of Pro Evolution Soccer 5, I've swung in a mean corner that Michael Owen has spectacularly volleyed into the top right-hand corner of the Brazilian goal. I've Just Leapt off my rickety editor's chair in triumph.