Every year about this time, we can all witness the competition between the two most popular football-based (US note: read soccer) computer games on the planet: Pro Evolution Soccer, developed by Konami; and FIFA, developed by our friends at EA.

This year seems to be a particularly good year for the latter, and FIFA 09 got some much needed attention in a lot of areas, including graphics, controls and AI - all of which you can read more about in my previous review. But what could Pro Evolution Soccer bring to the table this year? Let's find out!

Well, because I like you, you don't like me and you've been patient enough to read my FIFA 09 review as well as the two reviews from the past year, I'm going to start this one with a shocking statement: this year, it's FIFA's turn to wear the crown as the most complete and to date football video game.

No, please! Don't stop reading here. I am not implying PES 09 is a bad game. In fact, as we know Konami, they've managed to pull off a truly nice, polished game in every way, based on last year's platform. There are just too few innovations going on for their title in 2009. The differences are small and of nuance however, and do depend a lot on gamers' personal preferences.

While Electronic Arts managed to finally port their new engine to the PC world, PES hasn't made the transition to the high definition graphics era yet. Player models and textures have indeed improved, but they do seem a better worked version of last year's product.

The animations were nicely done in the previous series as well, and PES 09 doesn't disappoint. Players move and pass naturally on the field, and quick combinations make the gameplay exciting and breathtaking even if you get that "arcade feeling" a bit sometimes.

And that exact arcade feeling shows even in the game difficulty, as no matter what setting you will use, the AI will play good and try to close gaps in defense especially. Even on the Beginner mode you will have a hard time scoring against a good team. And yes, different teams do make a difference.

It feels like in PES every stat really matters, weather a player is injured a little, tired, or not in the best shape. Boosting AI difficulty will result in a more offensive enemy player; you will have a harder time intercepting balls and creating attack opportunities.

PES is one of the games who shows licensing is not everything, and in fact a good franchise can have success without all the big names out there. There are of course some big names, like Liverpool for example. In fact, PES is the official licensed product of Liverpool. Plus there's Manchester United, arguably "the best football team in the whole world", as fans would put it. And those are only a few notable teams.

Still, going back to notable things - while the graphics look decently good at the stadium camera, where most of the gameplay takes place (without changing camera settings that is), they fail to impress at the field level. Player details are a bit blurry, some look the same, but the worst part is the grass and its color. It's just so unnatural sometimes. Same thing goes for the crowd as they fail to make a real impression and stand out.