Imitation, apparently, is the highest form of flattery. For a long while it was FIFA who were desperate to be the favourite of the critic and the connoisseur, as well as the chart. And then, last year, the opinion of most people was that it had finally succeeded. Surprisingly, as EA's game evolved on the next gen consoles, the series it had been trying to emulate was seriously struggling for the first time in its history. The continued absence of any substantial licences and the way the game engine spluttered and wheezed, especially on the PS3, to such an extent that series producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka even apologised for it, were the strongest indications that previous hints of stagnation were possibly turning into full blown regression.

What's promised for Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is a complete retooling - and the first innovation is the Become a Legend mode where you pick a single player, rather than a whole team, and experience his entire career, from humble beginnings to, hopefully, glorious end, controlling every move he makes on and off the pitch. It's an idea that sounds almost identical, in both name and concept, to FIFA's Be a Pro mode, and while arguments over its origins may continue, they will only be background noise to the debate over which one is better. With Legend only allowing the selection of a midfielder or an attacker, it already seems at a slight disadvantage.

The new potential for legendary feats asides, possibly the most important news on the new Pro Evo is that the series that seemingly couldn't buy itself a decent licence has finally managed to buy itself a decent licence in the form of the UEFA Champions League. The acquisition of the world's premier club cup competition will certainly add some much needed credibility to an area of the franchise that suffers an annual lambasting, as will the two licensed Premiership teams, Liverpool and Manchester United, who are a step up from last year's Newcastle and Tottenham, along with the inclusion of Old Trafford, Anfield and the new Wembley amongst the stadiums. However, these captures are still no more than fragments of official content, and the best the game can offer for the rest is second hand authenticity via the editing options.

And so it seems that the main strength of Konami's title will once again lie where it always has - in the gameplay. With development cycles so tight, it might have been a little naïve to expect a game like Pro Evo, which has been refined over so many years, to be pitch perfect straight away on completely new hardware. The extra time that it has now been possible to invest is perhaps the key component in a series that so often in the past operated within only a few degrees of perfection. It has allowed Seabass and his team to work on enhancing the Teamvision A.I. system, which returns after its previous debut, so that it can now attempt to create computer-controlled players that move and react more intelligently and believably than anything seen before. It has also enabled a visual overhaul, with greater detail not only in the graphics but, more importantly, in their animation. Something that possibly harks back to the good old days when Pro Evo's appearance was at least the equal of FIFA's, not because of the way it looked but because of the fluidity with which it moved. Add in a rethink of the control system, which attempts to achieve higher responsiveness by way of simpler commands, a more authentic Master League experience, and new levels of complexity in the ball physics so that they react to pitch and weather conditions and it all makes it sound like the days when Pro Evo allowed you to create unbelievably elegant passages of play and goals that you could legitimately watch again with pride may be just around the corner once more. If nothing else, surely the one thing that great football and development teams have in common is that one below-par performance doesn't mean that they've lost their magic.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 is scheduled for release in the UK on Xbox 360, PS3 on 17 October and in the U.S. on 11 November 2008. The PC, Wii, PSP and PS2 will also all be getting their own, exclusive versions.

Previewed by James Hamblin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).