Genre: Sports
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

This is the first title in the series that makes at least some use of modern GPU technical abilities. And like the previous entries in the series, the game is also bright, colorful, and artfully executed, successfully straddling a line between absolute realism and the kind of wondrously fictitious imagery that video games are capable of.

Despite the fact that the color remarks have been taken over by Jim Beglin, the commentary still suffers from a lack of context sensitivity, too much seriousness, and total generalization. Like most licensed soundtracks in video games, this one is barely listenable, and it's amazing to note that the original FIFA International Soccer on the 3DO had better crowd noises than even this most recent Pro Evolution Soccer iteration.

Every iteration in the series has managed to incrementally add just a little more realism while maintaining the fast-based, responsive gameplay for which the franchise is reknowned. This year's additions include a passing strength meter, and most importantly, the ability to configure virtually any aspect of a team's tactics via a lovely drag-and-drop interface, along with the game engine to actually play out those configurations in real-time.

While the world waits for the inevitable timeless, cross-platform, libre, fully customizable football engine with a thriving community, it can at least content itself with traditional commercial titles like Pro Evolution Soccer 2011. This title is a strong entry for the genre, what with its plethora of enjoyable modes and an ever improved gameplay engine that continues the series' tradition of successfully making "realism" and "fun" tradeoffs.