Genre: Sports
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

This year's edition of the venerable Pro Evo franchise features the kind of detailed stadiums, zombie-apocalypse player designs, and sharp-but-flat presentation that have come to represent the series. In motion the game looks very authentic, and the general aesthetic during gameplay is wonderful. The pre and post-match package needs to be dressed up a bit though, as it's really looking like a living room with 1960s decor at this point.

Like other game franchises such as Turn 10's Forza series, when you start a Pro Evo game you know you're in for another zany fringe-pop soundtrack, and this iteration doesn't disappoint. It's all vaguely stadium-like though, and doesn't sound out of place. The announcing, on the other hand, is unbelievably forgettable. And after playing the 3DO's 1994 FIFA release back-to-back with this game, it's incredible that stadium noises in video games have gone backwards.

A couple of years ago Pro Evo and FIFA diverged, with FIFA going the route of Madden-- beautiful to watch, but played in sluggish autopilot mode-- whereas Pro Evo focused on responsive controls and player movements, ala Sega's old NFL 2kx series. This year's version follows that formula better than ever, and throws in some nifty dribbling and first-touch abilities as well, which are activated via 2d fighter-esque motions and button presses. This is the best playing and most realistic football video game simulation to date.

Pro Evo 2013 is a tale of two halves: the first half, the actual footballing engine, is fantastic-- bar-none the best football simulation made thus far. With friends or against the AI, it is a treat. The second half, however, consists of navigating shabby, outdated looking menus while sitting through constant auto-save prompts that you can't disable. At least the game's plethora of features-- Master League and Edit Mode among them-- are present and functioning.