I have been keeping myself busy with PES 2009, Become a Legend mode for the last two weeks. I have looked at the Be a Pro mode on Fifa 2009 and I find myself thinking: “Wow, Konami has done this right!”.

Become a Legend mode is what this should be all about, what I have been dreaming since I was a small kid and playing soccer games on Commodore 64. My dream was to start a career being a 16-17 year old kid on a small team and climb your way up to be “the” player on world’s top clubs.

This is what Konami build with PES 2009, and it is available on PSP -our favorite console-. I have been doing my best on my mid-level English club to make assists, score goals and help my defense. The game is more than I have ever asked for with transfer offers, watching the game from the bench after you had bad performance or your teammates seeming to build confidence in you so they pass the ball to you more often.

On the EA side, FIFA 2009’s Be a Pro mode seems to be more shallow, where you pick up a real player (Steven Gerrard anyone?) and you play to achieve some goals. Well this is OK in some aspects, but giving the ball to your keeper and receivng it back 20 times does not make you a better player. Also, football is not always about statistics. PES 2009 only gives you a ranking at the end. Well, this is what we need.

Overall, I really liked the way PES 2009 Become a Legend mode turned out to be, and I believe I will be playing season over season until I am bored or get all the awards there are. Though I have to say that this mode is really hard even in a “regular” setting where you really depend on your teammates. A final tip, try to choose a team with a strong defense as all your efforts can go down the drain with a trivial error on your defence lineup.