Unfortunately its a couple of days late but here at W.E.N.B. we like to get things translated fully before publishing them. We hope that it makes for great reading! I think its a very good article by our friends Erik Hansson. Again special thanks to Per Magnus Riseng for the translation!
 
 
PES 2008 - Review
 
There is no other game series that I care more about. Each year I spend hundreds of hours with the latest instalment of the PES-series, and thus it becomes easy for me to find irritating aspects of the game. Sometimes it’s even easy to forget that, after all, I play it so much as I do and therefore think it is a very good game. In this year’s version, it’s precisely that dilemma which I find most difficult to deal with.
 
Micro management
I could list a hundred things which Konami needs to fix, but I can’t make myself forget all the good times. When one sits there and burst past a mid-back with RT and meets a cross, makes a sudden stop with RB in a run down the flank or really can feel that it’s Messi you control. Then, the game is pure enjoyment. Because even this year Konami has been sitting with their micro tools and chopped a stat there, raised a number here, put in some new animations in virtually all situations to then test the game for hours and hours, heighten some more stats and then back to work again. They’re still some distance away from the perfect game, but they’re getting closer and closer.
 
The players feel real
One of the game’s strengths is the unique abilities of each player. When you make your own players and test them in the game, you begin to realize what an extremely detailed system it is that controls the happenings during the game. Put the Aggression on a side-back to High and he will sprint along the sideline like Roberto Carlos in the good, old days. Set high Teamwork on a defensive midfielder and you’ll get a player that always seems to find team mates with passes. Give an offensive midfielder the special attribute Middle Shooting and find the space to fire a rocket form 30 yards out. When you are truly pissed about the happenings on the field, you can almost always find the explanation in the players attributes. Ashley Cole’s poor decision when you’ve just taken control over him is because of his low Response. The reason for Crouch’s weak body which constantly loses duels can be found in his attributes.
 
It’s possible to debate the attributes and their influence, but no one can deny the fact that Konami has done a monstrous job in creating players which really does feel unique. “Seabass” Takatsuka leaves to the opposing football games to feature players who differ only by looks.
 
Enemies to defeat
Compared to PES 6 there’s a lot of new minor additions. The gimmick of diving in hope of a penalty is barely worth mentioning, to pull the oppositions shirt is nice, but all the more important is the option to pick specific players for the wall and being able to quickly take free kicks. It still happens to seldom, but free kicks no longer have to slow down the play as in previous games. New animations and movements create life-saving variation and with improved passing you have a slightly better chance of not getting pissed because of the players’ dreadful play. The duelling system has also been improved with the result that you now have to rethink your runs.
 
It’s still big difference between the players. Muscle-man, Jan Koller in the Check team is hard to stop unless you manage to produce a perfect sliding tackle or anticipates his movement. Small backs that chase him in the back is a piece of cake for Mr. Koller. It’s kind of like an action game where you have to defeat each enemy in their own, special way, but where you have to hit the red dot in the head followed by two shots to the gas tank in the action game, in PES 2008 you have to be aggressive on some attackers while others demand more support. A player like Gerrard can not be given the opportunity to shoot form distance and Cristiano Ronaldo can not be left facing the goal.
 
Finally editing
Last years Xbox 360 version was heavily criticized. We can demand more from Konami, and not even having an edit-function in a game that suffers from the lack of licenses is downright bad. This year the situation all the much better and we are able to create our own players, strips, emblems and teams. Both emblem and faces can be imported using the Xbox Live Vision-Camera. That way, there’s an option for the fans to fill the 18 team slots and the hundreds of player slots with their own creations. Here the PES Communities will be giving the game an extra value as devoted fans sit and create the Bundesliga, all the Premiership clubs and much more. For the PS3 it seems to be easy to import a new option file, and it should be possible on the Xbox 360 as well, even if it might require some more work.
 
Three other minor additions
So by now we have a really good game on-pitch and a good edit-function. Additionally, there are three new functions in Master League. First, the ML-layout is changed to what is, at least, better looking menus. Second, the lower division has been expanded to include 20 teams, which is raising the difficulty level for the ones who likes to play ML. A third addition is popularity points that are applied to both teams and players. If your team has to few of these, no players are going to be interested in a transfer to you, and if your players lack points they will be less attractive transfer targets. This isn’t a huge improvement, but it affects great parts of the Master League in a positive way, giving more challenge to the player.
 
Stop
But after this it ends. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions don’t get any more than that. It’s brilliant on the pitch, the editing function is really nice and the Master League improvements are nice additions, but if Konami think that the consumers after a whole year don’t expect more new features, they have probably outsmarted us. Of course it’s going to be enough. We will still buy the game as it’s still best on where it counts; the pitch (have you heard that one before?). There is an extremely amount of things which could have been done with players, the menus, the music and the graphics. There are also a lot of things that can be improved on-pitch (such as hopeless runs from the mid-backs, free kicks on your own half that’s barely passable to team mates and much more).
 
Time’s up for Konami to start lifting their heads. We already know they can make football games like no-one else. Nobody doubt that they know what they’re doing when they’re tweaking little things that people don’t even notice, but there’s more to football games than that. Too brag about “Team Vision” as the big new thing shows exactly how they think. I’ve played about fifty games in Master League and I can’t say I’ve experienced the opposition figuring out my tactics. Yes, the AI feels better than before, but people who have played the game for 20 hours would be hard pressed to guess that that is the great new addition. Sadly, it says a whole lot about Seabass and his team, but also about PES 2008 as a game.
 
Time to increase the speed
If you still want to play the best football game on the latest gen consoles, PES 2008 is your choice. But remember that FIFA 08 is following close behind this year. According to me, the on-pitch aspect of the game rates a 9 in PES 2008 and a 7 in FIFA 2008. But when it comes to menus and options EA’s game is a 10 out of 10 while the Japanese doesn’t manage more than a weak 6. From that, it’s up to you. For my own part, I can’t help being fascinated by the way it feels when I play the ball in the team and notices how my tactics work. The contrast between the on-pitch game and the presentation is almost frighteningly high.
 
My advice to Konami; leave Seabass locked in with the on-pitch game until he fears the sunlight. But leave the rest to another, European team. A team who realizes that you don’t silence the critics of last years crappy tunes by adding more crappy tunes in this years version. When they realize this, then I can maybe be able to give PES a perfect ten.
 
Verdict:
 
+ On-pitch game is great
+ Edit function is good
+ Popularity points in Master League
+ Players feel like their real life counterparts
+ All the tactical choices
 
- Still only one-on-one online
- Poor choice of game modes
- Not enough changes to Master League
- Loads of missing licenses
- Awful music
- Ugly menus
- Ugly crowds
- Zlatan is not in the Swedish National team by default
 
Graphics: 06/10
Animations look really good and players often look like their real-life versions, but just about everything else is less good or even ugly. The middle sequences also have bad updating.
 
Gameplay: 09/10
I can argue forever about everything that’s missing, but I’m still impressed by how extremely well done everything in the matches is. And deep down I’m grateful for every little new feature in the Master league.
 
Lifespan: 08/10:
I’m going to play it until next version arrives, despite the lack of game modes and online modes.
 
 
Final Verdict: 08/10:
I cannot give the game a 9 this year. Even though it far surpasses last years Xbox 360 version, it still takes more than the usual match-upgrades, edit mode and some minor changes to Master league to get approved. Far superior on the pitch this year again, but everything else around is an insult to us who have bought PES games for thousands of Kroner [hundreds of pounds].