Overview

My purchase of the US/NTSC Xbox 360 version of PES 2008 means that I have now three different copies of this game (four different if you include the fact that I also have the Japanese DS version). This is particularly ironic since I think this is the weakest improvement in the Winning Eleven/Pro Evo series thus far.

My hope was that with the poor press the game received in Europe and the several month delay between the game’s release there and it’s arrival to our shores that some of the problems with the game would be fixed.

Unfortunately, Konami appear to have spent the past four months sitting on their collective asses and counting their cash (from idiots like me). That’s not to say PES 2008 was is an utter disaster – it’s still solid in the gameplay department, however the game feels unfinished in many other aspects.

Graphics 60/100

The visuals in the US Xbox 360 version of PES 2008 are identical to those in the European version and as such the game really looks like a high-resolution version of a PS2 or Xbox game.

One of the big problems with the European version was the game’s notorious slow-down/poor frame-rate during cut-scenes and replays. This wasn’t a game breaker but it was a major annoyance as you couldn’t appreciate much of the excellent TV-style presentation with the replays and cut-scenes. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been addressed at all and the game still hudders and jutters during instant replays and many cut-scenes.

The player models are the same as the European version – solid but unspectacular. Kit and skin textures are mediocre. On the bright-side Player faces and expressions are excellent and better than FIFA.

The pathetically small roster of 15 stadiums present in the European release hasn’t been expanded and this is a big slap in the face – particularly since the PS2 and Wii versions have double the number of grounds. Pitch textures are also woeful and worse than last year’s Xbox 360 game.

The game’s saving grace is the excellent catalog of animations that are very life-like and fluid (unless you’re watching them in replays). The only exception is the crappy, sand-in-their-pants running animation. The refs and linesmen (who are invisible in FIFA) are also animated very nicely.

Sound 50/100

‘I’m only living,
For Two Things,
And that’s the game,
And my team,
I hate my job,
I wanna quit-it
‘Cause all I wanna do right now is
Kick it!’

Ah, the laughably shitty musical tracks present in PES 2008 (all created in-house, in case you didn’t guess) have to be heard to be believed.

Fortunately, once you’re done laughing at the songs you can turn them off and listen to the surprisingly decent commentary by Jon Champion and Mark ‘Comatose’ Lawrenson. This is the one bright-spot in the audio but the rest of the crowd and in-game sounds are the same as they’ve been for the past decade and miles behind FIFA 08.

Options 55/100

Okay, so in the four months since the game’s release in Europe and Japan the development team haven’t fixed the slow-down, haven’t done anything about the music, but at least they’ve updated the rosters, right?

Wrong.

None of the January (that was 2 months ago, guys) transfer window deals are in place which is laziness of the highest order as anyone with internet access and a keyboard could update the rosters in a couple of hours. Antonio Puerta is still present at Sevilla….six months after he fucking DIED!

I’m also perplexed at some of the player ratings/attributes in this game. Adriano (you know, the alcoholic who’s having a hard time cutting it back in Brazil) is still an absolute monster, as are the two fatties - Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Aguerro, Torres and Berbatov are woefully underrated and I’m also interested in this alternate universe that soccer-game developers live in where Zlatlan Ibrahimovic continues to be one the best strikers in the world when, in reality, he’s a bit naff outside of Serie A.

There are no new game modes and the bulk of the off-line play will be spent during the solid, but hardly revolutionary, Master League.

The available domestic leagues are; La Liga (licensed), Ligue 1 (licensed), Serie A (licensed), Eridivisie (licensed), EPL (not licensed). There are also two groups of ‘Other Teams’.

The Master League is identical to the European version and still has the same two issues – there’s no option to select kits before matches and only 4 of the available 5 leagues occur concurrently. Why is the latter a big deal? Because it means that all the players in that league become free-agents. In my current Master League campaign, Serie A is the league that doesn’t ‘exist’ – as a result you can pick up the likes of Kaka, Nesta, Buffon, Totti and half the Inter starting 11 on a free.

Don’t get me wrong, the Master League is still a lot of fun and it’s always addictive creating your own squad but this game mode hasn’t significantly evolved in almost a decade. I also can’t fathom why the game doesn’t include at least some of the newer game modes present in the J-League Winning Eleven games.

Online in PES 2008 continues to be an unmitigated disaster. I’ll speak more on this lag-fest in the gameplay section.

Gameplay 83/100

For an in-depth review of the gameplay in PES 2008 you can check out the gameplay section of my review of the PS3 version as the game is exactly the same. In short;

1. Arcade-style game-speed (you get used to it but I prefer slower)
2. Amazing attacking AI….
3. …but the kamikaze attacking AI leaves massive gaps in defense
4. Solid ball-physics except for crazy rebounds and lobbed balls that travel at 100mph
5. Unrealistically high CPU success rate on free-kicks
6. I’m not convinced ‘Team Play AI’ actually exists
7. Goals galore

Despite some issues the game still beats FIFA 08 in the gameplay stakes but I think it takes an overall step-backwards compared to the most recent WE J-League game. The game is also definitely in the arcade-style because goals are far too easy to come-by – be it online or off.

It also happens to be the easiest WE/PES game in recent memory once you learn to exploit the massive gaps left by CPU defenders (who all seem to have studied at the Roberto Carlos School of Defensive Irresponsibility). I just finished a Master League Division 2 season with Liverpool (default rosters with the woefully underrated Torres and Crouch) on the HARDEST difficulty setting (5 Stars), my record is as follows;

Won 31 Drawn 4 Lost 3 Goals Scored 103 Goals Conceded 24 Goal Difference +79

Yes, 103 goals scored in 38 games!!! Division 2 or not, I have NEVER scored that many goals in a single season in ANY Winning Eleven/Pro Evo game. Ever. Okay, sure it’s Division 2, except that my record in Division 1 thus far is this;

Won 4 Drawn 0 Lost 0 Goals Scored 18 Goals Conceded 2 Goal Difference + 16

Two of those wins came against Arsenal (er….I mean North London) and Manchester United (sorry, Manchester Red) – 5-1 and 3-0, respectively. I shudder to think how many goals I’d be scoring if I picked Inter, Barca or Man U.

Online in PES 2008 continues to be a disaster with a ridiculous amount of lag. I’ve had matches were the ball disappears on an offside and then suddenly appears at the other end, I’ve seen missed frames of animation, tackling interactions where you’ll run to win the ball, the game will stutter and then the next thing you know your opponent has a breakaway! I can say, in complete honesty, that I experienced less lag playing dial-up FPS back in the late 90s. And any time I think, ‘well maybe it’s my connection’, I load up FIFA and can play a lag free OTP match with NINE other players!

The most shocking thing about the piss-poor net play is that last year’s game had none of these problems. Sure there was the odd bit of lag here and there but I played more than 100 games on Xbox Live without even a fraction of the lag present in this year’s version. Why throw out perfectly good net code? And worst of all, why not fix it?

Replay Value/Longevity 75/100

Online is largely a no-go which leaves the Master League as the main mode of play. It’s fun and it’s engaging but the lack of difficulty finds me returning to the Fantasista mode in J-League WE 2007 CC (just like I did last fall when I played the PS3 version).

Overall 75/100

When it comes to gameplay Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is still a very good game. Despite the lack of difficulty, the kamikaze attacking AI and the emphasis on an arcade-style experience there are many moments when playing this game that blow FIFA 08 out of the water.

However, when it comes to the overall package PES 2008 feels like an unfinished game. When you compare the amount of effort put into FIFA 08 versus PES 2008, Konami’s game really should be a budget title. That Konami responded to the unfavourable reviews and criticism of the game on it’s European release by sitting on their collective asses reeks of hubris. I still cannot fathom why the rosters and the online-play still haven’t been patched.

One of the excuses I’ve heard regarding the lack of patching or updates has to do with the size of the development team and their perceived lack of financial clout. This doesn’t fly with me. The Winning Eleven/Pro Evo series has sold millions of copies over the years, so unless Seabass has an expensive cocaine habit I’m not sure where the money is going. It sure isn’t going to buying an EPL or Bundesliga license or on patching the game.

Buy it if you’re bored of last year’s game and absolutely must have a game to play in single player. Otherwise, stick to FIFA 08’s amazing multiplayer.

Overview

My purchase of the US/NTSC Xbox 360 version of PES 2008 means that I have now three different copies of this game (four different if you include the fact that I also have the Japanese DS version). This is particularly ironic since I think this is the weakest improvement in the Winning Eleven/Pro Evo series thus far.

My hope was that with the poor press the game received in Europe and the several month delay between the game’s release there and it’s arrival to our shores that some of the problems with the game would be fixed.

Unfortunately, Konami appear to have spent the past four months sitting on their collective asses and counting their cash (from idiots like me). That’s not to say PES 2008 was is an utter disaster – it’s still solid in the gameplay department, however the game feels unfinished in many other aspects.

Graphics 60/100

The visuals in the US Xbox 360 version of PES 2008 are identical to those in the European version and as such the game really looks like a high-resolution version of a PS2 or Xbox game.

One of the big problems with the European version was the game’s notorious slow-down/poor frame-rate during cut-scenes and replays. This wasn’t a game breaker but it was a major annoyance as you couldn’t appreciate much of the excellent TV-style presentation with the replays and cut-scenes. Unfortunately, this hasn’t been addressed at all and the game still hudders and jutters during instant replays and many cut-scenes.

The player models are the same as the European version – solid but unspectacular. Kit and skin textures are mediocre. On the bright-side Player faces and expressions are excellent and better than FIFA.

The pathetically small roster of 15 stadiums present in the European release hasn’t been expanded and this is a big slap in the face – particularly since the PS2 and Wii versions have double the number of grounds. Pitch textures are also woeful and worse than last year’s Xbox 360 game.

The game’s saving grace is the excellent catalog of animations that are very life-like and fluid (unless you’re watching them in replays). The only exception is the crappy, sand-in-their-pants running animation. The refs and linesmen (who are invisible in FIFA) are also animated very nicely.

Sound 50/100

‘I’m only living,
For Two Things,
And that’s the game,
And my team,
I hate my job,
I wanna quit-it
‘Cause all I wanna do right now is
Kick it!’

Ah, the laughably shitty musical tracks present in PES 2008 (all created in-house, in case you didn’t guess) have to be heard to be believed.

Fortunately, once you’re done laughing at the songs you can turn them off and listen to the surprisingly decent commentary by Jon Champion and Mark ‘Comatose’ Lawrenson. This is the one bright-spot in the audio but the rest of the crowd and in-game sounds are the same as they’ve been for the past decade and miles behind FIFA 08.

Options 55/100

Okay, so in the four months since the game’s release in Europe and Japan the development team haven’t fixed the slow-down, haven’t done anything about the music, but at least they’ve updated the rosters, right?

Wrong.

None of the January (that was 2 months ago, guys) transfer window deals are in place which is laziness of the highest order as anyone with internet access and a keyboard could update the rosters in a couple of hours. Antonio Puerta is still present at Sevilla….six months after he fucking DIED!

I’m also perplexed at some of the player ratings/attributes in this game. Adriano (you know, the alcoholic who’s having a hard time cutting it back in Brazil) is still an absolute monster, as are the two fatties - Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Aguerro, Torres and Berbatov are woefully underrated and I’m also interested in this alternate universe that soccer-game developers live in where Zlatlan Ibrahimovic continues to be one the best strikers in the world when, in reality, he’s a bit naff outside of Serie A.

There are no new game modes and the bulk of the off-line play will be spent during the solid, but hardly revolutionary, Master League.

The available domestic leagues are; La Liga (licensed), Ligue 1 (licensed), Serie A (licensed), Eridivisie (licensed), EPL (not licensed). There are also two groups of ‘Other Teams’.

The Master League is identical to the European version and still has the same two issues – there’s no option to select kits before matches and only 4 of the available 5 leagues occur concurrently. Why is the latter a big deal? Because it means that all the players in that league become free-agents. In my current Master League campaign, Serie A is the league that doesn’t ‘exist’ – as a result you can pick up the likes of Kaka, Nesta, Buffon, Totti and half the Inter starting 11 on a free.

Don’t get me wrong, the Master League is still a lot of fun and it’s always addictive creating your own squad but this game mode hasn’t significantly evolved in almost a decade. I also can’t fathom why the game doesn’t include at least some of the newer game modes present in the J-League Winning Eleven games.

Online in PES 2008 continues to be an unmitigated disaster. I’ll speak more on this lag-fest in the gameplay section.

Gameplay 83/100

For an in-depth review of the gameplay in PES 2008 you can check out the gameplay section of my review of the PS3 version as the game is exactly the same. In short;

1. Arcade-style game-speed (you get used to it but I prefer slower)
2. Amazing attacking AI….
3. …but the kamikaze attacking AI leaves massive gaps in defense
4. Solid ball-physics except for crazy rebounds and lobbed balls that travel at 100mph
5. Unrealistically high CPU success rate on free-kicks
6. I’m not convinced ‘Team Play AI’ actually exists
7. Goals galore

Despite some issues the game still beats FIFA 08 in the gameplay stakes but I think it takes an overall step-backwards compared to the most recent WE J-League game. The game is also definitely in the arcade-style because goals are far too easy to come-by – be it online or off.

It also happens to be the easiest WE/PES game in recent memory once you learn to exploit the massive gaps left by CPU defenders (who all seem to have studied at the Roberto Carlos School of Defensive Irresponsibility). I just finished a Master League Division 2 season with Liverpool (default rosters with the woefully underrated Torres and Crouch) on the HARDEST difficulty setting (5 Stars), my record is as follows;

Won 31 Drawn 4 Lost 3 Goals Scored 103 Goals Conceded 24 Goal Difference +79

Yes, 103 goals scored in 38 games!!! Division 2 or not, I have NEVER scored that many goals in a single season in ANY Winning Eleven/Pro Evo game. Ever. Okay, sure it’s Division 2, except that my record in Division 1 thus far is this;

Won 4 Drawn 0 Lost 0 Goals Scored 18 Goals Conceded 2 Goal Difference + 16

Two of those wins came against Arsenal (er….I mean North London) and Manchester United (sorry, Manchester Red) – 5-1 and 3-0, respectively. I shudder to think how many goals I’d be scoring if I picked Inter, Barca or Man U.

Online in PES 2008 continues to be a disaster with a ridiculous amount of lag. I’ve had matches were the ball disappears on an offside and then suddenly appears at the other end, I’ve seen missed frames of animation, tackling interactions where you’ll run to win the ball, the game will stutter and then the next thing you know your opponent has a breakaway! I can say, in complete honesty, that I experienced less lag playing dial-up FPS back in the late 90s. And any time I think, ‘well maybe it’s my connection’, I load up FIFA and can play a lag free OTP match with NINE other players!

The most shocking thing about the piss-poor net play is that last year’s game had none of these problems. Sure there was the odd bit of lag here and there but I played more than 100 games on Xbox Live without even a fraction of the lag present in this year’s version. Why throw out perfectly good net code? And worst of all, why not fix it?

Replay Value/Longevity 75/100

Online is largely a no-go which leaves the Master League as the main mode of play. It’s fun and it’s engaging but the lack of difficulty finds me returning to the Fantasista mode in J-League WE 2007 CC (just like I did last fall when I played the PS3 version).

Overall 75/100

When it comes to gameplay Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is still a very good game. Despite the lack of difficulty, the kamikaze attacking AI and the emphasis on an arcade-style experience there are many moments when playing this game that blow FIFA 08 out of the water.

However, when it comes to the overall package PES 2008 feels like an unfinished game. When you compare the amount of effort put into FIFA 08 versus PES 2008, Konami’s game really should be a budget title. That Konami responded to the unfavourable reviews and criticism of the game on it’s European release by sitting on their collective asses reeks of hubris. I still cannot fathom why the rosters and the online-play still haven’t been patched.

One of the excuses I’ve heard regarding the lack of patching or updates has to do with the size of the development team and their perceived lack of financial clout. This doesn’t fly with me. The Winning Eleven/Pro Evo series has sold millions of copies over the years, so unless Seabass has an expensive cocaine habit I’m not sure where the money is going. It sure isn’t going to buying an EPL or Bundesliga license or on patching the game.

Buy it if you’re bored of last year’s game and absolutely must have a game to play in single player. Otherwise, stick to FIFA 08’s amazing multiplayer.