PES 2008 Review

Editing options are plentiful, which at least means you can put in correct team names.

The keepers have been altered too. In the last game, lots of goals were scored because keepers parried shots into the paths of onrushing attackers, something that drew a lot of complaints from PES's vocal fanbase. It was as if every keeper suffered from a dose of Paul Robinson syndrome. While you'll still be able to score gaols in this way, it happens less. Keepers are better shot stoppers too, but will flap a bit on crosses. Keepers in PES 2008 are more Jose Reina than Petr Cech. We have to say it's an improvement.

The commentary is hugely improved. In fact, it's the best ever in a PES game. We've now got John Champion and Mark Lawrenson casting their critical eye on proceedings. Love them or hate them, the commentary is well up with play, with Champion doing a great job of sounding genuinely excited if there's a chance. There's also some insight into the teams, which, while irrelevant, help ad authenticity to the action. Champion will mention that the team has moaned to the press about having two training sessions a day in the build up to the game. Pointless, but nice. I've always turned the commentary off in every PES game I've played, until now.

Ah the music. The music in PES has always been bad. But the music in PES 2008 is quite possibly the worst I've ever heard in a video game. Konami has attempted to copy EA Sports' style of having the artist and song name flash up on screen, but has completely botched it. In PES 2008, the name of song will display along with the genre of music, from electronica to drum and bass, in a small box on the top right of the screen. But it's nothing to be proud of. Let me give you some sample lyrics from a piece of original music in the game (you have to imagine this with a Status Quo-type punk rock riff): "Football, soccer, football, soccer, football, soccer, all around the world. Football, soccer, football, soccer, football, soccer, Greatest game of all!" One of the first things you'll do in PES 2008 is head straight for the game settings to turn off the background music. It'll be one of the best decisions of your life.

Diving. Yes, you can dive in PES 2008, by pressing L1, L2 and R1 together. This new feature has split fans right down the middle. Konami say it's reflective of how football is in real life. But nobody likes diving, right? It's cheating. So why allow you to cheat in a game? In a match, there's no point diving unless you're being pressed in the box and you think it might make your shot hit row Z rather than the back of the net. Anywhere else and you'll get booked for it. In our multiplayer games in Pro-G towers, we quickly added no diving to house rules. We suspect when the online servers go live this weekend, a lot of people will do the same. Our view? We reckon Konami should have concentrated more on getting the game running properly on PS3 than putting in dodgy new features.

PES 2008 on PS3 is for a next-gen console but it is not a next-gen game. You cannot ignore the fact that, for whatever reason, this is a poor effort from Konami.

Speaking of dodgy new features, there are a few more in the game. Penalties work the same but from a new angle. The camera is positioned by the foot of the keeper if you are saving a penalty. The process of taking and saving a penalty is the same - pressing the correct direction on the d-pad and shoot, but the new perspective is very disorienting. I'm not really sure why Konami changed it - it felt fine to me before. You can scan your face into the game via the PlayStation Eye and map it onto a user-generated player. Sounds good in theory, but it doesn't work too well. I tried it and had a real hard time getting anything even remotely life-like, despite more face-moulding options than you can shake a hair-dryer at. You might have seen some screenshots of what looks like players talking to the media. This is just window dressing for the Master League, which despite a menu re-jig is essentially exactly the same as before.

Fans of the Premier League will be disappointed to learn that Konami is still yet to prize EA Sports' unflinching grasp from that elusive exclusive license. The two licensed teams here are Tottenham and Newcastle, replacing Arsenal and Manchester United. So yet again we have London (Chelsea), North London (Arsenal), Man Red (Man Utd) and Merseyside Red (Liverpool) battling it out for the England League title in plain kits that look like Lycra. The feeling here is less disappointment, more a depressed resignation. Some transfers haven't made it into the game either - Danny Murphy is still at Spurs when he should be at Fulham, and Lassana Diarra is still at Chelsea when he should be at Arsenal. But again, we can live with this, especially with a fully fleshed out edit mode.

Player animations are as good as ever, and player faces actually better FIFA's.

What's most disappointing about PES 2008 on PS3 is that if it wasn't crippled by its technical problems, it would one of the best Pro Evolution Soccer games ever made. It would certainly be an improvement on last year's next-gen effort. PES fans can forgive the poor graphics, the God-awful music, the embarrassing presentation and lack of licensed teams, because the core of the game is so mind-bogglingly brilliant. PES fans have been doing this for so many years, that they even forgive the odd bit of slowdown, too. But, I'm afraid to say, PES 2008 on PS3 is unforgivable.

PES 2008 on PS3 is for a next-gen console but it is not a next-gen game. You cannot ignore the fact that, for whatever reason, this is a poor effort from Konami. PES executive producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka himself has said that he was "shocked" at the PS3 slowdown and that he doesn't have a clue why it's happening. Unfortunately this won't cut it for gamers who have forked out hundreds of pounds for a PS3, a platform that is supposed to be the most powerful console in the world. Slowdown and poor frame rates are so last gen. It's amazing to think that some scientists have replaced supercomputers with PS3s, and an experienced game developer can't get a football game to run without having a heart attack. It is with a heavy heart, a heart that has been in love with Konami's brilliant football series for longer than I can remember, that I cannot recommend PES 2008 on the PS3 over FIFA 08 on the same console.

The online servers for the game just gone live, and are currently suffering varying degrees of lag across all systems. Check back next week for our thoughts on how this year's game fares when played over the internet and hopefully, when Konami has implemented a patch.