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Small things like shirt pulling add to the realism
Small things like shirt pulling add to the realismSmall things like shirt pulling add to the realism

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 Left Trigger, LB and Right Trigger 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's time would have been better spent improving the game's graphics.

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Speaking of dodgy new features, Konami has taken the bizarre option of changing the position of the camera when you are saving penalties to the foot of the keeper. 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.

Another poorly implemented new feature is the ability to can scan your face into the game via the Xbox Live Vision camera 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.


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.

And the Master League has undergone some underwhelming tweaks. You might have seen some screenshots of what looks like players talking to the media and signing autographs at training. Don't be fooled. This is just window dressing for the Master League, which despite a menu re-jig is essentially exactly the same experience as in Pro Evolution Soccer 6.

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 now that the 360 version has a fully fleshed out edit mode.

Visually we've at least got a smooth frame rate in the 360 gameVisually we've at least got a smooth frame rate in the 360 game

In the PS3 review we said that the most disappointing thing about PES 2008 was that if it wasn't crippled by its technical problems it would one of the best Pro Evolution Soccer games ever made. Does that make the 360 version one of the best PES games ever made? As someone who has played every Pro Evo game Konami has brought to the UK, I'd have to say yes. Some will baulk at the more arcade feel to the game, and how dribbling and passing has been made easier (in direct contrast to FIFA's more considered play), but for me it's hit a sweet spot. And others will say the 360 d-pad is terrible for playing PES (which it is), although this has never really bothered me since I always use the analogue stick both on the Sixaxis and the 360 pad. Of more importance is the fact that Konami hasn't embraced next-gen gaming in any way shape or form with PES 2008. The graphics are distinctly last-gen and the game is almost identical in terms of modes and features to Pro Evolution 6. Looks like Seabass has earmarked next year's game for that. Third time lucky eh?

But PES 2008's gameplay is a big improvement on last year's 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. Some gamers have called for a complete overhaul of the game, as legendary PES executive producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka has confirmed will be in place for 2009's game. But for me, I love PES's gameplay the way it is. The feeling of satisfaction you get from scoring a goal in PES, be it a tap-in at the end of an Arsenal-esque 20-pass move or a Frank Lampard scorcher, is unlike anything in gaming. It's about as close as us mortals are going to get to that uncontrollable burst of emotion professional footballers experience week in, week out. The most important thing is that in PES 2008 you can still get that beautiful feeling.

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.

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