W.E.N.B. : PES 2008 Impressions
Just got back from a few fun days at a trade event in Birmingham, and boy have I got a lot to talk about! After taking in the delights on offer (Call of Duty 4, Mario Galaxy, Assassins Creed etc.), I was treated to an extremely up-to-date code of PES 2008!
This was mainly thanks to both Michael Rotchell and Gareth Evans, senior members of the Konami sales team. Not an event where they were supposed to be showing off a near final version, but were kind enough to let me have a look for the benefit of the blog.
I was like a kid in a candy store when Michael booted up the game on a PS3, connected to a nice 40inch Sharpe TV. After seeing him (and me for a bit) getting beaten by Germany playing as England, I took the opportunity to take a look through the menu's and familiarise myself with the new look. My main interest, like many viewers, was to check out the editing functions available this year. Unfortunately it wasn't what it was lived up to be, editing wasn't a step up from the current gen options. Sure there's the ability to scan your own face in and pop in logo's & sponsors of your favourite unlicensed teams, but the basic functionality just wasn't there.
First off the 9 boots that we've seen are all whats on offer. Along with that the preset boots can't be edited. In PE6 on the PS2 you could at least create boots that resembled other brands, not this year on next gen I'm afraid. Then when checking through kit editing options I realised that the amount of preset designs to choose from have dramatically been decreased. Lets hope the new sponsor/logo import feature makes up for this.
Feeling a little bemused by the editing, or lack of, I started a match. Choosing the mighty Milan vs the not so mighty Tottenham, I was greeted with a new option allowing you to change the grass patterns on the stadiums. As previously rumoured, there is absolutely no option to edit stadiums any further than the design of the playing surface. Ranging from diamond, squares and circles shapes, there were around 5 different looks you could create to the 15 stadiums on offer. Yes you read right, just 15 stadiums!
After having a mixed first 5 mins with the game I was ready to kick off. Choosing 3 guys to always go up for corners (Nesta, Inzaghi and Ronaldo should do it) the match started.
Quickly popping the game into wide cam I was treated to one of the best experiences I've had with a Pro Evo game...EVER. Gone was the frustration regarding the underwhelming front end, the gameplay is where its at and PES 2008 has it in abundance.
The first thing to hit me was the slow pace. It's been a while since playing an advanced version in Leipzig, so it was much clearer for me compare the two versions. All I can say is that it's very close to the speed of Fifa 08. The X360 version was a little quicker and a little brighter in its colours, but it was pretty much the same. Gone were the players zipping around at an alarming pace in the demo, everything seemed more considered and lifelike. It was great to be passing the ball about, creating some beautiful moves and scoring some special (and meaningful) goals. I even managed to dive and grab a penalty! At first I also found it difficult to score, the 'keepers are certainly miles better than the demo. They are fantastic on 1-on-1 situations, closing down the angles very quickly.
The feeling of playing PES was there. Whether that's a good thing or bad remains to be seen with some of the fans, as perhaps its a sign of the series not really moving on. It certainly feels familiar. In my eyes though that's a good thing, it was a pleasure to play, and left me with the feeling that I'd just played a game that I'll be playing for many months to come.
The build that I played was around 3 weeks old, and had some issues that I was assured will be fixed in the final versions. I noticed slowdown on replays and corners, as well as some loss of detail when in wide cam - the boots all went to black, and you couldn't even see the rain!
Overall though it was a great experience, I certainly feel honoured to have had time with the game. It's going to be keeping many people occupied when its hits on the 26TH October! Thanks again to Gareth and Michael for letting me have a bash, make sure you keep in touch guys!
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