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If you’ve stumbled across this article, then ideally you’ll need to do some background reading and read our review of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. If time is of an essence, then all you need to know is that we gave PES2008 a 6/10 for being a shoddy, broken title. Until Konami releases a patch, the score will stand as it is; a depressingly average game. Whether or not you agree with our review, you’d have to be extremely ignorant not to acknowledge the fact that the Online Multiplayer is lag-infested and that replays are appallingly jerky. To tie in with the festive cheer, we’ve attempted to deliberate on the game’s position and quality and pluck several key positives. The results are founded in logic and are no-way a rant, but a complex argument as to why Konami has done the genre good than the obvious harm.

This is where the first positive comes into effect. If Konami have any sense, they will be aware of the discontent and general grumblings surrounding their game. Hopefully the development team isn’t ignorant enough to ignore this and will search for rectification. This means that in the wake of a future ‘sales-crumble’ the subsequent PES will have to be of outstanding quality to win back its tentative fans. If the developers slip op on the next PES, that’ll surely drive fans completely away, apart from the loyal elite. This pressure will hype the game-up, therefore raising press coverage and increasing the customer base. Innovation and stability will be needed for the series to survive economically and the only people who benefit is the gamer. PES Fans are not the only ones that will (optimistically) see a better product. The improvement of the game will kick start EA’s efforts to stay ahead, consequently improving the quality of the FIFA franchise. Without this ‘dud’ edition of PES, (which was arguably unavoidable anyway) the competition in the genre would stagnate, which would have a direct result of the long-term quality of the series. If we draw on the ‘hardware-war’ between Nvidia and ATI, parallels can be seen. Up to the release of the 8xxx range, ATI and Nvidia were churning out new graphics cards monthly, outwitting each other with every revision. The result meant there was a great range for the consumer as well the direct result of constantly falling card prices. Since the release of the 8800, there hasn’t been an ATI card to match it. A year has passed and the prices of cards have stayed the same and Nvidia has no reason to rush out the latest, improved technology. The same applies to the football genre, or any genre. Without a doubled effort from Konami, we’d have barely improved titles each year and possibly a decrease in quality, ala PES2008. 

The pitiful effort by Konami as shown in PES2008 may be costly for itself and its fans (those who paid full whack for the game) but arguably it’s only a short-term problem. Hopefully the developers will bring out a patch, which will spur a re-review on our behalf. The long term implications and the way the genre swings relies on Konami’s views. If they’re happy with the reception, then obviously little change will occur, but if they actually look out into the community, they’ll have to act. If we detract from the economical and business side of the argument, there are minor positives. The ‘next-gen’ versions have been granted the ability to save replays onto the hard drive.  The large storage capacity of these devices means that data management is irrelevant and as many replays as you want can be saved. The inclusion of an edit mode is a welcome, much needed addition. The addition of these features over PES6 means that they’ll be a guarantee for future games. Finally, the public’s qualms have caused Konami to look wider, out into their community. Hopefully it will cause them to listen and have greater levels of interaction. Again, another example of where the gamer wins. We can’t ignore the fact that PES2008 is borderline mediocre, but it’s not as bleak as it was once thought.

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