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In football anyone can get to the top, but staying there is a different matter. It’s such an unpredictable game and that’s one of major appeals as a sport. Konami have been in that position for arguably six titles. The Pro Evolution series has been considered the football connoisseur’s choice, despite its lack of licensed teams.  From the days of ISS, to the most recent Pro Evolution Soccer 6, it’s outwitted and outpaced its main rival; FIFA. It’s been renowned for its deep, complex gameplay that gets as close to the sport as possible. What it lacks in the authenticity department (licences for UK teams and league names,) it makes up by playing like football. PES08, out on all major formats, looked like it was going to keep the tradition of somehow improving upon its past edition. The demo showed off the improved passing, ball control and a new graphical look. It looked like it was on track to sustaining another year at the top. So has Pro Evolution 2008 lived up to its expectations or has it been knocked out of the competition?

It’s a shame, but almost inevitable. Konami’s unbeaten record has come to an end and has been completely obliterated. There’s only so much you can do to improve a game, and eventually you’re going to peak. While that’s fine by us, we didn’t expect for Konami to decrease the game’s quality. Whether the result is intentional, lazy developer behaviour or time-constricted pressure from opponents, PES2008 is a seriously troubled title. The PES series has such a staple that it’s genuinely disappointing to see what state 2008 is in. That’s enough aimless whining and whinging, and onto why it’s ended up with the red card.

First off, it’s not (directly) the new ‘arcade’ visuals. Personally, it’s a nice change and adds more colour and feeling to the game. Konami have delivered on the facial animations, and you can now see stubble, blemishes and facial features clearly and crisply. Player models are sharp, scaled correctly and move like they should. They clap, shout and cheer according to what happens, whether a ball goes out of play or they miss a sitter. While it looks ‘arcadey,’ it also has a quirky reality to it. It’s almost stylised in a way, adding vibrant colour to a game often dominated by green. Stadiums are well replicated and fans are more varied that ever before. It looks great; fresh and new. The absurd problem is that for some unbeknown reason, the console cannot handle the engine in replays. The graphical power on show isn’t anything tremendous and replaying the action shouldn’t be a problem. Whether it’s poor coding or pitiful optimization of the engine, when you watch a replay you feel it could induce a seizure. It’s so jerky and fragmented that it’s almost laughable. Konami released a patch that slightly improved the matter but it’s still basically broken. It’s a shame because the non-player controlled replays have had more useful camera angles introduced. It’s annoying that can’t understand what’s going on.

The replay situation isn’t the only negative that results from a positive. PES08 wanted to acknowledge the fact that some players are more skilful that others. Dribbling has been tweaked allowing the technical-gifted elite to guide the ball with ease. You can outpace, out skill and out manoeuvre like never before and if you’re that kind of player then it’s fantastic. The peculiar thing is, that in reality not every player is Ronaldinho. PES08 begs to differ and if you’re adequately skilled at dribbling then you can get through defences with embarrassing amounts of ease.  More often than not, you’ll find that the opposition are wearing super-glue shoes and keep the ball no matter how many tackles you send against them. It’s shocking and highly unrepresentative of reality. Your tried and tested defensive techniques from PES6 are useless and it’s frustrating for those that pride themselves on their defensive solidness. All you have to do is breathe on the AI controlled players and a foul is awarded, while they hack at your legs and get away with it.

It’s not all bad news in the gameplay department. If you are the kind of player who enjoys passing the ball around then it’s easily achieved. Players flick the ball intelligently, run into space and sprint with more athleticism. Careful build up is rewarded but sadly more often than not it’ll be shattered by someone who holds RB, sprints round your defenders and places it through the keeper. Goalkeepers are another thing which needed improving and Konami have failed to deliver on. They parry into their nets, watch balls trickle past them or punch the simplest of saves. Clipping issues are retained, with the ball going through them more times than are acceptable. It’s not like Konami have been overly ambitious, but they’ve just failed to deliver on the basics. For a development studio with an impeccable track record it’s crushing to its fans.

These issues are almost forgivable because more often than not after a few weeks with a new PES you pick up its style and click with the game. What condemns it to its average score are the failings of the online multiplayer. PES6 was solid as a rock and was a pleasurably experience, minus a few disconnections or annoying players. If you had friends with the game, it was a sublime experience. This time round, it feels as through the game was invented before broadband. It really does think you’re running a 56k modem. The lag is ridiculous and unplayable. It’s shoddy, lame and awful. It’s every negative adjective under the sun. Maybe when another patch is released it’ll solve the issues, but it has been 2 months and it’s no better since its day of release.

Redeeming the game from utter disgrace is the inclusion of an Edit mode, the ability to save goals onto the hard drive and an expanded (and lengthened) Master League mode. These are minor plus points for a fundamentally flawed game. Its unforgivable misplacing of trust from the fans and it feels like Konami just couldn’t be bothered. Therefore the fans can’t be bothered and they have a lot of make-up in front of them before we purchase another PES.

Score: 6/10

(Xbox360 Version Primarily Reviewed.)

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