Lamping one in Comments Off
The shooting mechanism in PES2008 is slightly peculiar for a PES game. It seems difficult to get any height on long-range shots. Most will fly toward the net at head-height. Getting them up, up, up in the air – high enough to curl over and down around the goalkeepers’ despairing dives – seems tricky.
Some people recommend double-tapping the shoot button. I.e., first tap the shoot button, then press it again for the desired power. This actually seems to work, although more often than not the resulting shot flies high over the bar. I don’t remember seeing this in the manual, which I’ve read all the way through from cover to cover (does anyone ever actually use the blank Notes pages toward the back of some game manuals for the making of Notes?).
I suspect it really is just all about the power – that and the player’s placement, his footedness, the proximity of opposition players, angle to goal, wind direction, etc. etc….. It should be no more difficult, from what I have seen so far, to blaze the long-rangers in on PES2008 than it was on PES6 or PES5. In fact I think it might turn out to be easier, what with these slightly dodgy keepers and all. It’s just a matter of getting used to the tweaked parameters in the new game. Time will tell on that front.
I’m still playing International Cups – and still not won one. I’m playing on Top Player these days. It isn’t obligatory for me to win a Cup before progressing to Master League, but it would be nice. I came close today. Something clicked, and I flew through the group stage, thumping my first two opponents 3-0 and then, in the case of poor old Wales (the group minnows), 5-0…
The third goal I scored in that match was the best I have scored on PES2008 so far. I had a corner on the right. Instead of pinging the ball into the box and just sort of hoping for the best (as I do with 99% of all corners), I thought I’d try something different. I rotated the view left and saw Gerrard and Lampard standing a few yards outside the box. Gerrard was marked. Lampard wasn’t. I aimed at him and pressed for about a three-quarters-strength cross…
Beckham has a fine delivery. The ball arced through the air. But I had slightly misjudged the power. I’d wanted the ball to fly directly to Lampard, but it bounced about a yard away from him. No matter. I met the ball on the half-volley and walloped it past all the defenders and the goalkeeper into the back of the net. Nice one, Frank.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KapR-B5FpBI&rel=1]
I was eliminated from the tournament in the Quarter Finals by the Czech Republic. Unaccountably, I found myself 0-3 down within 30 minutes of kickoff. The CPU teams in PES2008 often have this knack of being able to magically twist their way through any and every challenge, get possession back instantly whenever they lose it, and walk the ball into the net if that’s what they feel like doing. I’m not bitter. Not much.