Not in any Rush
When I posted the Maldini screenshot last time, I was impressed by the quality of most of PES2008’s player likenesses. Only a few are either so vague or so grotesque that you cannot help thinking: eh? Ian Rush’s mugshot is one of the vague ones:
Eh? Let me get this straight. Iwam Russell is definitely Ian Rush, yes? No? Someone correct me if I’m wrong. I might be wrong. I’m often wrong.
Rushie has been a disappointment so far. It was only to be expected. 25 years old and coming out of the Unbelonging list, he’s had no development. He has no pace at all, and PES2008 is all about pace. Without pace, a striker needs a formidable array of other qualities to be a success in your team.
Schwarz is a prime example. He’s by no means quick, but his strength and shot power more than makes up for it. He got another hat-trick during a routine 6-0 thumping of Everton. (Thumping teams 6-0 is routine in PES2008. Hence the aura of disgruntlement that surrounds the game this year.) In several other League games it went all my way too.
The only really tough game of this period came against River Plate. They scored first, a tame goal from a corner, and I lost the plot. How dare the CPU score against me? I will NOT have it…
By half-time I was lucky not to be 0-3 down and down to 9 men.
I recovered my wits for the second half and started to play properly again. I got an equaliser. Then I got a penalty. Schwarz took it – and missed, sending the ball a long, long way over the bar.
Penalties in PES are rubbish. They have always been rubbish. They’re too random. There was no reason why Schwarz had suddenly decided to blast the ball over the bar. I wasn’t pressing up on the analogue stick. I had only tapped the shoot button.
Fortunately, I got a winner in open play a few minutes from the end.
Manchester United still haven’t lost a game all season – but they have drawn seven, and many of these have come during this period. I played them in a thrilling Championship six-pointer.
If only all matches in PES2008 were like this. Tension, skill, near-misses, last-ditch tackles, goal-line clearances – this match had everything. The only thing it lacked was a goal.
When Ronaldo burst past Guimaraes in the last minute and bore down on goal, I feared the worst, and prepared to sharpen my special Scripting pen. But the little Portugeezer flashed his shot wide of the post. The full-time whistle blew immediately. The final result was a fair 0-0.
I’m happy enough with the point. It keeps me three points clear at the top of the pile. That goal difference will come in handy if I inexplicably stop winning nearly every game. Looking at how far behind Chelsea are, it’s safe to say that the title is a two-horse race, and has been for some time.
I’ve scored 87 goals in 25 matches. There are 13 matches left. I’ll easily score 100 goals in the League this season, and then some. This is not a cause for satisfaction. Quite the opposite, in fact.
In the D1 Cup, I played Arsenal in the Quarter Final, and dispatched them with aplomb, 4-1 on aggregate. I’ll be up against Chelsea in the Semi Final.
In the European Cup, my Quarter Final opponents were Villarreal. The first leg was at my place, and I lost 0-1. They scored early. I had umpteen efforts on goal but couldn’t break through. I looked forward to the second leg with great excitement. Seriously – I was all aquiver… As expected, I overcame them comfortably, winning the tie 4-1 on aggregate. In the Semi Final, I will play Real Madrid.
When I moved back to Kansas and started supporting the Wizards (Kansas...
not the easiest cup fixtures, but if youre going to win, you need to beat the best teams.
87 goals sucks big-time. its so unimaginable. the fine line between difficulty and easiness is so fine. In one game youre getting battered, then you get a few good players, and POW every game is a win. there really doesnt seem to be a ‘you win some, you lose some’ to this game. Maybe thats because there isnt scripting?.. maybe scripting needs to be a BIGGER element to the game – like, hang on boys, its 4-0, we need to PLAY BETTER, and then the computer up’s the teams stats by 5% or whatever? lol
P.s. on the subject of penalties, hold ‘down’ down and shoot down the centre. It doesnt get blasted, so unless their keeper stays, its a goal. Penalties are boring, i just take it down the middle every time to get it over with
David – I think the game’s scripting is still very much in place and doesn’t need to be beefed up. IMO two other factors both make this version so disappointing (relative to the greatness of previous versions).
1) Player pace. It used to be the case that your players’ pace and acceleration didn’t really mean anything on higher difficulty levels. The defenders ALWAYS caught you. Not so in PES2008. In this game players with pace can and do outstrip CPU players all the time.
2) Goalkeepers. ‘Nuff said!
I don’t want Seabass to go back to the old ways where your players’ pace meant little or nothing. I would like him to fix the goalkeepers. I had a few games on my PSP version of PES6 the other day and the difference in keeper quality is astonishing. They’re so great!
“1) Player pace. It used to be the case that your players’ pace and acceleration didn’t really mean anything on higher difficulty levels. The defenders ALWAYS caught you. Not so in PES2008. In this game players with pace can and do outstrip CPU players all the time.”
Thank God.
However, that can be a problem too, when you have a fast striker with high body balance. No defender can stop him. My main striker has 92 body balance and 96 speed, and only the likes of Stam and Van Bueren can handle him (occasionally). With the rest, it’s just a matter of dribbling and sprinting past them (sometimes dragging the defender around), and slotting the ball safely past the fumbly keeper.
Mirandinha – If the PS2 version of the game really is just PES6 with a lick of paint, then you would have to play the next-gen version to believe just how free your players are to run with the ball – on all skill levels. The more I play PES2008 the more I start to suspect Seabass did it on purpose, to make a more ‘accessible’ football game for a new generation of consoles and a supposed new generation of gamers. Shame about the rest of us!
I’m getting the PSP version of PES2008, which is out at the end of next month. It’ll be the same as the PS2 version. I’ll have a chance to compare the player pace in the two versions then.