Ring out the new, ring in the old
My final four games of the season (and possibly my final four games of next-gen PES2008, period):
Parma 1 – 3 Singers FC (Elcherino 3)
Sunderland 2 – 5 Singers FC (Elcherino 4)
AEK Athens 2 – 1 Singers FC (Caracciollo)
Newcastle 3 – 3 Singers FC (Espimas 2(!), Altintop 1)
(Can you spot the games where Elcherino didn’t play?)
Newcastle put in a suspiciously energetic performance in the last game. I was actually 3-0 down at one point. Then Espimas sprang into action with his underrated Middle Shooting ability. He banged in two long ‘uns for me and could have had a hat-trick by the end. Altintop had his first (and possibly last) immense game for me, dominating the forward line and netting a classic centre-forward’s header from a cross in the process.
Here’s the end-of-season promotion/relegation information from the two Superleague divisions. I was really looking forward to seeing who would go up and down:
(Apologies for the blurriness of these snapshots. The 20th-placed team in Division 1 was Villarreal; the 3rd-placed team in Division 2 was Sevilla.)
Elcherino finished as top scorer in Division 2 with a staggering 40 goals in 18 games. Even Schwarz in my old ML team of superstars only managed 29 goals in my last Treble-winning season.
Would Elcherino have scored 80 goals in a full season next time around?Or even 100? I think he would have.
I finished 6th in the table after being rock-bottom at the halfway stage. If the season was just a couple of games longer I’d have sneaked into a promotion spot. I don’t think I’m being too presumptuous when I say that promotion next season would be guaranteed. At least 100 league goals in a title-winning campaign would be easily achievable.
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However, there isn’t going to be a next season for Singers FC or for next-gen PES2008. Over the past few weeks I’ve spoken a lot about the many reasons for this decision. I won’t repeat myself here (much).
I’ll keep the saved game, of course. Some sunny day in April, or in June, or in September, I might well find myself slipping the PES2008 disc into the PS3 once again.
Because it’s not all bad. It’s easily the worst-ever PES (in my opinion), but it’s still a pretty fine game for a short time. My stats (above) show that I’ve played for more than 130 hours in total. I’ve had my forty quid’s-worth out of this game, oh yes.
If they ever manage to fix the online play I will definitely be back – sooner rather than later. What little I have seen of the online game suggests to me that perhaps PES2008 was designed with multiplayer in mind. Sadly, PES2008 online is an appalling example of the near-criminal shoddiness that seems to have gone into PES2008’s production. There is no resolution in sight. Technically, it has the worst online quality of any game I have ever come across, ever.
I’m very surprised that the PES community (if PESfan is anything to go by) seems to be letting Konami off the hook on this one. The citizens of the internet are not usually noted for their patience and forbearance. You would think that the PS3 Online section of the PESfan forum would be permanently full of threads along the lines of OMFG sort out the online already! But no, there’s almost nothing.
I think it means one of two things. Either the PES community is oddly passive in the face of an ongoing travesty; or too many dissatisfied customers have simply drifted away from PES2008 and moved onto other things (as I am doing) for anybody to put up much of a fight.
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And thus that really is the end of the road for me and PES2008 at the moment. We are finished. We are over. It’s a shame, and it’s worthy of much wailing and gnashing of teeth – at least on a personal level.
It’s a mark of how great PES has been that its fans almost seem to regard it as part of their personal identity. Hence the resistance felt by so many (including me) to the notion that next-gen FIFA08 – of all things! – might, just possibly, be the superior football sim this year (and it is).
I know there are people out there still playing and enjoying next-gen PES2008 offline. Good luck to them. Like some old-gen FIFA games of the past, next-gen PES2008 is a decent enough video game that happens to be based on the sport of football (talk about damning with faint praise…. )
It’s good for a week or two, or even for a month or two, but it lacks the year-round longevity of its predecessors. Sadly for me it’s just too much of a departure from the ultra-high standards I have come to expect.
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Next on peschronicles, we go back to the future. It’s PES5 all the way.
for me PES is still better this year, FIFA is just not really addictive like PES this year..
bostongoals – are you on next-gen PES2008? It’s confusing this year with everyone playing different versions. If you’re on last-gen then you’re not missing much on next-gen! If you’re on next-gen, then I’ll only say that it’s all just my opinion, and if you’re still enjoying the game then fair play to you sir! Like I said above, there’s lots of good things about next-gen PES2008. For me, I don’t like the low difficulty and the high scorelines. I said I think FIFA08 (again *next-gen* only) is the better football sim – not necessarily the better game. As good as I think FIFA08 is, it’s not good enough for me to make it my sole football game this year.
yeah i am on next gen. when i load up Fifa, youve got all these modes and leagues and stuff. And i want PES to have challenges and more trophys and suchlike.
PES 5!
you will find PES5 soooo much easier
bostongoals – I doubt it. I’ve already had a few games and tried to do PES2008-style dribbling and it doesn’t work. Goalkeepers are good in PES5. Overall, PES2008 (next-gen) really is the much easier game. Will PES5 last me the long term? “Time vill tell. Sooner or later, time vill tell….” (Bonus point if you can Name That Game.)