The Joy Of PES
Well, it’s all been happening over the past couple of days.
First I decided that the next-gen version of PES2008 actually makes me want to cry with sorrow for a potentially great game (you can kind of see what they were trying to do with it) gone horrifically bad (the sprint button is an ‘endow my players with superhuman abilities’ button).
Second, wondering what the hell to do with my gaming time and this blog, I received a timely email invitation to the ongoing Beta test of Football Manager Live. I was more than happy to accept. After several hours on FM Live now, I can report that this is potentially a superb translation of Football Manager into the MMOG form, and an absolute must-have game (and a must-play game) for any football fan. The world it creates around you, your team, and all of the other managers and teams is truly startling. I should have plenty more to report on Sunday.
Third, my copy of PES2008 on the PSP arrived at just after 10 a.m. yesterday (Friday).
Any PES fan worth his salt has to approach the game on the PSP with a lot of caution and a hefty dollop of scepticism. A couple of years ago, one of the main reasons to get a PSP was in anticipation of PES’s hotly-anticipated debut on the new handheld console. (Does that story sound familiar to any PlayStation3 owners out there?)
PES5 and PES6 on the PSP were both disappointing efforts. PES5 in particular was a shocker: no Wide camera, and no Master League. PES6 partly made up for the disappointment with the inclusion of the Wide camera, and a kind of Master League… But with no player development, there was little point in playing it.
Now, with PES2008 on the PSP, everything that’s in the ‘big’ PES on its parent console (the PS2) is in the handheld version. (How does that familiar saying go? “If it’s in the [PS2] game, it’s in the [PSP] game.“? Yes, something like that…)
How does it play? It plays like a dream. I love it. I’ve spent the past few months playing PES6 on the PSP quite a lot, and I can see and feel a pretty huge difference between the two games. PES2008 on PSP is the PES game that we should have got two years ago.
(Has it really taken Team Seabass this long to get to grips with the PSP hardware? Hopefully they won’t have to go through a similar learning curve with the next-gen consoles—especially the PS3.)
One of the major plus-points for this ‘last-gen’ version is the camera panning feature, a glaring omission from the next-gen effort. It is so much more pleasurable and intuitive to play PES with the camera anchored near the halfway line and turning to face either end of the pitch, rather than scooting up and down the touchline from box to box as it does on PS3/360/PC.
A wider view of the penalty area and the net seems to enable a better, more languid style of play. It definitely enables more and better kinds of shots on goal.
Here’s a goal replay. It’s from my second game, England vs Germany on Professional difficulty. The scorer is Lampard:
A pretty special goal that had me stifling a shout when it flew in. I don’t think I could have scored that goal in that way in the next-gen version, with its restricted, cramped gameplay around the box—or if I could have scored it, there’s no way it would have looked as good. It’s all in the angle for me.
So I’m loving the PSP version of the game. With its connectivity to the PS2 version I’m sorely tempted to buy the PS2 version and make this so-called last-gen PES my PES for the rest of this year.
On the one hand I don’t want to reward Seabass & co. for their shoddy, unprofessional, and deeply cynical next-gen product; but on the other hand it’d be money well spent, and I’d buy it second-hand anyway. I’d bet it’s only £10-£15 in some bargain buckets around town. Seabass and his evil corporate cohorts wouldn’t see a penny of the cost.
But I’ll give it a while. After getting burned by the next-gen version following a similar enthusiastic start, I’m actually suspicious of PES. Curse you, Seabass. Look what you went and did.
I’ll start a PSP Master League, play a season or two, and see how the land lies. For now, though, I couldn’t be happier with this game if it came with a groinal stimulation attachment.
Similar posts:
- And don’t call me Shirley
- Stand by your PES, man
- Football Manager – Live!
- The more things change, the more they stay the same
- PES2008: the best PES ever*