And don’t call me Shirley
Posted by: Greg Downs in FIFA08, FM2008, FMLive, PlayStation3, pes2008, psp, tags: pes2008Here at the start of March—barely 5 months into the PES year (reckoned from October to October)—I find myself at something of a loss. I’ve finally abandoned next-gen PES2008 for good.
This time I mean it. I did try the House Rules route, which extended the game’s life for a while, but the quality of the game is just too poor to sustain a long campaign until the next release.
It’s the first time this has ever happened to me. Every year since there’s been a PES I’ve played it solidly, almost every day, for the whole PES year.
Perhaps that is my problem with next-gen PES2008: playing every day. I know there are many people still playing the game with great enjoyment. I suspect they’re playing occasionally, as their routines permit, perhaps a couple of games once or twice a week. Perhaps my daily play habits did not do the game, or me, any favours.
My opinion on it is only my opinion, but I believe that PES2008 on the PlayStation3 is a disgrace to the PES name and should never have seen the light of day. It’s a decent enough football game in its own right—I played it for over a hundred hours—but it’s a shockingly poor excuse for a PES game.
So it looks like I picked the wrong year to start a PES blog. Ouch. What is to be done now? I’ve just got the PSP version of the game, which offers a way out if I want it: back to the last-gen version.
I’ve been playing it over the weekend and it seems very, very solid indeed. After getting well and truly burned with the next-gen version I’m understandably cautious to rush to final judgement. But it’s looking good.
I might—just might—get myself a copy of the PS2 game (from a bargain bucket so that Seabass & co. don’t get another penny of my money). I might keep the daily PES habit going that way. It depends on me continuing to find the PSP version playable over a longer period. I’m going to give it a week or two and a few Master League seasons. I’m already in season 2 of a career with Coventry City. The gameplay is so utterly different that I’m having to (re)learn PES all over again. I’m loving it.
As well as the PSP/PS2 version of PES2008 to fall back on, I have several other football games that I could devote space to: Football Manager 2008, Football Manager Live, FIFA08, LMA Manager 2007, and even Sensible Soccer on XBLA. In particular I am very, very excited about Football Manager Live. The competitive season starts tomorrow (it’s been all friendly matches until now) and Beta testing will start in earnest.
I don’t know where the future will take me or this blog, but one place it will never take me—as God is my witness—is back to the semen stain on the fabric of reality that is next-gen PES2008.
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I have the XBOX 360 version of PES 2008, but I made the ps2 version my main game along time ago..
Its ashame they haven’t sorted the online part of the game out on the PS3. My friend just bought PES for his 360 and playing online was brilliant! (Some lag but no where near enough to ruin the game). Definatly adds another dimension.
not given - Interesting, as it looks like I may be doing much the same. So you disliked/loathed the next-gen version from the start?
Paul - It’s a great shame about the online game, as next-gen PES2008 seems perfect for online play. Admittedly 99% of people online use Inter Milan/Brazil/Barcelona and ignore any kind of build-up or tactical play in favour of simply running at you with a couple of players, but the other 1% of players are still a large number and can be relied on for a good game. But online doesn’t work on the PS3 and —it’s now clear—will never work. And Konami are getting away with it.
I don’t hate it for the 360 to be honest- just had to stop because it was so easy to run past players and it made the Master League too easy. At one point I was winning 8-1, 7-1, 7-0 etc ALL the time on Top Player. Obviously I could have just stopped running down the wings and in for goal but when you can do something, you invariably do- especially if the game was tight.
The biggest flaw in 2008 for 360 is that I score 80% of the time from a corner with a decent SMF. Just pass it on a corner- run in 90 degrees from the goal and shoot- bang past the keeper every time.. It just got ridiculous..
Also as you said online is not fun to play at all..
Online on the 360 is better than the PS3, I hear, although still shockingly bad.
And re. running past all the CPU players in next-gen…. I’m with you on this one. As soon as I know I can do something reliably ina football game and score from it, that football game is seriously diminished in my eyes. The old-style FIFAs (FIFA96 etc.) were like that and I could never really take them seriously.