Real Mallorca 3-1 Coventry City
The PS2 version of PES2008 came into my possession at approximately 14.00 hours yesterday afternoon. I got a pre-owned copy for which I only had to pay £5 in the end. I traded in a couple of Xbox360 games that I no longer wanted—Crackdown and NHL07. Neither was really my kind of thing.
Due to certain circumstances of my life at the moment (a big personal project that’s taking up 95% of my free time) I didn’t have the chance to play it until late last night. First I was very disappointed to find that the pre-owned disc was excessively dusty and smudged with somebody’s great big thumbprint on one edge. Grrr. I hate it when I have to clean a pre-owned disc. Hate it!
After running a cloth over the surface it seemed decent enough to be put into my PS3. I started to play.
And I’m still very impressed by the so-called last-gen PES2008. It strikes me as being a better game than PES6—almost, I have to say, on a par with PES5.
Sprinting has been toned right down—the CPU is much more capable of stopping you now. It’s tougher to make space in the middle of the pitch and run and shoot. Shooting has also become ultra-sensitive. You only have to feather the shoot button to fire rockets at the goal—or, more commonly for me right now, at Row Z behind the goal…
All in all, the PSP version and this PS2 version are indeed identical games—as they darn well should be, what with the transferability between the two. That function is an absolute godsend for me. Due to that big personal project I mentioned, I could probably only play the game at home for an hour or two every week. Thus I can see many exciting bus journeys and work breaks in the months to come…
Transferring my fledgling Master League career from the PSP to my PS3 was the work of moments. All that was needed was to connect the two consoles with a USB cable, and select the relevant options in both games, and it was all done in about 2 seconds.
I played two games, losing the first one 1-0—unluckily, I thought. I also lost the second game, against Real Mallorca, 3-1. I took a pounding in this game. It has to be said: I am nowhere near being properly up to speed on last-gen PES2008.
My goal was pretty special, for what it’s worth. Here’s Camacho, playing as DMF for the day, scoring a classic DMF goal:
A nice goal, and I was happy to score it. I laughed out loud and punched the air. (It was unlike my tepid, so-what reactions to even the most ‘extraordinary’ moments during my latter weeks on next-gen PES2008.)
It’s my third season of this career. I’ve played four games. I’ve lost them all and I’m bottom of the league. This is disgraceful. I should be embarrassed, and I am embarrassed. I’ll need to turn things around quickly, or face an unprecedented fourth season in the lower division.
Nice goal by Camacho.
When defending in last-gen PES2008 you have to hold your horses, and not rush into a tackle. Just keep between the opponent and your goal or a potential receiver for a pass, and they’ll most of the time pass the ball back.
Mirandinha—thanks for the tip. I need it…. I can’t defend in this game, but I’ll learn how to. Gimme a week….
It’s always funny how the subtleties of defending change from edition to edition. Part of the problem when you start is that the defaults can’t actually win challenges, and part of the problem is learning the persnickety details of timing and angles that the new PES demands.