Bigmouth strikes again
Posted by: not-Greg in European Cup (ECC), Konami, PES2009, Valencia, pes2008, scripting, tags: European Cup (ECC), Konami, pes2008, PES2009, scripting, ValenciaYesterday’s press release from Konami was a bit of an anti-climax. Announcing that they are going to release PES2009 this Autumn is a little like announcing that the sun will rise tomorrow morning. What was the point of it? I suppose the point was to provide official confirmation of the fact—we’ve always just assumed there’ll be another PES this year. Now we know for certain that it will definitely happen. Great.
But what I want to see over the next few months are details—not just screenshots (although I’m sure we’ll get plenty more of them). I want to know about the gameplay. I want to know that the goalkeepers aren’t as uniformly, laughably terrible as they were last time. I want to know that the PS3 version won’t require two mega-patches to make it run sort-of-okayish. I want to know that a five-year-old playing on the hardest difficulty setting won’t be able to dribble with Gary Neville past the entire opposition team and then (virtually) stoop to head the ball over the line. I want to know that 6-5 scorelines will again be what they always used to be on PES—a true rarity.
I appreciate that I’m wanting a lot here. Given the nature of games development and the marketplace, I’m not likely to get any definitive answers until I actually have PES2009 in my hands. I certainly won’t be trusting previews and reviews again after last year. Yes, I think the gaming press will be warier of PES this time around, but no, I still don’t trust them. Speaking personally about the PlayStation3 version for a moment, I think one of the telltale signs of quality (or lack of it) this year will be the appearance (or not) of a demo on PSN before the release.
I’m sure there are still people playing PES2008 on PC/PS3/360 and enjoying it. Good luck to them, but for me that version of the game might as well no longer exist.
I still have my PS3 copy on the shelf behind me here. As a PES completist I cannot get rid of it, no matter how poorly I rate it (easily the worst PES game by a very long way). I might stick it back in the disc tray later on this summer, for curiosity’s sake and for a laugh. But otherwise? God willing, PES2009 will be a triumphant return to form for the franchise. If so, 2008 will become the PES year that we don’t like to talk about, and which we pretend simply never happened.
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It’s season 2018 of my career on PES2008—the PSP/PS2 version, naturally... I’ve reached game 24 unbeaten in the league, and was on course to complete my first unbeaten Master League season since PES5. Almost incidentally, I was a long way out in front at the top of the league. Valencia, my perennial league rivals, were 11 points behind me.
Earlier this season I was knocked out of the Division 1 Cup by the bottom team, RC Strasbourg. As often happens in PES, the minnows seemed to raise their game to epic proportions. When I met them again in the league in game 25, my spider sense started tingling. I sensed the trap. I felt that the game would go all-out to stop me in this fixture. The question was: could I avoid the trap?
No, is the short answer. Damn it all to hell, but Strasbourg beat me. They played with supernatural excellence, tackling hard, running for 95 minutes, defending in depth, attacking with verve and panache… I lost 3-2.
I’ve been trumpeting my unbeaten run since almost the start of the season. I just haven’t been able to stop talking about how great I’d feel if I managed to pull it off. Me and my big mouth…
The game was a pretty good one, with the lead changing hands a few times, near-misses, and miraculous saves from both keepers. I was disappointed about the result—and, as ever, deeply sceptical about the pre-destined feel of the game, but I’ve had worse. At least I felt largely in control of this game, and could only really blame myself for all three Strasbourg goals. Play enough PES Master League and you end up paranoid that the programming code is out to get you; but you also know when you’ve just defended recklessly, and could have secured a different result with a bit more careful, disciplined play at the back. It was the latter failing on my part that caused this result. And I just had to take it.
So that was the unbeaten season gone—again. Oh well. At least I still have the League and European Cup double to go for. That’ll still make it a great season by any standards.
The defeat by Strasbourg was matched with a win by Valencia (of course). They were now ‘only’ 8 points behind me, with four games to go. It was impossible for me to lose the title now. Wasn’t it?
A break came for the European Cup semi-final. I met a rather lacklustre AC Milan, and thumped them 3-0 at home. I don’t think I’m tempting fate too much by saying that the second leg should be a formality.
Heracles Almelo held me 1-1 in the next League match. Again I could only really blame myself. Heracles played at 100mph with a suspicious amount of skill and strength for such a lowly-placed team. But I still had chances, and again I was at fault defensively for their goal.
And Valencia won again. Now the difference is 6 points. Hmmm.
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Even though I loath PES2008/PS3 I cannot stop playing it! I have obviously been playing MGS4 alot recently and before that GTA4 but both those games require me to be in the mood much more than PES2008 does. I can pretty much get in the mood to play that at any time. I agree with you though - I want a better effort from Konami this time round.
Greg
Re. PES 2009, I thought the pictures looked sharper compared to similar pictures of PES 2008. Like most people, It looks as though it is still the same game engine. That’s fine by me, as long as they sort out the game-play.
I don’t know if you noticed in one of the pictures, it was my first thought when I seen it yesterday.
what are the 2 Argentina midfielders doing in this picture?
Surely the AI shouldn’t be running away from the ball.
trojanfoe - I played the PS3 version of PES2008 for a couple of weeks before the doubts set in, and a couple of months before the disgust set in, so the game does have something to it. It just hasn’t got enough by PES standards IMO.
I finished MGS4 at midnight last night—it’s very rare nowadays that I get to finish a proper ‘game’ game. I won’t say any more here as there’ll still be people who haven’t played it. Epic and unforgettable.
heraldo - the screenshots actually make me fear the worst. They just look so ‘PES2008-ey’! If we have to wait until PES2010 or even later for a proper PES on PS3/360, Konami will effectively concede this entire generation to FIFA. Whatever Microsoft and Sony say now about ‘ten-year lifespans’ for their consoles, I think there’ll be another generation of consoles out in 2011 or so. Microsoft in particular could jump as soon as 2010, with the 360’s hardware issues just not going away.