I’m done with my International Cups for now. I got to the final of one last night and lost to a deflected goal in extra time. Perhaps 90% of gamers would just reload their last autosave and play the match again, and again, until they won it. My house rules don’t permit me to do that. I have to go all the way back to the start of a whole new tournament.

Below are the two random goals promised by the post title. I recorded them over the past few days, using my mobile phone. The poor video quality is regrettable but unavoidable. (And you have to take into account the really shockingly poor quality of the PS3 game’s replays to begin with.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kvkOqcp_Pg&rel=1]

Both goals were scored at various times during my ten-or-so stabs at the International Cup since Thursday 25th October.

I won’t be playing any more International Cups for a while. I’ve reached the point now where I think I’m familiar enough with PES2008 to get down to the real business. Master League. It’s finally time. At the time of writing I have already started. I am, of course, playing as Coventry City (i.e. an edited PES United). The real Greg Downs would be so proud.

From tomorrow I will post almost every day - circumstances permitting - about my ML team selections, matches, league positions, transfers, everything. The whole kit and caboodle. PES is deep, deeper than man can comprehend…

I usually play the same career for the entire PES year. For example, during the PES5 year I was unemployed in real life for 6 months, and I managed to get to the game-year 2048 in that time. After finding a job just in time for PES6, I ‘only’ got to 2026. What season will I get to this year? We shall see.

Occasionally I will also post assorted pictures, goals, and miscellaneous video clips from my Master League. Unfortunately I am stuck with a mobile phone camera at the moment. I recorded, converted, and uploaded the goals above as a test. Hopefully a straightforward method will become available to transfer replay save files from the PS3 to the PC, and then create high-quality movie files with them (without having to buy the PC version of the game - my PC simply wouldn’t be able to cope with it).

Let the year-long game begin.

The shooting mechanism in PES2008 is slightly peculiar for a PES game. It seems difficult to get any height on long-range shots. Most will fly toward the net at head-height. Getting them up, up, up in the air - high enough to curl over and down around the goalkeepers’ despairing dives - seems tricky.

Some people recommend double-tapping the shoot button. I.e., first tap the shoot button, then press it again for the desired power. This actually seems to work, although more often than not the resulting shot flies high over the bar. I don’t remember seeing this in the manual, which I’ve read all the way through from cover to cover (does anyone ever actually use the blank Notes pages toward the back of some game manuals for the making of Notes?).

I suspect it really is just all about the power - that and the player’s placement, his footedness, the proximity of opposition players, angle to goal, wind direction, etc. etc….. It should be no more difficult, from what I have seen so far, to blaze the long-rangers in on PES2008 than it was on PES6 or PES5. In fact I think it might turn out to be easier, what with these slightly dodgy keepers and all. It’s just a matter of getting used to the tweaked parameters in the new game. Time will tell on that front.

I’m still playing International Cups - and still not won one. I’m playing on Top Player these days. It isn’t obligatory for me to win a Cup before progressing to Master League, but it would be nice. I came close today. Something clicked, and I flew through the group stage, thumping my first two opponents 3-0 and then, in the case of poor old Wales (the group minnows), 5-0…

The third goal I scored in that match was the best I have scored on PES2008 so far. I had a corner on the right. Instead of pinging the ball into the box and just sort of hoping for the best (as I do with 99% of all corners), I thought I’d try something different. I rotated the view left and saw Gerrard and Lampard standing a few yards outside the box. Gerrard was marked. Lampard wasn’t. I aimed at him and pressed for about a three-quarters-strength cross…

Beckham has a fine delivery. The ball arced through the air. But I had slightly misjudged the power. I’d wanted the ball to fly directly to Lampard, but it bounced about a yard away from him. No matter. I met the ball on the half-volley and walloped it past all the defenders and the goalkeeper into the back of the net. Nice one, Frank.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KapR-B5FpBI&rel=1]

I was eliminated from the tournament in the Quarter Finals by the Czech Republic. Unaccountably, I found myself 0-3 down within 30 minutes of kickoff. The CPU teams in PES2008 often have this knack of being able to magically twist their way through any and every challenge, get possession back instantly whenever they lose it, and walk the ball into the net if that’s what they feel like doing. I’m not bitter. Not much.

After resolving my slowdown issues - *touches wood, throws salt over shoulder, rubs a necklace of lucky charms…* - I can finally get back to what this here blog is supposed to be all about: the joy of PES.

An important element of PES2008 that I’m just discovering for myself is the excellent one-touch gameplay that you can pull off if you’re so minded. It all came together for me this morning. Let me explain.

I’m still plugging away with England in my International Cups. Every year I like to play these Cups until I feel I have picked up enough of the new PES to be able to move onto my beloved Master League and give a good account of myself there.

I’m kind of struggling to make quick progress with PES2008. There was the dreaded slowdown issue to contend with, of course. I am not lying or simply being precious about matters when I say that I was knocked out of at least three International Cups because I either conceded a key goal or missed a key goal due to the slowdown. But it wasn’t all about the slowdown.

One thing I have noticed is that defenders in PES2008 are very happy to run forward into attack and leave the back door wide open. I have conceded some hilarious goals where my entire team has been up around the penalty box and opposition strikers have had clear runs through on my goal. (I’ve also picked up loads of red cards when trying to tackle back.)

I am still experimenting with the Formation screen settings, looking for a way to get my defence to hang back more. Maybe it will turn out to be as straightforward a matter as keeping my ATT/DEF levels low. I usually like to raise it when in search of a goal, and I am almost always in search of a goal.

Of course, just as my defence likes to get forward, so, it seems, does the CPU defence…

Playing against Greece in the final group match of a Cup, I was 0-1 down. It was a good goal they had scored, a fine passing move orchestrated by three CPU players that bamboozled Terry and Ferdinand, and was capped with a rasping shot from the edge of the box that beat Robinson (not that that’s a particularly hard thing to do, eh, England fans?) to nestle nicely in the bottom corner of the net. Nestle nicely. You’ve just got to love the alliteration.

Surprisingly, Greece kept coming at me, and coming at me. I was fortunate not to go 0-2 down, a few times. I’m amazed at how attack-oriented PES2008 is. So far it’s a pleasant change from PES6, and from the comparatively sedate FIFA08. Will I end up disliking PES’s new attack-attack-attack gameplay? Time will tell.

During one of Greece’s 10-man attacks, I got the ball with Lampard just to the right of my penalty box. I passed diagonally forward to Gerrard in his DMF position. CPU players were steaming down on him so I passed, first-time, wide to Beckham. No one was threatening him, but I felt like seeing what this suddenly very supple first-touch passing move might bring. So I first-timed a through-ball down the wing to Owen. The ball skated way ahead of him and he ran onto it. A defender followed him. I first-time double-tapped a cross into the box. And there was Johnson - Andy Johnson - near the penalty spot to head the ball home. Goal!

From defence to attack in a few seconds. Five first touches. One goal.

Yes, this ‘arcadey’-style gameplay is eerily reminiscent of old-style FIFA games, and it might be a reason to beat up on PES2008 in the weeks and months to come. Right now, though, it’s a reason to smile, and punch the air.