Exclusive Translation Of German PC Gamestar Magazine
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Top Left: The face of Christiano Ronaldo looks incredibly real. The protagonists show more emotions then ever during celebrations.
Top Right: Freekicks fly with visibly more power towards the goal. Shots and Headers will be more dynamic as well.
Bottom Left: 3D-menu: During substitutions, you can see in the little window, which players on the bench you have at disposal.
Bottom Right: Shirt-pulling is possible in the new installation. Though we could not detect this unfair action in our Pre-Version.
Main: Somethings is changing - the new PES is much more than a repetition with changes in detail. We have tested the new features ourselves. Do you believe in coincidence? Konami had just presented young star Cristiano Ronaldo as cover face for PES 2008. Now we discover a brand new dive-feature in the first playable Version. Just to remind you: Cristiano Ronaldo was memorable during the WC 2006 mainly by his performance as an actor. We don't believe in a connection, the Portuguese dribble star meanwhile belongs to the best and well known players on our planet. Still a nice sidenote.
"The PES-fans" have repeatedly requested the dive-feature, now we have implemented it into the game. If the new move does not get accepted, it will be gone next year", Konamis PR-Manager explains. Sure we tried the free flying in the first matches. For this, we keep the shoulder-buttons of the Microsoft-controller pressed and perform the dive with the left trigger. The first amateurish attempts are punished by the official immediately with a yellow card. If the referee is standing in a bad position, he gives a Penalty.
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Top Left: Frequent cut-scenes spice up the master league mode. The graphical quality of the little movies is more on the weak side.
Top Right: If the decisive goal is scored shortly before the end of the game, even the players on the bench in the background come running to join the celebration.
Main: The game play on. But soon after we succeed. We dribble around a defender and enter the box. Then we slow down, let the defender come near from behind. A second opponent closes in from the left. Now our player goes to the ground, the ref points at the mark - penalty! Other than the dive we got to try other new moves. If we keep the shoulder buttons pressed when being on height with the box, the winger now turns towards the goal. From this position, crosses can be played harder and with better precision. If we want to get rid of our opponent with a hook, we push the ball a little ahead and sprint behind it.
The quick free-kick feature was also improved. Before the opposing team can form, we pass the ball to a teammate with the analogue-stick. Wall building One of the biggest complaints of PES has also been taken care of by Konami: the wall during free-kicks. Now the big guys cover the short corner, the smaller fellows stand on the goalies side. Dwarfs like Claude Makelele don't find their place in the wall anymore! Adding to that you can now decide, how many players block the way. If you predict a direct shot, put more players in the wall. If you believe the ball might be passed, a three man wall will suffice.
Free-kicks now have considerably more power, so do headers and shots. Especially a running volley screams through the air in a way, that you can barely follow the ball with your eyes. New animations have also been added, like the jumping slide tackle. Doing this, the defender completely extends his legs straight and plays the ball with the underside of the boot. Beware a leg being in between ... painstruck or happy faces further add emotions on the pitch. Best shown are the mimic features during goal celebrations. But defenders also don't stay expression-less after a conceded goal, but sometimes curse along.
Public Viewing
Almost perfect animations always were responsible for the high level of realism of the series. In PES 2008 now excellent player models come along. On the cheek of the new Bayern player Frank Ribery we find his scar. Also ex-world footballer of the year Ronaldinho looks all identical to the original including even the headband. But the developers cheated a little with the movement of his hair. While the ends move with the wind, the rest of the haircut looks cemented with hairspray. The haircut of italian Andrea Pirlo is another good example for this. The developers did not put much focus on the graphical quality of the stadia and the audience - until now at least. More consideration is put on the licenses.
This time a lot more teams are said to have original names and kits. In the pre-version the data was from the last season. The reason: license-negotiations are still in full progress. We would have liked to tell you more about the new Teamvision-feature. But we didn't see anything of a learning or adapting AI during our 3 hour trial-session. The gameplay seems to be only minimally changed from the brilliant predecessor.
Andreas Szedlak: The early version still suffered from slowdowns, further the kits are from last season. That I still would have loved to take the disc home, says it all. Thanks to the perfected ball-physics the game wins on dynamic. And the players look considerably more real due to the new graphics engine.
Latest strenghts and weaknesses:
- Football was never more realistic
- Interesting new dive feature
- Regular slowdowns
- Weak stadium graphics
Potential: Great
lol
