Pro Evo wins me over again! (Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PC))

Member Name: shamis4

Product:	Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PC)
Date:	09/08/08 (125 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great footie game for any fan

Disadvantages: quite expensive

Each year Konami release a new version of the famous football game, which was released at the end of october 2007. And once again it has been pu to the test against its arch rival - Fifa 08. I have once again remained a strong follower of the pro evo series and bought this game as soon as it was released despite many people trying to persuade me to go to the 'other side' and buy Fifa. Was this the year that fifa took the lead?
I have to say that i am confident i made the right decision and have seen several improvements from last year's game and have enjoyed this game loads, it was certainly worth buying.

This game has had many improvements from its predecessor and has certainly been upgraded quite a lot. Firstly the graphics have greatly improved with facial features getting more and more realistic, as well as the whole player along with the shirt having improvements, for example with the shirt creasing being visible - when i play it at home the rest of my family sometimes think i am watching a game on tv, but i am actually playing this awesome game!
Again Konami have improved the AI making great advances and upgrades in off-ball players' intelligence and vision. Players are often making great runs for you to play the ball in perfectly for them. You can also adjust setting for the set pieces and can change it so that taller players will come up for corners (as they do in real matches). There is little you can't do in this game that can be done in real life - for example you can now even dive if you so wish.
There have also been several more skill techniques added to the collection so you can now do fakes, 'round the world' and a collection of other tricks. These are quite easy to get to grips with as they are all simply described in the manual and in options when you pause the game. So now you can really do what Ronaldo does - destroy your opponents!
There are 15 different stadiums to choose from in the ps3 version which are all of course very similar to the real counter parts.


The actual menu has been revamped and changed a bit from the previous version and of course is very simple to use and takes only a few games to get use to. Each player has separate ratings for a whole variety of skills from speed to defence to shooting. You can also adjust players attributes and even create your own players with endless things to adjust in their appearance from their boots and bracelets to their nose level or how fat they are.
Another feature which i find great is how realistically the players actually are. For example Ronaldo plays just like he does in real life as he will constantly do little flicks when he gets the ball, and these are done automatically - how cool is that!
There are as usual, on pro evo, some great songs from a variety of different bands. I would also like to mention that the commentary in this version is a great improvement from last year and they actually say more relevant things.
There are still a variety of modes to choose from including the well loved master league mode where you can start as a team of your choice and play through games as well as being the manager and making team changes and transfers.
There are others modes such as exhibition where you can just set up a quick game and play straight away. Or you can play through a variety of different leagues or cups and prove you are a footballing hero!

There is also online where you can play against other players from across the world. This is of course great fun and a new feature is that you can chat with the other player with a selection of phrases to say such as "GOAL!" or "that was unlucky" when the other player gets close.
Offline multiplayer is also really fun and great with friends.
The general game play is very fast paced with it changing from one end to the other in just a few moments. It takes a while to get use to the speed, but once you've got the hang of it, this game is absolutely awesome with you being able to score some great goals. I have played Fifa a few times and find it too slow and unexciting, whereas once again pro evo wins the hearts of all the football fans with the ability to just set up a quick game and have great fun thrashing some team or another. The player's are also much more intelligent in pro evo than they use to be and their shot will depend on which foot they are suing and how they are standing or whether they are on the move.


There are of course a few downfalls with this new Pro Evo game. Firstly it still lacks all the licences which Fifa owns. This means a lot of the teams do not have proper names and certain players have fake names, for example Manchester United are called Man Red, but the game play is still the same. Some people have also suffered a lot of lag while playing online, but i have not had any of these problems as of yet.
Yet on the whole i would certainly say this is a better game than Fifa and would advise anyone who is looking for a good football game to buy this - if you're a Fifa fan - go for a change try the other side.
price: around £36.98 (amazon.co.uk)

Thanks for reading!

Summary: A super football game which is becoming extremely realistic