| Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PS2) | 
| From: Konami
Category: Video Games
List Price: £34.99
Buy Used: £9.89
You Save: £25.10 (72%)
New (33) Used (41) from £9.89
Rating:  81 reviews
Sales Rank: 182
Platform: Playstation2
Media: Video Game
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.2 x 0.6
EAN: 4012927121009
ASIN: B000Q310KK
Release Date: October 26, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Boxed, with instructions. Scratch on disc, but it plays fine. 24hr dispatch - see my feedback for how fast and reliable I am
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Product Description
PES 2008 features a brand new intelligence system, called Teamvision, that adapts and reacts to players own gameplay styles to ensure that the computer controlled opponents are always challenging and forcing the player to think and chance their style of play to avoid being out-thought by the game. It will learn counter attacks that target your weaknesses and look to exploit any repetitive tactics players use. Defenders react better to danger, closing down the ball and charging at shots and the goalkeepers will hold shots that are closer to them as well. Teammates will make more intelligent runs into space and the close control has been sharpened to ensure quick and fluid passing and speedy attacks can be built.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 76 more reviews...
 Flawed, but nowhere near as bad as people say April 16, 2008
Sick Mouthy (Devon)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Some history... I've been playing Pro Evo since it was ISS on the PS1; I think i first got it in about 2000 / 2001. I'm not a games fan. This is literally the only game I play. In about 2003 I got an XBox to play it on after being advised that it was better than PS2. (I'm not sure of that now!)
When PES6 came out I nicked an old PS2 off my girlfriend's brother and bought it, cos there was no XBox version. I'm a Classic Teams man, so the 18 'spare' teams suited me brilliantly - I spent months making a whole host of classic teams, from AS Roma, Arsenal, Barca, Real Madrid, Man Utd, Milan, Bayern,to some less predictable choices like Napoli, Botafogo and the 53/54 Hungary team (man, the research I did on that team...). I put in hundreds of hours playing and editing. Hundreds and hundreds. So I wasn't really up for getting PES2008 and having to do it all again if the new version wasn't better.
I finally relented and bought PES 2008 after having another two penalties saved in one match last Sunday morning. Penalties and free kicks in PES 6 were absolutely ruined - I went from a 1/4 or 1/5 success rate from free kicks to... well, I think I scored two direct free kicks in the whole time I played PES 6, one 35-yard screamer with Zico and one reverse-swinger with Van Persie. Stupid. I also have approximately 60% of all penalties taken during a game (i.e. not shoot-out) saved, no matter where I place them or who takes them. Enough's enough.
So I've only played about twenty games of PES 2008 so far, and not been awarded a penalty, but the few shootable free kicks I've been awarded have felt like I could score off them; panicked the keeper into a clumsy save or hit the woodwork, rather than sailing into row Z, and certainly seemed an improvement - the player taking it actually appeared to be shooting rather than just kicking randomly.
Other than that... passing animation is altered (improved, I'd say), and overall the gameplay is faster, more frenetic than PES 6 - less Serie A, more Premiership, but that suits me - I like to attackattackattack. Sliding tackle timings are altered, and defensive AI seems better in the opposition. Shooting in general seems improved too - when you hit the ball hard it really feels like it's flying now, and I've scored handful of screamers with Zico and Rivellinho already.
The new commentary is also a boon! I generally play with it switched off while listening to music, but when I do have it on it doesn't offend me now. Although Mark Lawrenson does sound as if he's on beta-blockers and watching a different game. But I guess that's quite authentic...
Names in capitals is annoying, and the squad selection for the European Cup / Americas Cup is stupid and annoying (who are these fake players on page two, where are the last four or five members of my squad?). Having the icon saying what song's playing in the top corner is annoying as hell when you've got BGM music turned right down. And they've made some stupid decisions about players in the PES Shop and Classic Teams (and the special haircuts! how annoying!), but everything else seems to work. I've edited in Tostao, Garrincha, Muhren and a couple of others already, and culled stats for Di Stefano, Boniek etc from online forums so I can put them back in where they belong.
So... my conclusion, so far, is that I prefer this version, just a little.
Long hours of editing in all my ridiculous classic teams ahead...
 It's worth playing, but it's so infuriating! March 30, 2008
Peter Davis
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The music, menus, commentary and the number of licensed players and clubs are still rubbish, but you don't buy pro for any of those features anyway. So onto what you do buy it for, the gameplay. There are small improvements to pro 6, players move a little faster and things can flow better. This game, however, can be so annoying.
It is assumed if you score then the computer must score straight after, its not always the case but it can be an extreme struggle, piece of advice, do not let them get a corner kick! Trying to get the ball off the opposition is more difficult now, and even if you do tackle them the computer is more likely to get the ball back, being able to respond faster than you. The computer also has absolutely no trouble getting the ball off you, i.e very difficult and very infuriating trying to run past the opposition's players.
The computer's positioning for your team in this game can also be very annoying. You wonder why players run backwards, away from the oppisition goal when you try to make a through pass, why they stand in rubbish positions and insist on standing in offside positions so often! Once you have scored a goal your defence forgets how to defend. Also your players often (whilst holding or not holding down x) will run directly in front of a player (in between the opposition player and the ball) and not get the ball, or make any impact on the ball whatsoever. So physics and movement? They are still as bad as they were in pro 2! Players can still take a swing at a ball and their legs will pass through other player's bodies, and sometimes players don't even seem to move limbs and the ball still gets passed. Sometimes you don't even realised why you've given away a free kick. Are hand balls penalised in this game? Because if they are then that's wrong, I have no control over my players arms! Basically they need a new physics engine in this game! Also, why for a game that claims to be a "perfect simulation of the beautiful game" can players only jog in 8 directions with the ball and 16 directions while sprinting? Oh and *** difficutly is way too hard, and ** is way too easy! Make more difficulty settings konami! And why do the opposition insist on sprinting to get EVERYTHING when you have the ball!?
But, for all these problems (and there are more), pro is still somehow worth playing. The joy of scoring goals, winning games and the multiplayer is very good. Maybe the problem lies in the technology and playing it on the PS2, but I'm sure they could still do so much more.
Overall, a lot of the fun has been sapped out of this game and I suggest if you want a fun pro game go and buy pro 4 for 3.
 Semi-Pro Devolution... March 25, 2008
Git Man Ted (England)
Just a quick one to supplement all the other reviews which have pretty much covered everything you need to know about this game. I myself owned the first 4 games but not 5 or 6, so I can't comment on the similarity between this game & 6. Nor am I that bothered about how players look, music or even the classic Pro Evo, erm, commentary.
Control & game play however is paramount and the foundation on which the early Pro Evo games based their success - what's happened to it? The sheer number of wayward passes, players simply running in the opposite direction to the ball for no apparent reason, the sky high shots (despite putting absolute minimal pressure on the button when shooting) the inability to dribble past an opponent 99% of the time. The most annoying part has to be the number of mistakes your players will make whether you like it or not. On one occasion in which I was playing against my housemate, there was a bit of a goalmouth scramble, his defender was about to clear the ball & then his keeper just ran to the ball & booted it in his own net. Quite amusing from my point of view, but blood-boilingly frustrating for him.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying all this because I can't win a game, I've won quite a few games comfortably on top level difficulty - it's just that it doesn't feel as though it's anything to do with me, but more like the computer decided to take pity on me that time around, & that's the key. If the computer wants to score, it often feels as though there's nothing you can do. It doesn't matter which play it selects to dribble through your defence with ease either, one is just as good as another. Oh & the fact that the computer gets away with murder in terms of fouls, whereas you will only have to breath on someone to get booked. On a few occasions, I've cleared a long ball up field, only to be called back for a foul which occurred off screen. They probably scored from the free kick too.
It's not all bad, some of the goals I have scored have brought a great degree of satisfaction, as have some of the flowing moves you can on occasion put together etc etc, but the 'pro's' are definitely outweighed by the cons I'm afraid.
Still, if you like high blood pressure, buy this game.
Better. But a little infuriating March 13, 2008
M. Mcfall
I must admit that I put off buying this game for a few months due to the adverse publicity and less than brilliant reviews it had been getting. Finally 2 weeks ago I cracked. Being (like many others I suspect) someone who has had ALL the previous pro evo games, I was surprised at what I've come to think about this one.
Let's start with the negatives here:
Lack of licences for English premier league teams. The Dutch league is great and all, but come on guys - you really need to sort something out here.
The background music has gotten worse! Hard to imagine, I know - but this music sounds like Satan on a casio. It quite literally hurt my ears with it's prolific and utter rubbishness. On the plus side, this can be turned off. I did this and listened to a rolling stones CD as I played , I highly recommend you do the same.
Commentary. For a start, Lawro is hardly Mr Excitement at the best of times. Here, it seems like he's taken a couple of valium. It also doesn't help when Jon champion exclaims "it's there!" when in fact the ball's run out for a corner?
Now for the pluses:
Gameplay has been much improved. I've read various reviews stating that the gameplay is identical to pro evo 6 when it patently is not. For a start, the game is harder. Passing/retaining the ball has become somewhat trickier. Your opponents now seem to spot their own (and indeed your team's) weakness and act accordingly. Shooting has become more intuative - something which may result in a few wide and wild shots when you start.
Kits/teams can be edited. It's a bit of a pain, sure. But still better than nothing.
I guess it all comes down to what you value most.
Gameplay and a real thrill when grinding out a 1-0 win against a so-called better team? Or slick presentation, premier league licence and mediocre, predictable gameplay with no relation at all to the real beautiful game.
On reflection, I'll take pro evo...warts and all.
still great, still too easy March 2, 2008
M. Mayer (uk)
as always pro evolution has been re-made in such a way that it takes a few weeks to re-master the gameplay for expert players. its addictive as always and the gameplay had been subtly tweaked. commentary is improved but could be better, the music is much better and i haven't turned it off yet like i normally do within a few days. the master league is still too easy, i've won everything and got ridiculously good players in my team within 2 seasons, and now that i've done that there is no challenge as i have enough money to buy anyone (including the all time greats this time), so basically there is another 9 months of winning everything very easily. next time the master league needs to be harder with more in-depth statistics and stuff (e.g. playing premier league teams a lot in the champions league is just stupid), i hope they sort this out as i don't wanna have to turn to one of those life wasting management games instead.
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