Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

Pro Evolution Soccer is what every sports fan wanted from the inaugural batch of titles from a few years back. PES 08 houses the same fluid and responsive gameplay that made Winning Eleven 9 one of the best football (American soccer) games ever made, only now it has some production values to match. The offering of modes may not have a standout or one feature that was obviously the focus of development, but it has more than enough to satiate the appetite of the many rabid football junkies of the world.

This game is saved only by the quality of the title's gameplay. But gameplay is no better this year than it was last year and everything else is quite poorly done. I expected a lot more from the folks at Konami. Somehow Konami and EA have to join forces and create the one football ring to rule them all.

Although it's bad enough that it doesn't differ from its predecessor in any noteworthy way, the technical problems and laggy online mode combine to make cause serious gameplay issues. Hopefully some of the flaws will be fixed with future patches, but as it stands right now, PES 2008 is essentially an incomplete game.

PES 2008 on PS3 is for a next-gen console but it is not a next-gen game. You cannot ignore the fact that, for whatever reason, this is a poor effort from Konami. PES executive producer Shingo 'Seabass' Takatsuka himself has said that he was "shocked" at the PS3 slowdown and that he doesn't have a clue why it's happening. Unfortunately this won't cut it for gamers who have forked out hundreds of pounds for a PS3, a platform that is supposed to be the most powerful console in the world.

PES 2008's entertaining match improvements, exhilarating action and solid additions mean it just about scrapes another 8, though at no point does it come even close to flirting with higher scores. It's fast, fluid, fun and physical, an improved, revamped version of PES 6 if you like. If that's what you're looking for from the next iteration of the series, then you won't be disappointed. If not, then I think you can probably work the rest out for yourself...