Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (X360)

Believe it or not, the crowds for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 at E for All surprised even us. Maybe it was leftovers from the Metal Gear Solid 4 line, but there was a sizable group on late Friday afternoon there to see Konami's popular (around the rest of the world, mainly) soccer title, which, according to the publisher's booth, seems to be getting officially re-dubbed with the same name for both Europe and the US. The rosters seemed fairly unchanged from our first hands-on with the game in Germany during Games Convention, but with a smaller crowd than the Euro-mob in Leipzig, we hopped from station to station and logged in enough time to see the subtle differences between both this year's version and last year's, but also between the Xbox 360 game, which debuted last year, and the upcoming inaugural PS3 version. The demo, which seems to be similar to the one released a few weeks ago on the European Xbox Live Marketplace, features six national teams: Brazil, Portugal, Argentina, France, Spain and Turkey. The total game time is locked into five minute games, so several rounds with different teams were necessary to truly get a feel for what you'll get to play in a few months. (Konami illogically releases the series several months later in the U.S. than the rest of the world; it's due out in Europe next week.) We kicked things off with the PS3 version, since we had a stronger impression of it after testing out both games at Leipzig. It might just be due to our long history of playing the series on Sony hardware, but the controls feel much more natural on the Sixaxis than on the Xbox 360 controller. The default controls match up with the PS2 game's, so all of your special moves, from manual passes with the sticks to jockeying moves, are all here.
Beyond controls, we'll have to give the edge to the PS3 version in on-the-field animation, too. It's not really accurate to say that it's a stellar-looking game; FIFA regularly smokes this series in the visuals department no matter the hardware, but PES' gameplay is the main draw. The 360 version still looks good, but a few minutes with both makes obvious that the PS3 game has more fluid animations. The biggest issue that it faces comes in the cut scenes that weave between gameplay. Whether it's a replay of a foul, the look on a player's face after missing a shot, or the referee handing out yellow cards like candy, the framerate gets pretty choppy on the PS3. On the 360, the action looks fairly similar to last year's Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007. Character models look similar, and in cut scenes you won't see the ugly framerate issues that we noticed on the PS3 game. The animation is slightly better than last year's game, although it seems to lack some of the fluidity of the PS3 version's. If you didn't like the controls of last year's title, we regret to inform you that not much has changed. You'll probably need to manually configure your controller to hit the sweet spot; the default controls aren't ideal.
Differences aside, both games feature similar gameplay. This year rolls out what Konami has dubbed TeamVision. It means that the CPU AI, both teammate and opponent, adjusts on the fly to your gameplay techniques. It's tough to notice the first time you pick up a controller, but over time you'll begin to see your reliance on certain moves get carved apart. If you're too dependent on longer through balls, the computer will eventually position a defender close to your intended receiver and start running up to snatch the ball away. In order to successfully touch the back of the net, it'll take some variations; all of you "rush n' cross" players out there will get smacked down hard by defense on the higher settings. After rolling out several demo rounds, the differences between AI types becomes more apparent. A few rounds with Brazil under our belts revealed the diversity of team play styles. Both the Spanish and Turkish teams played a bit more wildly and chaotically. The Portuguese team is far more aggressive in play style, and Argentina counter-attacks hard. Perhaps the toughest team of all to play against is France. It's not clear whether it's because Konami has spent more time implementing the French team's AI, but damned if the defense and back midfielders like Makelele don't crowd together to thwart you when you're on a good run at goal. The refereeing in PES 2008 is some of the toughest we've encountered in the series. In past titles, the ref mostly stayed out of the action, except for egregious fouls of the crimson-carded variety. In the new game, however, we got yellow cards for putting basic pressure on a ball carrier. It's not clear whether this is an AI issue that needs tweaking, or Konami's forcing your hand to jockey and jostle for the ball, much like EA has done with FIFA 08. Either way, there's an even stronger emphasis on fair play than before, and we hope that it gets reeled in a little, or that we can at least bribe refs like Juventus. No, really; it's too strict. Another AI problem that needs attention lies with teammates. They're constantly offsides, more than we've ever seen in a PES game. No one likes to have a good run ruined by a pass to an open player who's too far past defenders to make the play count. Hopefully it's a loose pattern that'll get tightened up.
To compound the problem, there's a new camera for penalty shots, and woe be unto you if you foul an opponent in the box. We can't help but think of the boss battle in Battletoads in which you had to throw rocks at a cannon-toting surveillance camera from the camera's point of view. The camera is positioned at one corner of the goal around the net, so that you're seeing all of the action with the penalty kicker facing you, rather than the default soccer game camera in which the kicker's back is turned away from the camera. It will drive you mad, and it's probably not going anywhere. After all that playing time, we can now see some of the subtleties in the new game. For most of you, TeamVision won't become apparent until you've fruitlessly failed at several through passes up the field to a teammate, or five defenders have squashed your umpteenth attempt to work around them toward the goal. The new implementation has its strengths, and currently, it's got some weaknesses, too. Teammates need to be reined in; they ran offsides too often during the demo, and the referees seem to be too strict. Aside from that, there are differences between the HD-gen consoles, but it still looks like it will be a solid game on both platforms, moreso than we thought after playing in Leipzig. It's just too bad that U.S. soccer fans have to wait four more months for it.

Reference : http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/winning-eleven-pro-evolution-soccer-2008/828973p1.html