Pro Evolution Soccer 2008: US edition

[UncleSmoothie]

I know that my pickings are going to be slim here for this: #1 it's a console game and #2 it's a sports game for god's sake but I figured, why not?

PES 2008 arrives in the US this week, and I've been PES-less since Winning Eleven 8 for the Xbox. So here's my questions for our European brethren who've been playing PES 08 since its release across the pond last fall, or for any intrepid North American importers:

I've heard that there's very little difference from earlier iterations of the series, but is it actually *worse*? Given that I haven't got a 360 edition of PES yet, I'm perfectly happy to accept a version that is in all cases similar to WE 8.
Master League is my primary draw to the game; is it more of a chore with the new player interviews? I imagine that they're neat for the first couple of days but quickly become background noise.
Does anyone know of any real changes to the US edition since the Euro release?

[skyride]

There's a demo for it on Live. It seemed a little fast paced for me compared to previous PES. I'm probably getting it regardless though.

[HRose]

It's terrible, don't bother (on PC).

Just get the previous version that runs much, much better and that is more feature complete. This one is just an incomplete game with features stripped off and lots of problems everywhere.

Even the director of the game admitted it was a failure and that they are going to delay the next one to make it better. They said they weren't ready to release on many different platforms.

[UncleSmoothie]

It's terrible, don't bother (on PC).

Just get the previous version that runs much, much better and that is more feature complete. This one is just an incomplete game with features stripped off and lots of problems everywhere.

Even the director of the game admitted it was a failure and that they are going to delay the next one to make it better. They said they weren't ready to release on many different platforms.

That's enough to cancel my amazon pre-order, I think. Thanks, HRose.

[Kareem]

FIFA 2008 has really diffused my interest in the PES series of late, despite my being a PES fanboy for a long time. EA really stepped it up and Konami is lazily meandering in the wake.

[UncleSmoothie]

The most attractive thing about PES (besides the gameplay, natch) was the Master League, and FIFA doesn't really have anything equivalent to that, right?

[Kareem]

It's called Football Manager and it's published by Sega!

Actually, I don't remember if FIFA has a similar manager mode as it's been a while since I fired it up.

They do have a fun little mode where you control a single player in a particular position exclusively.

[Alan Dunkin]

Are you referring to a managerial mode?

EA has a whole game devoted to it, FIFA Manager. It's similar in scope to Football Manager (the Sega one), though it has a 3d mode where you can actually participate in matches. It's better than moving around little dots (I forget which game has those, there are a billion soccer manager games out there), but not quite up to PES, Eleven 8 or FIFA Soccer standards (well, maybe those standards about ten years ago).

--- Alan

[skyride]

I found FIFA 08 manager mode tedious and boring. I guess I wanted something more "gamey" like master league mode. But primarily it's the FIFA loose controls that turn me off although it is a lot better than 07. Also the AI is just not much fun to play against. Playing a position is gimmicky and gets old quickly. Kudos to FIFA though for trying lots of new things and the move towards more realism. Hopefully they get it right in 09.

[Kareem]

Yeah, I figured it was probably in there, I just never bother with those modes in actual footballing games like FIFA and PES because I'd rather play the game than worry about the backend. When I feel like playing a management sim on the other hand I look for Football Manager.

[Tom Ohle]

FIFA 2008 has really diffused my interest in the PES series of late, despite my being a PES fanboy for a long time. EA really stepped it up and Konami is lazily meandering in the wake.
Yeah, I've gone through about 300 matches in FIFA 08 and it does the trick, though I still prefer the gameplay of Winning Eleven 7 & 8... can someone please just blend the two games and make the manager mode a bit deeper? Can't we get the best of both worlds?

[Kareem]

One other thing is that the FIFA challenges add the allure of achievements, and a lot of them are actually entertaining challenges. I don't recall Konami having something similar.

Also the commentary, while not extremely interesting in FIFA, adds a lot more ambience than the detached, sleepy commentary in the last PES I played. The Japanese version was a lot more interesting.

[UncleSmoothie]

Oh, I know Football Manager extremely well; I've owned the last 4 iterations. I'm a spreadsheet simulator junkie par excellence. That said, there's something about PES Master League, where you play your own matches, that scratches an itch that Football Manager can't touch.

[Alan Dunkin]

I don't get it. You can play your own matches in FIFA Manager. What's the difference?

--- Alan