Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

The PES series has been around for years now, I being a fan since the Super Nintendo years. A few years ago the game was the best football game around without a question. But recently with so little improvements in all areas, games such as FIFA from EA sports have gained some reputation of being a better football game. And many fans expect this year to be the year in which EA’s game takes over the football scene. Having played both games on the PS3, I think they might be right.

With this version being the first PES to ever appear on the PS3, expectations are high. And previews at first showed a great game in the making and got all PS3 owners and sport fans hyped up. While the Xbox360 version delivers and meets expectations, the PS3 version is not even close due to many issues. One of the first issues being the real bad slow ups and horrible frame rate issues. Try playing 2 versus 2 on one machine and you will see what I mean. The game gets so slow it actually becomes unplayable. 

One of the first things to note is that the game still lacks most English team’s licenses due to the agreement EA Sports has with FIFA. So don’t be surprised if some teams show up with the wrong logo, kit and name (Arsenal is called north London for example). This might be annoying for some gamers that are diehard fans of the English league. Also missing is the real names of the German national team players due to license issues too. But don’t panic the beautiful game engine more than makes up for it here. The games on last generation’s consoles were not known for their graphics power but rather for the amazing game play that is so close to real life. And this version doesn’t disappoint, unlike last year’s effort; the game feels great thanks to an improved AI. Football is a team game and it was a priority for Konami to improve the team work in this game, and they did just that. When you hit the fast break you won’t just feel your player running up the field, you will see the team going up with you. When your team is clinging to a narrow lead, you will see your forwards going back, you will see your wingers supporting your full backs. You will see football!! The formation menu is loaded with plans for your team to work on during the game. So actually skipping the formation menu is not a good idea in this version because it helps you perform a lot better in-game.

During the game I noted some of the promised new animations and reactions by the AI. For example when the AI is up 1-0 with a few minutes to go in the game, the forward would head to your corner and hold the ball up there to waste time. The way the AI attacks when down is very intense compared to the attacking style at the start of the game. Again all of those examples follow one theme, real life football.

Trust me when I say you will be getting kicked on the backside a lot. To all the self acclaimed “PES Pro’s”, a word of advice, don’t bet on winning a lot at the beginning. The computer got a lot harder and smarter in this version. The AI won’t settle for capitalizing on your mistakes only no more, they will force their way through. The AI would start building an attack from scratch, make a few nice passes, and it’s either a great save by your goal keeper or another trip to the replay menu to see the goal. But this rise of challenge just makes the game better. We all enjoyed the series with friends on many systems. But come to think about it how many really played it alone and had the same amount of fun as a multiplayer game? I myself never did, the AI was very stupid and annoying, and half the game was wasted on passes in the middle that lead to nothing most of the time.

This game however will challenge you; you need to work on your free kicks and corners again because they will be the difference makers when it comes to winning a league or losing it. I had some frustrating moments with my own defensive line, they would trip and miss incoming passes resulting in really bad goals and even the goal keeper sometimes drops powerful crosses into his own net. But after calming down and checking the replays of those mistakes I started thinking about it, isn’t that real life football? Don’t we all see everyday a defender missing a pass resulting in his team losing? Don’t we see own goals? So it might annoy you at first but I feel this is a nice addition to the game. Also added this year is a little trick to your arsenal to use during the game. Once fouled the player might over act the fall resulting sometimes in penalties and free kicks. The tactic might backfire however because the referee might reward you with a yellow card for acting instead of an expected penalty.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

Nothing unites peopled together than the seemingly universal language of football. And for the clueless ones out there, I’m talking about soccer…confused yet? It seems that when you think of football on the gaming front, you instantly think of FIFA. Thanks to EA’s huge marketing campaigns and licensing, they always manage to reel in quite a large portion of sports gamers. However, there is another football sim on the market that has a fan following that is just as loyal. Since its first official release in 2001, Pro Evolution Soccer has always fallen behind due to its lack of licensed teams and leagues, compared to EA’s onslaught with its FIFA games. However, with the latest release of Pro Evo, developers Konami seem determined to give EA a run for their money. Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 for the PS2 is the latest release in the series, but fails to bring much new content with it. The game looks and plays almost like PES 2006, so gamers are in for a rather disappointing shock.

Acknowledging the fact that it looks like a PES 2006 clone, PES 08 offers the same reliable gameplay modes, so if you’ve played the game previously, you can quite comfortably pick up a controller and dive in. You can get right into the action by choosing the Match mode and running with whichever team you like. You can choose teams either by geographic region, or by name. Even though there aren’t any licensed teams present, the game still offers a fairly decent roster of players to choose from. The action on the field is surprisingly slick, and players move around with the ball quite fluidly. It’s a relief to see that the AI has been considerably worked upon in this release – the AI will soon memorize regular passes and plays that you pull off, and will work up a stronger defence team to stop your players.

After a while, you forget that you’re actually playing this on the PS2, but the noticeably average graphics soon snap you back to reality. Passing to other players and shooting is a breeze, as is tackling players. This is a much welcomed improvement over PES 06’s often sluggish response when controlling players. In addition to the Match mode, you also have the Master League, and Cup modes, as well as a “World Tour Mode” which is basically like a challenge mode for the game. You can also have up to 16 people play on one console via the multitap system, which makes for some interesting multiplayer action. Sadly though, the biggest let down of this game is when it goes online, or at least tries to. When the game connected online for the first time, I received a message that ‘All server maintenance has been completed’, however its hard to believe that this is the case. I was dropped from matches on numerous occasions, and when I actually got to play in a game, the performance is poor and jerky, making the game lose out on any online action.

It’s worth mentioning that I’m no football nut, so it did take me some time to get used to the game. There is a lengthy tutorial available to kick off new players, but it tends to be extremely boring and focuses more on displaying text on screen than actually guiding you through the game. Visually, the game looks as good as a game can on the PS2, and there are visibly no major improvements to the graphics department from the previous instalment. Despite players being able to animate well during play, the overall presentation is quite poor, and the menu navigation system can be quite mind-boggling. There is a running commentary during gameplay, but it tends to be quite stagnant and doesn’t help to add to the atmosphere of the game.

Truthfully speaking, PES 2008 is just another name for the 2006 version. With the PS2 eventually giving way to next-gen consoles, there is little that Konami can do for this series for long. Even though the PS2 version reportedly performs better on the PS2 than on the next-gen consoles, it still doesn’t bring much to the table that makes it worth the buy.

Guitar Hero III Legends of Rock

How much more of guitaring do we have to take? Apparently the game publishers don’t think it’s enough, with Rock the 80’s and Guitar Hero II releasing for the xbox, we have the latest installment, Guitar Hero 3. With Activision taking over the rights of Guitar Hero and handing over the reins to Neversoft, have they made the game like it was meant to be or have they made a mess of it all. Let’s find out.

Well, to cut your reading short, they have made a great game but there are a few quirks here and there.  Well all music games should have an amazing soundtrack. GH3 has it in bundles with Guns and Roses, Rolling Stones, The Killers, Iron Maiden, and many others. The Sex Pistols have also returned after 30 years to record a track just for the game and even Brett Michaels and a few other special guests have also lent their talents for the game. Slash fans rejoice.  This game is a proper sequel with atleast 70 tracks to jam to and Activision has heard the cries over the forums and has added a few additions.

Additions include the co-op career with a specific playlist that stresses on rhythm and bass. Online has finally come to Guitar Hero. Now we can jam with our friends online in the career mode or face-off with them as well. A new addition is the Battle mode which basically is two guitarists trying to shred better than the other. The tracks in the career mode during the three battles have been specifically made for the game. It’s a shame that the same tracks can’t be played outside the career. Even the stats are uploaded online on the website and you can check out what you or your friends have played and how much the score is and a whole lot. Downloadable tracks have been promised to extend the life of the game as well. The new controller is quite good with removable face plates, removable neck and the keys are now changed to resemble the PS2 version. So now you can customize your own guitar and can carry it easily around as well. Not bad.

Activision has improved the game’s hud as well with a note counter which is neat. They have also increased the time gap at which the note appears and when it can be played. This may appear as a bane towards experts as it makes the lower difficulty a shame but it would come as a relief to others who find shredding just a bit too much on the fingers. But don’t fret, expert players. The songs towards the end are just numbing to get through in expert. Oh and whoever gets through Fire and Flames on expert deserves to be in the Hall of Fame for the cyber world. And people thought Jordan was hard. Heh!

The songs are amazing to play, but that’s where it ends.  The character models have gone through a change with some new moves but they still don’t seem like they are rocking enough. The crowd just feels animatronic as you see the same action taking place over and over again. Oh and please can someone give the drummer some grease as his bolts are just too tight. It’s as if he is doing the robot and drumming at the same time. Activision has nailed it with the motion capture for the special guests and it’s nice to see Slash jamming like he used to in his ol’ days. Even the singer mouths the wordings of the song properly which is a nice touch. There are occasional slowdowns during gameplay with frame rate drops which is just not acceptable for such a fast paced game.

The single player career could do with a change as its getting boring to see us just play through a set list over and over again. I guess this would be a downfall when compared to Rock Band, its only main rival. The addition of the boss battles is unique but if it were more fleshed out like having its own mode in career would have been just sweet. And let’s have the real singers sing the songs, or at least play the original tracks. There is a big difference with Guns and Roses of the old and Guns and Roses of the new generation. Oh and what is with the extra sponsorship. Activision has really sold out Guitar Hero with a stage just built for Pontiac, Red Bull cans making an appearance and an Axe Body Spray guitar, come on. What has these brands got to do with rock and roll? Oh and there are a few tracks that can only be unlocked in the co-op career. So you will have to get another friend to play a guitar or a controller.

These are just a few problems that we may just quip about but they still don’t get in the way of being a truly awesome game. The game will take over your life as you know it. And with extra songs on download over at the Live Shop, this game could last only longer. If only they had a face editor so it would feel like we are the legend of rock. So people, get out your guitar, bang your head up and down (as its shown in the instructions) and ROCK ON!!!

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008

The PES series has been around for years now, I being a fan since the Super Nintendo years.  A few years ago the game was the best football game around without a question. But recently with so little improvements in all areas, games such as FIFA from EA sports have gained some reputation of being a better football game. And many fans expect this year to be the year in which EA’s game takes over the football scene. Having played both games a lot, I guess not.

Fans that bought last year’s next generation debut of PES were left disappointed, the controls were out of sync and the graphics was at some times very similar to the Playstation 2 graphics. PES 2008 rises the bar this year with better graphics and control, to give us the first REAL Konami next generation football game.

One of the first things to note is that the game still lacks most English team’s licenses due to the agreement EA Sports has with FIFA. So don’t be surprised if some teams show up with the wrong logo, kit and name (Arsenal is called north London for example). This might be annoying for some gamers that are diehard fans of the English league. Also missing is the real names of the German national team players due to license issues too. But don’t panic the beautiful game engine more than makes up for it here. The games on last generation’s consoles were not known for their graphics power but rather for the amazing game play that is so close to real life. And this version doesn’t disappoint, unlike last year’s effort; the game feels great thanks to an improved AI. Football is a team game and it was a priority for Konami to improve the team work in this game, and they did just that.  When you hit the fast break you won’t just feel your player running up the field, you will see the team going up with you. When your team is clinging to a narrow lead, you will see your forwards going back, you will see your wingers supporting your full backs.. You will see football!!  The formation menu is loaded with plans for your team to work on during the game. So actually skipping the formation menu is not a good idea in this version because it helps you perform a lot better in-game.

During the game I noted some of the promised new animations and reactions by the AI. For example when the AI is up 1-0 with a few minutes to go in the game, the forward would head to your corner and hold the ball up there to waste time. The way the AI attacks when down is very intense compared to the attacking style at the start of the game. Again all of those examples follow one theme, real life football.

Trust me when I say you will be getting kicked on the backside a lot. To all the self acclaimed “PES Pro’s”, a word of advice, don’t bet on winning a lot at the beginning. The computer got a lot harder and smarter in this version. The AI won’t settle for capitalizing on your mistakes only no more, they will force their way through. The AI would start building an attack from scratch, make a few nice passes, and it’s either a great save by your goal keeper or another trip to the replay menu to see the goal. But this rise of challenge just makes the game better. We all enjoyed the series with friends on many systems. But come to think about it how many really played it alone and had the same amount of fun as a multiplayer game? I myself never did, the AI was very stupid and annoying, and half the game was wasted on passes in the middle that lead to nothing most of the time. This game however will challenge you; you need to work on your free kicks and corners again because they will be the difference makers when it comes to winning a league or losing it. I had some frustrating moments with my own defensive line, they would trip and miss incoming passes resulting in really bad goals and even the goal keeper sometimes drops powerful crosses into his own net. But after calming down and checking the replays of those mistakes I started thinking about it, isn’t that real life football? Don’t we all see everyday a defender missing a pass resulting in his team losing? Don’t we see own goals? So it might annoy you at first but I feel this is a nice addition to the game. Also added this year is a little trick to your arsenal to use during the game. Once fouled the player might over act the fall resulting sometimes in penalties and free kicks. The tactic might backfire however because the referee might reward you with a yellow card for acting instead of an expected penalty.

Wipeout Pulse

We recently got our hands on Wipeout Pulse, the long awaited sequel to one of the PSP’s finest racing games to date, Wipeout Pure. After going through the single player mode here’s what we think: it still kicks ass!

There are many things being introduced for the new version, least of which is the inclusion of 12 brand new tracks (reversible). Also we’re getting an 8 player online and Ad-Hoc (via sharing) multiplayer mode! Not to mention 8 new teams including Mirage, a new team from the United Arab Emirates, making the most well rounded ship available. Yes we’re getting our very own team (finally some recognition!), albeit this will be a downloadable extra once the game ships.

As far as downloadable content is concerned, we will have 3 other teams and some more new circuits available once the game is shipped. Another new is taking snapshots of your ship once a race ends. You can then upload these pictures online and share your good and bad moments with others. Also rumoured, is vehicle skin customisation which you can do on the game’s website and then take it over to your PSP (similar in concept to Forza 2).

It’s nice to see all these features being included, but has Sony’s Liverpool studio changed the gameplay as well? Thankfully not, as the original Wipeout Pure felt right at home on the PSP. The controls are still the same, with the shoulder triggers acting as airbrakes and face buttons for various power-ups, etc. providing an intuitive control scheme. You will still have to memorise each circuit’s turn and have to take every boost pad in order to come first nonetheless. Of course the various weapons also help along the way, including a new one which draws the energy from a nearby enemy; a sneaky, yet excellent way of getting that podium finish.

The game of course still looks as beautiful as, if not more than, Pure; a very sublime experience every time you play it. The soundtrack is just as pumping as it ever was with custom tracks from some of the most talented British Techno artists.

Wipeout Pulse is looking to be yet another excellent game with superb community and online features promised by Sony. Let’s hope it delivers all these and more come early December.

Unreal Tournament 3 Goes Gold

The PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 has gone gold and will hit stores on November 19th. According to a press release issued by Midway, the game will retail for $49.99 for the standard edition and $59.99 for the Collector’s Edition.

The game is expected in Europe on November 22nd.

PSP Firmware Update v3.72 now available

The new firmware brings only the following change:

Support for PLAYSTATION®Network titles has been expanded

The update can be acquired via Network Update or from the following links:
Firmware Update v3.72 (US)
Firmware Update v3.72 (EU)
Firmware Update v3.72 (JP)

Crysis Goes Gold

Electronic Arts has just made an announcement that Crysis is finally done and has gone gold. With under 3 weeks left for your PC to catch on fire (or to ‘cry’, heh heh- Ed), EA had this to say, ""Electronic Arts has announced that the Crytek developed first person shooter Crysis has now gone gold, meaning that the main development of the game is complete and is now heading for the disk manufactoring process. As previously announced the game will ship to stores on Nov. 16."

Official press release to follow soon.

NHL 08

When Electronic Arts brought out NHL 07 on the PS3, it received a warm reception for doing away with the fiddling controls of previous versions, as well as injecting some much needed finesse into the graphics. NHL 08 builds on  07’s strong points, while still bringing some new tweaks and modes to the game. As far as sporting sims are concerned, EA has always tried to balance realism with gameplay, and NHL 08 certainly strikes the right chord between the two.

The biggest selling point of NHL 07 was the introducing of the new ‘skill stick’ method of ontrolling players. Using this technique, you could skate around the ice with the left analog stick, while shooting the puck with the right stick. This rather simple method of control meant that the game became accessible to almost any player, regardless of their skill level or hockey knowledge. NHL 08 takes this intuitive control and introduces a few more tricks – for one thing, control is as responsive as ever, with players skimming across the ice like a scene from Fantasia, and passing and shooting is an absolute joy. Simply tapping the right analog stick upwards will shoot the puck straight ahead, while bringing the stick down and then up will cause your player to wind up for a more powerful shot. In addition to sending pucks into orbit, your players can now ‘deke’ the puck as they approach the goal. When a defender is approaching you, simply hold down L1 and tap both sticks in any direction, to have your player push the puck away and skate around an opponent. However this isn’t as easy at it sounds – you’re basically letting go of the puck, and if an opponent checks you while you’re trying a deke,  you’ll go flying off your skates and lose the puck. Still, after several practice sessions, you’ll learn to perfect your techniques, and should be a deking pro in no time.

NHL 08 also sees some tweaks made to the AI. While NHL 07 did offer a decent amount of challenge, the AI often skated around ineffectively rather than taking a risk and checking your players. However, in NHL 08 you will have to keep an eye out for AI players, as they quickly learn your favourite moves and figure out different ways to stop you. The game’s box says that ‘No game is the same’, and the AI certainly lives up to this reputation.  This is a definite plus, as it was often easy to skate circles around an AI opponent and smack in a goal.

One of the lacking features in NHL 07 was the limited amount of online modes. You could basically only jump into a quick match against an online buddy and square off with your favourite team. Thankfully, NHL 08 has various online modes to whet every gamer’s appetite – from shootouts and quick matches, to team modes and league tables. The league modes give skilled players a more enjoyable game, as they battle out to improve their rankings. The team play will allow your friends to  jump in and swap around to different players as they move around the ice. Sadly, I wasn’t able to enjoy the multiplayer modes for very long. Nearly every game I attempted to create failed to load, citing some problem with the EA server. Even after repeatedly reconnecting and downloading the latest rosters, the game still failed to load. Hopefully this issue can be addressed soon, as gamers are missing out on what would be an otherwise remarkable multiplayer experience.

Making a return again in NHL 08 is the Dynasty mode, which puts you as the role of team manager, and it’s your job to hire the right team mates and ensure your guys run like clockwork. However, it’s not simply a matter of selecting the best players on offer – players will now carefully consider when you make them an offer, and you can often get declined if you don’t offer the right amount of money, or if the player feels that your team isn’t top notch. This mode is definitely more extensive that in was in  NHL 07, and keeping track of team stats will soon become an essential skill to master.

In the graphics department, the game looks pretty much like NHL 07, with a few minor moothing effects thrown in. Players animate well and react to oncoming players by dodging or checking them accordingly. There were a few issues with the camera not following the puck correctly, but there occurrences were few. The audio is also another best-seller for the game; there is some excellent commentary on hand, which is neither obtrusive or repetitive, and the spectator reactions are spot-on. There is a background rock score that plays during the menus and games, but it doesn’t get in the way of gameplay at all.

Truthfully speaking, NHL 08 is a great game, though the multiplayer aspect needs serious work to get it past the loading screen. With a good selection of teams and plenty of modes to choose from, NHL 08 looks set to be a favourite for sports fans this year.

NHL 08

Hockey might not have enough fans in the region for this game to be a success. But featuring the best graphics and sound in any sport game plus the huge amount of control given to you, any sport fan should give it a shot. With deep online modes and improvement on the skill stick (introduced in NHL 07) EA sports might have finally done something right in this past 5 years(10 years.. 15 years? EVER!)

The best thing about this game and the first thing you will need to master in order to win is the skill stick. The left stick will give you control over your skates which basically means your movement. The right stick will give you control over your stick, so shooting and passing will be done here. Instead of having the shoot button as A or B, a simple tap to the top will do the job. And this is only one of the few things you can do using the skill stick. As you get better you will find even more interesting moves that will require you to use both the sticks. Moves like passing by the opponent will require you to move the Left stick in 1 direction and the right stick in another, producing a beautiful animation of you leaving your opponent in dust (or ice in this case). If you played NHL 07 you would have noticed how stupid the AI is sometimes on all difficulties. EA clearly addressed that issue this time around with an improved AI. Players won’t let you get by them easily anymore; you will have to work for it. Your team mates will recognize your runs more often resulting in a better and a more enjoyable game flow. So basically you can’t glitch your way to winning on this one, the AI will use the right moves at the right time to stop you. Such AI improvements makes the game (and the scores) feel like a real life hockey game (Which is the whole point, right?).

Improved over last year are the games modes offered. The Dynasty mode doesn’t feel like it was put together in the last minute no more. The salary cap will be in effect when trading and signing free agents to add a realistic touch to the game.  When I tried to sign free agents in the offseason I got different results every time. If the player is a big shot and you’re giving him an offer from a losing team, you will get rejected most of the time. If you offer an average player a spot on a deep team, he might reject the offer because he won’t get playing time. The online features are also hugely improved in many ways. First off you can now play up to six players on six systems in one game. The feature sounds pretty cool so I tried using it myself. Too bad the game kicked me out every time before it started. I thought it was an internet issue first, but I checked some LIVE sites and turns out it’s a bug in the game yet to be fixed. Improved this year also is the online leagues system. You can start a league with 2-32 teams and you can pick from NHL, AHL and even international teams to play with. Also each league will have a lobby for you to view which one of your opponent is online to play. EA states that this feature is “NEW” but I have seen it in NBA 2K5 back in the days and without it leagues wont function anyway. I would also recommend players that are new to the sport or game to visit the practice mode that helps you get more used to the game and its rules over all.

The game looks amazing. Did I say that before? Let me say it one more time. The game looks amazing! The graphics are simply the best seen in a sport games. The animations are so silky smooth and the player’s reactions are so realistic, that as a sports fan myself, it brought a tear to my eyes every time. The animations played before games and after scoring goals look amazing with the player’s smiles and joy being on display with such great style. I seriously started wanting to score even more goals (or getting scored on) just to see the animations play again. The game like all EA sports XBOX 360 efforts will run on 60 frames per seconds compared to the 30 fps on the Play station 3.

Commentary by Gary Thorne (ESPN) and Bill Clement (retired hockey player, NBC) use their knowledge of the game to produce one of the best commentaries in any sport game. What’s so interesting about the commentary this year is that for once it’s not just useless chatter. If you are doing something wrong they will let you know about it. If the other team for example is killing you on fast breaks the commentary will comment on how you’re leaving the goal empty. At first it might sound like casual talk on their behalf but you will realize that all of what’s said should be taken advantage of.

I will go as far as saying that if the cover of NHL 08 had a soccer ball on it, it would sell more anyway in this region. But EA sports did all what they can do to make this a truly enjoyable and memorable experience for not just hockey fans but also every sport fan out there. The only turn off of this game is not a letdown in the game itself but rather due to the fact that non hockey fans will need to get used to the rules first before enjoying this one truly. Thank you EA… Now please go fix your NBA Live series.

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