Best Football Sim (that's "soccer" to you colonial types)

[Maquiladora]

Here's a vid showing diving, pretty funny but I hope it's not always this easy:

[DrSpike]

Early feedback from the PES demo was that it owns as usual. Will probably get it as I haven't got PES6 on my Xbox 360 - it's just hard to squeeze in at the moment with all the great games that are being released.

[Maquiladora]

A mate of mine has snagged both demos for XBox and is basically saying FIFA does feel more realistic (especially shooting) than PES this year. I have to agree the shooting and feel of control and tricks is better than last year on FIFA, certainly better than PES6 too. Plus the new manual through balls on FIFA are good.

The AI cheating (rebounds, selective collision detection etc) is apparently still present in PES though, especially when it's losing, which is disappointing.

I think basically again PES08 is the complete football game to play against another human (hopefully Konami servers are better this year), but FIFA wins single player this time, it has better AI (at least on 360), and better presentation as usual.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Wow... that's amazing that FIFA has done so well on this go around. They finally began to listen to the fans, I guess. Is this really an EA product?

[DrSpike]

EA has a new lease of life this year - they've beaten the 2k hockey game for the first time in a while, beat Tony Hawk's with Skate, and though you wouldn't catch me buying it Madden seems pretty well regarded.

[Solver]

That'd be surprising... so did FIFA08 get over the problem of too many goals being the same and over the problem of random goalkeepers?

I don't know about AI cheating in PES... but I distinctly had the impression of it cheating in FIFA. Sometimes it'd just want to equalize so badly that a wild shot from 30m out would go in 3 minutes before the game ends. Hmm...

[Maquiladora]

I'd say if you didn't like FIFA07 on PC then don't bother with 08 on PC, because it's similar, and not next-gen like the 360 and PS3 versions, which are apparently much better.

PES08 is next-gen on everything except PS2 (AFAIK Wii is gonna be next-gen).

[CapTVK]

The original Kickoff 1 for the Amiga. Yes, i know kickoff 2 is legendary ...

[Solver]

I played FIFA07 before I even knew how PES plays Wasn't a bad game either, except for the very random goalkeepers and some AI issues with your controlled players. Some issues like that probably still remain, though.

[Maquiladora]

The keeper animations on FIFA are a load better than PES at the moment, and some of the tricks too, look much more realistic. I've seen some issues with the AI keepers too on FIFA08 (PC), but nothing too bad.

PES6 had some pretty bad keeping, they didn't catch the ball enough, apparently this hasn't been altered much in 08 either. At least the "catch it and walk out for a corner" glitch has been fixed though.

[Solver]

The thing that bothered me about keepers in 07 is that they would randomly either be great or suck. Sometimes they'd be able to catch - and hold on to - shots from within the penalty area consistently, sometimes they'd miss everything. Oh, and the fact that you could shoot from a very narrow angle where the ball would have no chance of going into the goal, but the keeper would always deflect that shot for a corner.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Solver
The thing that bothered me about keepers in 07 is that they would randomly either be great or suck. Sometimes they'd be able to catch - and hold on to - shots from within the penalty area consistently, sometimes they'd miss everything.

There's nothing random about it. They exclusively used film of Newcastle United goalkeepers as a model for the game.

[Maquiladora]

PES 2008 PC demo is now out, been playing the last 2hrs.

Fairly impressed so far. You can actually run with the ball now, I've already run from the edge of my own box and hit post at the other end with C. Ronaldo, which is a bit crazy, but it's a lot more fun than PES6 dribbling IMO, which was a bit robotic.

Player control feels more free, you can twist and turn more and more likely to keep the ball with a good player, same for dribbling, it's impossible to get the ball from a good dribbler without double-marking or hacking him down.

An AI player already got booked for diving in my area. I've been booked twice and once won a free kick with a dive though I haven't decided if it's too easy yet.

Also the baggy nets are excellent they totally put FIFA to shame.

[Solver]

Anything new in terms of setting up tactics and the like? That's where PES06 is so far ahead that it isn't even funny.

[Maquiladora]

The tactics screen is a little more refined to use, like switching from attack > defence > positions etc but I haven't noticed anything new to use yet. It's early days but I think the "simple menu" is more use now, it selects pretty good setups when you use the "suitable" option. I'll probably stop using that though when I can save my own tactics (not possible in demo).

Wing-forwards and wingers in general seem to be marked better now, but on the flip-side as I've said, it's MUCH easier to run past opponents now, especially if you have even a small lead on the defender.

Direct free kicks are EASY now. I've already scored 5 in the first day. Basically it seems they've eliminated the random factor from PES6 free kicks, so all those that you hit perfectly in PES6 will now fly into the top corner every time, no random chance of it ballooning. The AI seems obsessed with chipping it into the box and scoring overhead kicks against me though, which look spectacular but my defenders do nothing.