As is too often the case today, Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (PES 2008) was released late on the Wii after PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were already well out the door. Sounds familiar, right Harmonix? However, unlike the gimped, no frills version of Rock Band that’s headed to the Wii in June, PES 2008 was held back by Konami to give the game the extra attention it needed to fully make use of the Wii’s unique controls.
Next Generation has a profile up today with PES European team leader Jon Murphy that tells me Konami “gets it” when it comes to what makes a Wii version of any port “sing.” By all signs and portents, the Wii version of PES 2008 is by far the superior version, both from critical acclaim (86% Metacritic) and customer response.
As series creator Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka admitted late last year, the final PS3 product was “so far from what we wanted”. The game regularly “stuttered†and was plagued with online problems, something that was also reported by some owners of the Xbox 360 version. It was hardly the beautiful game as we’d come to expect it from Konami, but, says Murphy, things are back on track – in PES 2008 for Wii the platform has finally got the decent football game it has been “crying out for†and one that “offers the best online experience†in the history of the series.
I fully expect to see more and more of these kinds of stories throughout 2008 and 2009. This is not some tacked on “shake the Wiimote to check someone” that we saw in Mario Strikers Charged (which was a great game, btw), it’s a well thought-out, robust offering that shows when graphics are only a component of the game design experience, and not the ultimate goal, titles can certainly hum on the Wii.
And how’s this for irony? The Wii version has superior online functionality when compared to its next generation brethren. Consider me swooned.
UPDATE@3:07 EST: ejamer lets us know that there’s a discussion going in the Infendo forums about this very game right now!
Planning to buy this and Ninja Gaiden DS TODAY!
I kind of want to buy this now
@Blake,
I think I would rather buy this than Brawl right now. Let me know what you think.
I saw an advert for this the other day and it does look really good. Not usually into soccer games but this looks appealing, bit complicated but still. uses the Wii well giving you better control. ‘s exactly what games for Wii should be
This game is fantastic and I don’t follow or have any interest in professional soccer at all. I haven’t been playing brawl because I’ve been so addicted to this game. I highly recommend it.
I usually wait for a discount or get last years version of a footie game, but in this case, I’ll support their efforts by paying full price. The devs that put real effort into maximizing the potential of the Wii need to get rewarded.
Great to see that the Wii gets a few third-party games really worth buying. After sitting on the fence for a week or so, PES 2008 is officially on my must buy list!
Link to the Infendo forum topic for discussing Pro Evolution Soccer 2008, in case anyone is interested:
http://www.infendo.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=2281
Jack, thank you for this post. I would completely have overlooked it. I am sooooo interested now. I use to love soccer games on my pc.
Mark: If you aren’t so overhyped about Brawl, get this. Brawl is ok. If the online stuff was working better, I’d say get Brawl. Wait and get Brawl. It isn’t going anywhere.
At all of you:
I TOLD YOU SO!! hehe
and as of right now, im still craving this as much as brawl (AND I LOVE MY BRAWL!)
the game is great
it’s more tactical than action
@Paul,
Thanks. I have been sitting on the fence on brawl, but I really like soccer games but I wasn’t sure how they would translate on the Wii. I think I’ll get this instead.
Awesome, i’ll be checking this out for sure.
Maybe this will be a good attempt at a soccer game instead of the turd that EA pooped out last year called fifa 08.
I’m definitely getting this game. This is what the Wii is all about. I’m really hungry for good third party games.
“Wait and get Brawl. It isn’t going anywhere.”
I like this advice. Brawl is a great game, but it has already sold well over a million copies and be a great purchase in 6 (or even 12) months time from now.
Instead of getting Brawl now, I’d rather support this third-party franchise that was given special attention for the Wii release with my immediate buying power. One purchase won’t make much difference, but it certainly won’t hurt either… and I haven’t played a good soccer video game for ages!
I want this to see if I could ever like soccer since I don’t like sports games in general, but I’m getting Obscure: the aftermath instead. Maybe a bit later this year or when next years edition releases and this one’s price falls dramatically.
@ srkelley
think of it like this: you are supporting a “decent” (read: mediocre) game rather than a game that had special attention rather than just a port.
@srkelley,
Please post your thoughts on obscure. I’d be curious to hear what an infendo reader thinks about it. I thought it looked kind of fun myself.
I’ve been waiting for this game for very long and I was waiting to see if it was worth it. It’s been a long long time I quit playing PES, as it was always the same ol’, same ol’!!! It could have been a total s**t but my hopes were quite high and they fully met them!!! Two thumbs up!!
Thank you Konami, I’ll buy it first day out (which is march 28th here in Europe)… Next, I hope the next chapter to come the same day the other version are out so it can properly compete (and maybe surpass) in sales!!!
Its funny because I just realized this when cruising GameRankings just a few minutes ago. This is great news, I was quite surprised actually because Pro Ev is such a highly regarded series. Hopefully it recieves the sales it deserves.
Great!
I herar this is getting some very nice reviews!
Finally !
=)
I wouldn’t call anything about Mario Strikers’ functionality ‘tacked on’, personally. Also in a previous article someone mentioned that MSC’s online play was lagged, which isn’t even close to true.
What’s with the MSC hate around here?
For any European gamers that have this game, I’ve left my Wii and ProEvo FC’s in the thread mentioned above.
Also I have posted my thoughts on the game having gone a few hours with it over the weekend.
I don’t know eric. I had a ball with MSC. Zero lag on 9 out of 10 games and I thought jarring the wii mote for a barge worked great. Loved it.
The only thing I didn’t like about the game was all the people who tried to use toad to jump over your goalie.
This game is really really good. Easily the best football game I’ve played since Cup64.
If you like football (or soccer as some of you call it) then you owe it to yourself to get this game.