PES 2008 Wii date, control details

By Tom Bramwell Published 6 February, 2008

Team of Miis, new shots, Crouchigol.

Konami has sent out a big old press release with diagrams and everything explaining how Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 is going to work for the Wii when it comes out on 28th March.

As well as Match, League and Cup games and a Player Trade option, there's the Champions Road mode mentioned previously, which takes you around the globe earning XP, completing mini-tasks and building up a dream team.

You can even build a team out of Miis, with up to 16 in a squad, and then store the result on your Wiimote to transport it around. Sharing team data is also possible over WiiConnect24, there's random and Friends matches available over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, and there's a tutorial mode to help you learn the ropes.

Controls are distributed across the Wii Remote and Nunchuk. The former does all sorts of things like passing, sending people on runs and tackling, while the latter is used to move the currently selected player and fire off Crouchigols.

Dribbling works by holding A and pointing in the direction you want to go, with the speed of the run altered by extending or reducing the length of a guiding arrow. Konami reckons this allows for quick turns and bursts of speed.

A "simple click and drag system" will help send players on runs, with B completing the move, while shooting is a question of swinging the Nunchuk in time to strike, or meet an incoming pass or cross.

Like real football, the speed of the incoming ball, ability of the player, angle of trajectory, timing and whether it's Peter Crouch or not will have various effects on the resultant shot, separating the bobblers from the unstoppable downward headers and bicycle kicks that have become the trademarks of the People's Hero.

Konami reckons this level of control "elevates PES 2008 far beyond any other football game". It's certainly really ambitious. Join us closer to release to find out whether it's the genius it could be or a complicated mess.

Oh, and pop your eyes through the blue word gateway to visit our Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 Wii screenshot gallery.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (13) Latest comment 4 years ago

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  • Tejstar #1 4 years ago

    A team of Miis! That could be golden!

  • spekkeh #2 4 years ago

    Sounds great, really looking forward to the review to see if the new control system works. Firing off Crouchigols sounds like epic failure though.

  • LiamK #3 4 years ago

    Some people would tell you that one of his "unstoppable" bicycle kicks was stopped as recently as last week. But those people are idiots who fail to see the glory of the destined-to-be top goalscorer for England of all time ever.

  • Muddtallica #4 4 years ago

    I'll only buy it if you can use the Remote and Nunchuk to imitate Crouchinho's legendary robot dance after each goal flies in.

    Also, why is the Buy Now at Amazon link in the top corner of the page totally random yet again? The Fire Emblem review linked to Dragon Blade: Wrath of Fire for some reason, now this PES preview is trying to get us to buy Smackdown vs. Raw. What gives?

  • Eighthours #5 4 years ago

    This is going to be interesting, but I fear it's also going to be a mess.

  • asharkman #6 4 years ago

    God i cant stop playin pes2008 but i hate it so much.
    so many glitches so many stupid things happen on the field.
    Defenders running away from strikers etc etc etc....

    if they fix it up and limit the amount of bug's this could be a great multiplayer game.
    Sounds like what they're doing is pretty diffiuclt.
    Will be interesting to see how it goes.

  • Dermoth #7 4 years ago

    *sigh*

    Peter Crouch is very good at shooting. It's everything else that he sucks at.

    Don't feel bad, though. Steve McClaren couldn't figure this out either, which was about 33% of the reason why England lost to Croatia. (The other 67% being McClaren's decision to give a competitive debut to a keeper in England's biggest match for two years, of course)

    Anyway, I am cautiously optimistic about Wii-Eee-Ess. Not sure why, given Konami's recent form.

  • Machetazo #8 4 years ago

    Footage can be seen of this being played http://wii.com/j p/articles/wepm2008/
    (bottom left of page - from gonintendo :) )

    I think it looks good, and certainly that "total mess" assumptions are wide of the mark. I haven't played a "proper" football game for a while now, but this looks really smooth, the passing looks like it works well, so I'd certainly consider picking it up. I've been keen to buy a new real-world football game, for a while (FIFA/PES on other systems didn't inspire too much) so I think I could have fun with this version.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/08 @ 14:17

  • gaselite #9 4 years ago

    Looks and sounds very interesting and they seem to have organised it in a way that won't be overly confusing or inoperable. Can't wait to try it out.

  • miiiguel #10 4 years ago

    First I thought PES06 was awfull, then I got used to it, then I bought PES2008, and I can't get pass its terrible performance. Awfull game, it'll sell well on the Wii though, just put some mini-games in and it'll be a success.
    Edited by 1 at 06/02/08 @ 16:41

  • Sid-Nice #11 4 years ago

    This version of PES is either going to be totally brilliant or utter crap; there isn't an in-between for Wii games. The simplicity of Wii Sports is a system seller; the controls in PES 2008 Wii look rather complicated to say the least. Still if like most PES games where you are rewarded for practicing then the more complex the game-play the better. The Casual gamer can go to hell.

  • mazk #12 4 years ago

    Any chance of a review of Pro Evo wii?

  • romanista #13 4 years ago

    why isn'tthois reviewed yet?