Fortunately, once you get your team out onto the pitch and start playing a game, all of the aforementioned issues are swiftly forgotten, as the core game-play of PES2008 is still as good as ever. There are a great number of subtle yet noticeable tweaks to the game-play, which reveal themselves with extended play and ensure that the game has enough improvements over PES6 to be well worth the purchase.

The most obvious of these is the movement of other players on your team whilst you are in possession of the ball. Instead of just standing around waiting for the ball, players make runs into space, drawing defenders away and leaving room for another player to burst into. This makes being in possession of the ball a much more enjoyable experience, as your teammates actually make a concerted effort to get into a decent position for you to make a pass to them and continue the move. It also allows for some truly brilliant team goals to be scored and really makes the game feel much more like a real game of soccer.

In addition to this, there is also a much greater feeling of weight behind everything you do in a match. Every tackle, pass and shot has a satisfying heftiness to it, which makes firing in a 25-yard screamer or making a crunching challenge on the half-way line that much more satisfying than in the previous versions. The volleying mechanic is also vastly improved thanks to this, with quick volleyed switches of play now entirely possible.

The balance of the on-screen players is much more significant this time around. There is a real need to steady a player before shooting, especially on their weaker foot. It is also easier to catch a defender off balance by turning the opposite way to their run, allowing some space for a shot or a pass, whereas before defenders seemed to glue themselves to you.

The artificial intelligence appears to have been given a much needed kick up the rear, with the introduction of ‘Team Vision’. This system basically ensures that the A.I. controlled teams take notice of how you are playing during a game and adapt their own tactics to suit. If you are having a lot of joy down the right flank, then after a while the A.I. will realise this and make sure they double up next time you try to attack down that side. The need is there to always have a ‘Plan B’ for when the A.I. cottons on to your original tactics and it certainly adds an extra dynamic to the series that was not previously there.

The only slight game-play issue is the speed of the game, which some have found to be too fast. The ball does move a lot quicker when in the air and this does make the game a lot more frantic, but it could be argued that this is the way soccer is moving in real-life. It is still possible for great passing sides such as Argentina to play the game at a slower pace and be very effective, but the speed can lead to lesser teams being steamrolled by a side of quick and powerful players.