That's what PES 2008 feels like - like it never really hits the back of the net but the build-up play is not bad at all.
First off whilst there have been some improvements in the animation and graphics department, PES still looks like the ugly sister of FIFA. This is further help by the fact that, yet again, many of the top teams (mainly the english teams) feature in incomplete and unlisenced kits. Player models are nothing to write home about either. Sure, you can recognise the big players like Messi, Kaka and Ronaldo but from there on in it's just models that bare almost no resemblance to their counterparts. Whats worse is that the crowds and stadium still look terrible - in the cutscenes they are much improved but during play they could be mistaken for Playstation 2 graphics.
However, as most fans of Konami's juggernaut will tell you, we don't play PES for the graphics; FIFA's long been the better of the two. We play PES for the gameplay and sadly even that is not up to much this year. All in all the game feels much faster and smother than PES 6 (2007) but this feeling is completely destroyed by the number of infuriating errors that are made during the game. For all of Konami's preaching about their AI system, it's really not up to much. Your fellow players are so unreliable that it makes tasks doubly hard - especially defending. And on the occasions when they make the run you want them to, breaking right through the defence, you press the through ball button to find that your player strokes the ball nearer to the defenders that his own teammate.
Worse still, some of the commands just have not been thought out by Konami. An example of this occurs if you try to perform the aerial through ball (LB + Y). You see a man making the run just after you've passed to one player, so in order to make sure that as soon as he collects the ball he performs an aerial through ball to the runner, you press the LB + Y combination, however because the player does not yet have the ball (and that LB changes your player) you will find that you lose control of him. These may seem like small complaints but they really do crop up far too often and hamper the gameplay. On the harder difficulties where you can spend a few minutes creating that perfect opening it is such a smack in the face to find that your player just make a terrible pass.
In terms of lifespan there is plenty to do - Master League returns along with plenty of leagues and cups to keep you amused. And once the game is no longer a challenge you can take your team online. Certainly earning all 1000 achievement points won't be an easy feat - one achievement requires you to win every cup and league along with several other requirements. It's certainly value for your money is this respect at least.
Don't get me wrong, PES 2008 is still a good football game - you just somehow feel that it really could have been so much more if Konami had ironed out the tiny flaws that are so prominent that they really do hide the game's beauty. It's like watching Ronaldo skip past three defenders before faking out the keeper, only to shoot over the bar. That's what PES 2008 feels like - like it never really hits the back of the net but the build-up play is not bad at all.