Konami have made some changes to things that didn't need changing which is disappointing....................
I play it with a 1 gig ram, ATI Radeon 9200 Video Card, P4 3ghz, PC and a PS2 controller.
On the differences from PES6
PROS
*Can add your own face to make your own player in edit mode.
*More Teams/Clubs.
*New AI Team Vision - I haven't noticed anything vastly different about this but it is harder to get around defenders now and I haven't scored 2 goals similar in one game yet.
*Graphics especially faces have improved a lot.
*More options in tactics like choosing who goes forward at set pieces and more control of wall.
*Track record, which keeps all your stats from all your games. It's great but something that should have been in versions ago.
*Better menus and presentation
CONS
*Camera losses ball sometimes when you shoot. If you don't have wide monitor
*Less stadiums.
*Commentary didn't work at first. I had to change Audio configuration. I have never had to that before for any game.
*Controls and manual in X-Box layout. Why change to X-Box when last ones have been the good old PS controller.
*No Crowd. I'm playing on low settings but I'm not sure why there is no crowd?
* There seems to be less cut scenes and when a player gets a card the ref sorts of just pulls the card out and doesn't 'put it in the players face' as he should and has in previous versions.
*Goalkeepers much worse. You will score some goals you wouldn't have thought were possible.
Gameplay
The main problem I felt in PES6 was that a lot of the time the games would be so outweighed. The possession wasn't always largely in your favour but the shots were normally way outnumbered in your benefit. I have had many games on PES6 (on the hardest level) even with poorer teams where I may have had 10-15 shots and the Com team has 0-1 or 2. This has been improved. Games do feel a bit more balanced.
Goalkeepers
In the past games if you shot and it hit the keepers it pretty much never went in and always cleared in front of the keeper. Now the ball sometimes hits them and goes in which I think is more realistic. However they constantly miss crosses they should get which costs goals and losses. And they also seem to punch far too often instead of catching the ball with leads to goals and losses. If you hold R2/Curl Shot when you shoot also the keepers tend to really struggle with it and I have scored some goals that I really shouldn't have and I can see this is a way you could sort of cheat and win.
5/10
Passing
Passing is pretty much same as other games however sometimes when you pass it will just bounce off the player you passed it to or won't go near them. Doesn't happen often but happens.
8/10
Dribbling
Needs work . Too easy to dribble a lot and to hard for the opposition to get the ball sometimes.
7/10
Defending
Apart from the goalkeeper issue sometimes it is far to hard to get the ball off the opposition. Seems harder than the previous versions. And sometimes when crosses come in from the opposing team you don't get given the right player which can lead to trouble but in all in all its not bad.
8/10
Shooting/Crossing
This is also different. The power bar fills up slower which can make free kicks easier but this will take you a while to get used to if you have played previous versions as you will shoot/cross to low and soft at the start. I do like it though so far. Probably the best of the series.
9/10
Sound
Commentators are different for the first time in many versions. But what they say so far seem a small improvement but nothing great and FIFA still wins in the commentary field.
Sound is pretty much the same as previous versions but you hear the sound effects of the crunching tackles and the on field sound effects more which is good. I think it could be better and create a better atmosphere but its an improvement
7/10
Presentation/Visuals
Graphics have improved and I'm sure on higher end PCs than mine the game would look great and maybe have crowds….Again this could be my PC but there are still no linesman present while you are actually playing. Would this really be hard to put into a game?
While still not 10/10 the menus and layout also look better and make the game look better.
8/10
Online Play
I have tried a few games and suffereed bad lag. From reports having issues.
5/10
Overall
I'd like to say that its good Konami are still making games that can be played on lower systems. The new games I can play these days with my system are quite limited. I was worried PES 2008 wouldn't run because it has had a graphics' update but credit to Konami.
If you like the PES series I think it's a worthy update especially if you have a good graphics card to enjoy the full graphics of PES2008. Some of the cons are disappointing as sometimes with PES its like 2 steps forward and 1 step back but it does play differently than PES6 and is still definitely more realistic and enjoyable than the other major soccer game on the market.
However some of the flaws are disappointing. Things that didn't need changing get changed and make the game worse. If Konami actually listened to there fans on what needed changing and what didn't they would make much better updates of the game.
They have released a patch but it doesn't fix the gameplay issues. I don't think they will but really they should.
To summarise not an essential update from PES6 or even PES5 or PES4, unless you want the graphics update. But it is different and if you're a fan of PES its worth a try. If you have never played PES before then get it.