Cast your minds a year back to the winter of 2006. Remember much? Plenty of hype over Gears of War, excitement about the news that some kid called Lewis Hamilton was going to be in Formula One in 2007 and film buffs awaiting the UK screen debut of weird-athon Spanish flick Pan’s Labyrinth. Not only does all this seem like an absolute age ago, each of the above three things have something in common. What would that be? Well, Gears of War came out and was pretty good. Lewis Hamilton ended up racing his McLaren in a somewhat pretty good manner. Pan’s Labyrinth was a bit of a mind-bender, but at the same time it was… yes, pretty good.

Why am I talking about this in the introductory paragraph to Pro Evo 2008? Well, the winter of 2006 was also the first time that the Pro Evolution series – the footy fans’ holy grail – had made the jump to the next-generation of hardware. Expectations were high. Minute upon minute was spent between friendly chums bantering on various internet forums about the game they were about to receive. And then? Well, let’s just say it wasn’t ‘pretty good’. Actually, let’s be blunt: it was pretty bloody rushed and a bit of a mess. Pro Evolution 2008 couldn’t follow that lead with a whole year of development under its belt, surely?

I’m going to be a git and not tell you yet, although I suspect you’ve probably already clocked the score at the bottom of the text and wonderfully captioned pictures. A seven? Surely I must be barking up the wrong goal post. This is Konami, Matt. This is Shingo ‘Seabass’ Takatsuka. This is Pro Evo. All these points I will grant you. What Pro Evo 2008 isn’t, though, is a brilliant game of football. A good one? Yes. A much-changed one? Definitely. So where’s the problem?

There are a few, and it’s going to take a while to wade through them, so do bear with me. The principle point to deal with (and by far the most important one when it comes to the fans) is the football itself. We have game modes left, right and centre and in due time we’ll poke around and have a look at them, but with a knackered game engine at the heart all this would have all gone by the wayside.

Thankfully, one of 2008’s plus points is the football action itself. This year the whole thing seems to have gotten a tune-up, leaving the player with what is a much quicker, smoother game of football. Using players’ pace now pays dividends and encourages you to make runs into space rather than ping it around like a passing pinball machine. Passing accuracy seems to have been tuned too, giving the player better control and allowing him to pass into space and manoeuvre in close-quarter situations much quicker and much more naturally. Whichever way you choose to play the game you are sure to be able to construct beautiful, flowing moves.

This alone is a major positive, yet alas it’s not without its drawbacks. Taking a step backwards this year are the goalkeepers, who seem to have limbs made out of butter and allow shots to squeeze under and through them at the slightest invitation. A quick ten-minute game as Liverp… erm, Merseyside Reds (ugh) against Derby(shire) saw me scuff three out of my five goals under their ‘keeper, and every single one of them was easier to save than let in. Considering that this may be down to the level of the opposition I took on Newcastle (for they are licensed), only for Shay Given to achieve the same with a weak Fernando Torres shot inside the first ten minutes.

In fact, it’s fair to say that the ineptitude of the keepers is a downer on proceedings. Carving out a brilliant passing move against tough, tight-knit defensive units is as rewarding as it ever has been, but seeing your resultant pea-roller of a shot deflect off the keeper’s arm, onto his chest and then off his knee and in is somewhat crushing. Seeing a shot roll toward the line and then be unnecessarily pushed over it by a desperate Paul Robinson on not one but two occasions in the same game was almost tear-jerking stuff. The keepers last year were too good, for sure, but this season they’ve gone so far the other way it’s not even funny. Well, not much anyway.

Moving away from all this, 2008 brings a much-vaunted Teamvision feature to the table. This is, according to the press releases, supposed to adjust the AI to however you are playing, thus in effect closing any tactical loopholes you may be finding out on the pitch. The theory sounds exciting and promises a trickier, thought-provoking game. The reality, sadly, is not quite there. Even against tip-top opposition you’ll find that using the same tactic – be it wing play or through the middle – will always reap dividends, and that the opposition will do very little to remedy this. Being able to unleash Jermaine Pennant and Ryan Babel into oceans of space along the Chelsea wings is something that worked from the first moment to the last in the majority of games I played, even on the hardest difficulty level. It’s enough to make you wonder if Teamvision actually made the cut or not.

Another feature sure to divide fans is the option to dive or pull an opponent’s shirt. Whilst doing so will often see your player being booked and a free kick given the opposite way, practice showed that it was more than possible to con the referee in a crowded penalty area to gain a spot kick. Whilst in single player modes this might not be so much of an issue, you get the feeling that most series fans will come to a gentleman’s agreement not to use such tactics during multiplayer games, and those who do insist on trying will be pilloried. With this in mind, you can’t help but wonder why it made it into the final game.

Despite all this, the urge to play just the one more game is as present here as it ever was. The keepers may fluff and the opposition may not adapt noticeably, but the bones underneath the meat are as addictive and silky as ever. Seeing a shot curl past a desperately outstretched keeper into the top corner is still an exhilaration that few gaming moments can match, whilst a crunching tackle is often fist-clenching fun. On top of this, Peter Brackley and Trevor ‘Smooth’ Brooking have been shuffled off the gravy train and replaced with Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson, with the former providing inspired lead commentary and the latter some rather useless analysis. Still, it’s a step up from what we’re used to.

Sadly, all the above is once more undermined by utterly horrid frame rate issues that crop up during in-game replays. It’s not as if 2008 is a particularly astonishing game graphically either; in fact, it’s little more than a slight upgrade on last year’s title, with some players looking spot-on and others looking completely wrong. In terms of visual prowess Konami still fall some way short of their chums at EA, which makes it all the more shocking when replays see the frame rate chopping and stuttering everywhere as if it were Neil Ruddock after a big night out. Much like last year, you feel that Konami haven’t fully got to grips with optimising their product for the current generation of consoles.

Continuing the love-hate affair that saw me smile and then cry at varying times when playing, Pro Evo brings back a couple of features that for some reason or other didn’t make it into last season’s effort, much to the disappointment of purchasers worldwide. The ability to save your replays is now present and correct (a year too late to capture my epic 35-yard Kaka curler, sadly), whilst you can now edit teams and players to your heart’s content. Heck, you can even upload a picture of your own ugly mug and put yourself into the game, although it’s quite difficult to actually get something looking relatively correct when done. There’s plenty of chance to use the editing feature if you are a fan of the Premier League, too, as Konami have once again chosen to license but two teams (Newcastle and Spurs, curiously). I’ve already made my thoughts on this known, but seeing Konami pleading poverty once more is as depressing as ever. I don’t care what people may say – having to play a Merseyside derby as Mersyside Red and Blue really, really ruins the atmosphere.

In terms of modes, the game offers up exhibitions, cups and leagues for you to explore and create, whilst also bringing back the Master League, which features a few cut scenes for flavour but remains mostly exactly the same. There is also the option to play folk online on Xbox Live, but currently this seems rather lag-ridden so you’re better off inviting the mates over, piling up the crates of beer and having a good, old-fashioned offline multiplayer session whilst you await a promised patch to sort it all out. All this comes wrapped in some much-improved menus and some pretty awful background music.

Which really sums up Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. For everything you love – the football itself, the ability to edit pretty much anything and the ability to save your best goals to show off to anyone at random – there’s something equally annoying, unrealised or just plain lazy. Takatsuka-san has already gone on record to say that the series will be undergoing a massive overhaul in time for 2009, and to be honest that can’t come soon enough. You get the feeling that for the past few years Konami have been polishing and butchering the same steak for better or worse, and whilst this year’s title is certainly an improvement on what came before it, it’s certainly still not a meal that’s as appetising as it could or should be.