Wiivolution? Wiitastic? Wiicked? Wiincredible? Ok now that nonsense/pun heavy/awful attempt to link the Wii with superlatives is out of the way, onto the review!

The beautiful game, perhaps not so beautifully represented by Konami towards the end of last year with PES 2008. While solid and delivering a steady gameplay experience, it didn’t make waves in the gaming world. Coming around 5 months later than the other version (bar PSP/DS), the Wii and its motion control has given birth to a new type of PES. With Seabass taking a step aside to concentrate on PES 2009, his trusty Greyhound takes the reins to attempt to bring some credibility back to the franchise.

We met ‘Greyhound’ Chosokabe earlier this month to get his view on the Wii version, and he kept reiterating two things to us. The first was that’s it’s the first football game to let you do EXACTLY what you want to do. He’s almost right. Apart from the shooting, which the computer determines itself, everything is really in your control. Making runs, tackling, dribbling - absolutely anything you can imagine is at your mercy. With all this control however, it can sometimes seem a bit overwhelming.

And that is the hurdle that faced me as soon as I started up the console. After getting through the brand new intro and menu screen, you are taken through a quick tutorial. In a way it’s a bit tedious, but certainly compulsory to take away any misconceptions of how difficult the games controls are. Hand in hand with Greyhounds vision, the game continually reminds you of how you are always in control. Tutorials pop up now and again explaining new and more complex moves, really fleshing out what seems to be a very deep game. Again, while being tedious its very necessary.

Deep gameplay has always been apparent with every PES release, and its certainly the case here. From the moment I played my first match I felt myself getting better, and feeling as ease with the controls. It helps that when you have the ball there seems to be a type of safety shield around you for the first few seconds you have possession. The opposition players stand off you giving you time to quickly pick out a pass and start a move. While this is great to get into the game, it can seem a little too easy at times. And once you get passed that initial learning curve the difficulty becomes a bit of a problem. Its great having the freedom to do what you want, but it can lead into the experience being a bit too arcadey. Matches start having double figure scores and that instantly takes you out of the illusion of playing an actual game of footy.

This was probably my biggest concern, as with this new found control surely everything would be too easy? Saying that, you have to sit back and look at the console the game has been made for. The Wii is marketed as a family console and its something that perhaps controlled the direction the game was taken. Its something you have to give them credit for. Who would really have objected to Konami releasing the exact same game as the PS2 version with limited waggle? Especially seeing as the game engine is taken from its PS2 counterpart.

 The graphics are solid, and certainly crisp when playing through component with widescreen enabled. The camera angle helps as well giving you a fantastic view point that encourages you to try new and diverse ways to attack. What gives this games its ‘Wii’ graphics identity is the overall presentation. Almost everything is new, with menus and colour schemes exclusive to Nintendo’s console. For a seasoned PES player it’s a breath of fresh air and goes a long way to cement the idea that this game is a different beast than the versions that share the same name.

Together with this there is a Wii exclusive mode called ‘Champions Mode’. By not having a master league (I’m not sure why its not there tbh), Konami have compensated this by having a mode that comes close to replicating it with things stream lined and easier to follow. After selecting your team you are shown a world map, showing a ‘home’ avatar. The idea of this is to compete in leagues around the world to gain experience and more importantly capture better players. The way its streamlined is that every league consists of four teams, and you only play them once, similar to a round robin. After every game you are shown a pack of cards that you get to choose from. Without being able to see who the players are you are given small descriptors such as ‘has phenomenal pace’ or ‘with him in defence you wont lose’ etc. It’s a bit hit and miss at first as the players you pick are unknown and aren’t much better than your starting 11. Once you start moving to better leagues and a higher difficulty however the players become more skilled, making sure you tinker with your team more times than Ranieri! it’s a highly addictive mode that certainly has me coming back to the game.

Along with Wii-only mode, there is the trade feature. A feature used for only online play, it allows you to exchange players with friends in an attempt to get the starting 11 of your dreams! Again a very nice feature that certainly fit’s the console that its on. At time of writing I haven’t had the opportunity to experience online play, but from a few people that have tried it I’ve been told it certainly is lag free, something pleasing to hear.

Overall then its safe to say PES 2008 Wii is the best of the bunch from Konami this year. The revolutionary control set up along with 360 degrees passing and player runs bring a whole new way to play the game. A must buy in my opinion. Going back to the second thing Mr Chosokabe kept telling us, you have to give this game a chance. I couldn’t agree more.

9/10