Hurrah, I got this through from Play.com yesterday - a day before release as usual.  Nice work. 

I’ve played every incarnation of Pro Evo (PES/Prevo whatever you want to call it) since the PES2 came out on the PS2 and this is the first time i’ve deviated from the Sony version.  Unfortunately i’m a little disappointed.

This isn’t next-gen, infact it isn’t even last-gen as there are bits missing from the 360 version.

  • Cannot edit team information - Most of the players appear to have the correct names but due to EA having the licence for the FIFA franchise, the team names are made up…  Pompy (sic), Merseyside Reds.  This is no different to the previous versions but AT LEAST YOU COULD BLOODY EDIT THEM.
  • Cannot save replays - In my first 360 game, I (Kanu) scored a frickin’ 40 yard screamer.  Ace I thought, i’ll save that off.  Nope.  No saving of replays. Nada.  Zip.
  • Graphics - they say the crowd looks more realistic.  Well have they traded this off for the player likenesses?   In the previous (PS2) versions the players at least resemble who they are supposed to be.  Oh and there are horrible slow downs when in set-piece mode.  So much for next-gen.
  • Online play - I can’t be the only person in the UK that got this yesterday, shirley?  I managed a couple of games of ‘friendly’ matches online (I won both of course :)) but no-one appears to want to play a ranked match.  (edit - huzzah I managed one game but now for the last 2.5 hours I have been ’searching for opponent’).

Still, the gameplay is OK - as with each release the changes are going to take some getting used to.  It appears quicker but the niggly issues are still around - useless offside decisions, scrappy bits in the middle where no-one can get a hold of the ball, headers that defy the laws of physics etc etc..  but for a ‘next-gen’ game this really sucks.  I’m still considering returning this version and just getting the PS2 version. 

Its actually quite similar to the rage that is still circulating about the 360 release of Madden 2007 (which I own).  This time it is EA stripping the game so that it has less features than both previous releases and the current release on other platforms.  No editors, really poor bugs (which appear to have been fixed now as part of an Xbox live update for it).  Check out the forums at EA.com to see the Americans going spaz over it.

Here’s hoping that Gears Of War is worth the 360, I still haven’t played anything better than a PS2 game, infact i’m close to saying that the games I have for my DS are better!  If it wasn’t for Sony back-stabbing Lik-sang i’d probably be getting ready to ship a PS3 over….