Well I succumbed to tempation earlier and bought the new Pro Evo, PES 2008, partly because I am a sucker for Evo but more importantly because I have bought everyone of them on release day before and I didn't want to break with tradition. Now normally at this stage I would be tearing the game new one because of all the changes that have been made and how I don't agree with them. However, this time I find myself liking it and that is disturbing.

The main thing that I can't seem to get my head around is how similar this game feels to the last one and I don't quote know what to make of it.Are the changes so subtle than you simply can't see them or is it simply that there aren't manyimprovementsbarring the visuals and commentary?I would like to say it is the former but to be honest I am starting to think this isn't much more advanced than the previous instalment in the series.

Sure there are changes andsome of them are for the better. Gone are the days when Peter Brackleyand Terry Butcher would infuriate me by telling meI am making a defensive substitution by bringing on a centre forwardto be replaced withimproved commentary from Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson. The visuals look much better and I am sure it would look special on a HDTV, but even on my SD set the changes are noticeable but that seems to be where everything comes to a standstill.

The dribbling, whilst seemingly slower, is not much different to thatfeatured inPro Evo 6. Now this isn't a bad thing because I liked that feature of the previous game but a little morerefinement, other than a slowdown,would have been nicer. In fact the same can be said for most of the gameplay, it's all so similar to Pro Evo 6 that PES 2008 seems to lack its own identity.

However, it isn't all doom and gloom because like I said I do actually like the game and the ability to save replaysimproved editingfeatures this time aroundare most welcome on the 360.Whilst I would like to thank Konami for including them, in the same breath I must find myself asking why the 360 got such a dumbed down version of Pro Evo last time around?

But after the marginal praise comes the grumble and considering I am playing this game on the 360 I shouldn't have to contend with slowdown but that is a problem that hounds this game especially in replays and when there is a lot happening on-screen. I could understand if this game was challenging the hardware capacity of the 360 but we're talkinga sports game with goodvisuals here, not Oblivion. Now I tried to investigate this further and upon taking control of replays with the right analog stick I tried to slow the game down to a frame by frame replay and I had a problem because it seemed like there were frames missing which made the action jut rather than flow. However, I am not saying that means the developers have chopped frames in order to make the action easier to handle in replays I am simply saying that to an untrained eye such as mine it looked like frames were missing. What this means I'll let others look into but try it for your next action packed replay.

My final early gripe is a big one for me and that is in-game advertising. I hate it in any games but I have tolerated it for sports titles like this because if you go to a football game or watch it on the TV you can see advertisements on the boards around the pitch. I have accepted that but that is where the adverts should stay. I was playing the Master League earlier and noticed an advert for Play.com staring me in the face. Now for the Master League all I want to see is league table and upcoming fixtures not adverts. Not content with invading every physical space in our lives advertisers have infiltrated our virtual worlds too and personally think it stinks.

So after all thatis it worth going out and buying PES 2008 if you already have Pro Evo 6? Well in my opinion yes, but it's not as much of a leap as Pro Evo 5 to 6, in fact this time itseems more like a babystep.