We can all associate with the familiar battle between the Fifa football franchise and the PES football franchise. It’s a long-standing match up that comes around ever year, dividing gamers as to which of these footie feasts is the best. Is it Fifa with it’s full house of licenses, or is it PES with the unrivaled gameplay? Each year the battles are fought, with allegiances made to each of the ultimate titles in football gaming.

But wait… upsetting the applecart just enough this year is Konami, who have introduced something a little different for all the Wii owners, with the release of Pro Evolution Soccer 2008. Out goes the old control system, and in comes a system that allows you to orchestrate all the players in your team. Via the use of the remote controller (with the occasional nunchuck swing), you can control the runs of any of your teams players, on and off the ball, dribbling, closing down and tackling, passing and moving into space, clearing your lines and shooting.

All this is achieved by a number of combinations that look tricky at first but are soon second nature. One of the most radical new actions is dragging non-controlled players on your team all around the pitch, so that the player you are controlling can lay off a beautiful pass. To do this, you first highlight the free player by aiming at him with the remote and pressing A, while still controlling the player with the ball. Follow this by dragging the arrow run indicator along a desired path into space. As you then lay off the ball, the free player makes his run, hopefully to collect the pass.

Sound awkward?

Give yourself a few games to try out the combos, and you’ll find that there’s a nice fluidity in the new controls set up. Of course, with so much attention to the new movement and controls of the players, much of the classier player skills seen in the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game aren’t available in this version. It’s a shame, but you have to expect some drawbacks when converting a title of this scale onto the Wii system.

The Wii version concerns you more with the team you play as a whole, and there has been much less thought given to individual star quality of the players. This also is seen reflected in the average PS2/PSP version-looking graphics used.

Sure, the teams that Konami got the licences for do have better looking player models and look more in keeping with their real life selves. But with only two teams from the top flight English Premiership (Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspurs) licensed, the rest of the league is made up of some very bad lookalikes at best. This has in the past pushed me away from the PES titles. It still grates on my nerves now, that it is something that Konami still haven’t fully addressed. But saying all that, you do have to applaud them for how good the gameplay is in this version of PES.

Editing your team has been limited to player and team names only, while the Master League has been replaced with the Champions Road mode. Transfers are no longer an option, instead by doing well in this new mode and winning regional competitions, you are able to trade in your starting players for elite players from around the World. Skills for your players can be unlocked by completing the missions, that are set within matches. ’Score a Hat-Trick’ is just one such type of mission.

Champions Road mode makes for a fun diversion from the faltering online aspect of the Wii, which tends to plague the online option of PES 2008. All I can mention is that again, like many other Wii titles, there’s no leader board to talk of via online play, and with it being too much a varying experience, I cannot give a forthright commentary.

In conclusion, PES 2008 will probably be the most football fun you’ll have on your Wii to date. It has great gameplay that is marred a little by average player modeling and graphics. For now Konami must feel safe in the knowledge that PES 2008 leads the competition on the Wii as the best footie game experience. All that it needs now are those missing licenses!