Pro Evolution Soccer 6

THE BAD:
No German League (With the exception of Bayern Munich)


Short Free Kicks (Wall already organised when you take it)


The Lack Of Licenses

SUMMARY:
Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is a very impressive game. It gives you the edge. If you don't actually play football yourself, this is your second option. In my honest opinion, easily the best football game around. Which includes Master League as well as the older editions of PES. This game personally, doesn't get boring, I, myself, have been playing it since early November, and yet to get bored. Obviously though, there can be improvements made, but it's the same with every game, it can't be perfect, also you can't get everyone to love it. But if you like football, and love to pass the ball about, play REAL football, then I suggest, Pro Evolution Soccer 6. As you would have read above, "The Lack Of Licenses", to be honest, it's a very minor disappointment about the game. And it also creates the joys of the EDIT MODE, where you can edit player appearances, edit teams, formations, football boots, make new players, the list is endless. Not to mention the great help from the members in the forum, with the Kit threads and edit player threads, if becomes even more simple for you guys at home. It's the game you know you want to buy.

Master League is my keen feature of PES. Without it, the game wouldn't be as good as it is. It's very enjoyable, and if you do well enough, you can have anybody you'd like playing for your team. you can start with the Master League Default Players which is mainly for experienced players looking for a real challenge. The real challenge of Master League, is your first few seasons, which is when you have little money, and not many players would leave their club to go to yours, but that's the enjoyable bit about Master League in my honest opinion. The Master League brings out what Pro Evolution is. It's the most enjoyable feature to all PES games, and probably always will be, with improvements each year along the way.

Tricks & Skills are another key factor or PES, it makes the close control part of the game, truly amazing, tricks such as the Stepover, Flip Flap, Cruyff Turn, V Feint and many more. It is difficult at first to perform some of these tricks and skills, but that's where the forum comes in handy, which will teach you how to perform these tricks and learn more. They've been such an improvement from last year's game, making the close control much more smooth and opening paths. I'm sure there are tricks I've never even performed before, it's what I like about it, the forum helped me out a lot and I learned all my tricks there, the V Feint being my favourite.

Edit Mode is a very enjoyable feature to PES also. You can edit almost everything you want to edit except for maybe, stadiums. It's all about patience though, you'll need patience editing kits, logos and badges, but as I said, very enjoyable, not to mention, the outcome of your work always looks good if you do it right.



Thanks for reading, and post back comments if you really must!

THE BAD:
*Improvements are minor.
*Increased realism may seem like a step back (see below).
*German clubs removed (excl. Bayern Munich).

SUMMARY:
With the expectations of a classic game heightened by the success of previous PES titles, there was no doubt that PES6 would be a quality football game and Konami duly delivered. One main thing that has always needed improving was the problems with glitches during games but in PES6, many of the problems found in previous titles in the series and the game is generally glitch free (apart from odd problem when players collide). The player’s animations haven’t ever been brilliant either but PES6 has a wide range of running styles, kicking styles and other animations to make the game feel more realistic. Facial expressions now reflect how a player might feel after coming out of a bad tackle or if they have been in a shooting position and missed when they really should have scored, making the game feeling even more lifelike. As usual, the graphics have been tweaked to look better and the kits have been ‘smoothened’ over and pixilation has been reduced. There are a few changes in the way of licensing. The main addition being that Reebok boots and footballs have been added to the list and Konami have even included a Nike football (although this can only be played in the Spanish league). Man Utd have a fully licensed kit but Chelsea go back to having a default kit (it was the other way round in PES5). A new tournament has also been added. It is literally the World Cup, including qualifiers, in everything but name.

However, most of the improvements and new inclusions are just minor tweaks to the original gameplay. The change when actually playing a match seems as though Konami have just changed the way it plays just to make it feel like a new game. The way the players take control of the ball and move with it may look like Konami have taken a step back, due to it being slower and less precise than PES5. This may be because Konami are trying to make it harder for experienced gamers. The A.I doesn’t seem to have improved either, even if off-the-ball movement has become better. You’ll often find that potential targets to receive the ball are in offside positions and that the defender’s positional sense could be improved. Passing the ball seems to have been made harder and it’s almost impossible to complete a pass to a team-mate who is off the screen. As well as this, the German club sides, with the exception of Bayern Munich, have been removed from the game, which isn’t good for fans of the German league.

Having said this, the game is arguably the best PES game released and, despite certain frustrations, it’s still the best football game available on the PS2. Next-generation PES should show exactly what Konami can do when given less limitations.