PS2, Pro Evolution Soccer 6

[Harrison]

Most of you know that I'm not a big fan of Football (Soccer) in general. I only ever enjoy watching the world cup and get bored within minutes of any other matches I've ever had to watch.

But I've always enjoyed playing the od video game of Football over the years if they have been fun games that don't over complicate the controls and are above all about enjoyable gameplay and not stats management. The first I really got into was Kick Off 2 on the Amiga, followed by Sensible Soccer which is still one of my favourite games today.

I've never really bothered with most of the recent Football game releases. I played some of the early Actua Soccer, ISS and Fifa releases over the years on various systems including SNES, PSOne, N64 and PC, along with trying a version of Winning Eleven on the PSOne, but although the graphics have been getting more impressive over the years I've never found them that enjoyable due to them trying to over complicate controls and management of the teams.

I decided to finally get hold of a copy of Pro Evolution Soccer 6 on the PS2 after continuing to read lots of great things about the PES series over the years and I have to admit to being impressed. Isn't it based on the Winning Eleven series from Japan?

The graphics in PES6 look really nice and the perspective and distance from the pitch is just right. The control system is complex enough to give you all the control you need, but not so complex that you can blame the control system for your bad gameplay. I've only been playing a few quick matches to have a play around with it and see what it was like and I will definitely be playing it some more when I get the time. The commentry is quite well done too, as is the crowd sound effects, and it does create a nice atmosphere when playing the game. The replays are also very nicely done and I love the highlights that are played at the end of each match. That is a nice little touch.

So what does everyone else think of the Pro Evolution Series? And have you tried PES6 yet? If not I recommend it, and that is coming from someone who doesn't really like football!

I wish I had tried the PES series in the past as I've always tried the Fifa games and those have always bored me quickly. Maybe the difference is that PES is created by people who love Football, whereas Fifa is created by Americans!

[Demon Cleaner]

Let's begin:

Isn't it based on the Winning Eleven series from Japan?

Yes. But they have 2 different developer teams, WE is made by KCET (Tokio) and PES is made by KCEO (Osaka), or the other way around, can't remember. Whilst it's almost the same, PES is a bit more simulation, WE is more arcade.

I've been playing the series since it's debut, and enjoying them very much. I always play with my best friend, and that almost every WE, whether Friday or Saturday, from 6 or 7 PM to 3 or 4 AM.

In PES4 and PES5 we played until the year of 2035, that's more or less 30 seasons in the master league (One season has 30 matches without counting cups and champions league). I love playing simultaneously, it's a lot more fun. You can do amazing plays and passes. Doing transfers and buying key players is just real fun.

We began with PES6 2 month ago and are meanwhile in our 5th season. Playing with Juventus this time, last PES we played with Newcastle. But it's always a big challenge when a new one is released, as some minor things change, and the gameplay is very different (you Harrison wouldn't surely notice it ) But it gets always a bit better and more realistic.

Usually we also edit/make 2 players, him and me, and make them look exactly how we are, looks very impressive, and then import them to our team, so that they play from the very beginning. Of course, we give them the age of 15, otherwise they would end their career after 2 seasons (we both have the same age). It's funny to see yourself running over the field and scoring :-)

Of course you have to d/l the option file from the internet with all the complete real club names, and flags, stadiums aso. That's no problem, as it's often released 2-3 days after the game is out, on such sites as PESfan.

I remember playing FIFA all the time, from the 95 release up to 2002, after finally the first PES was released. Then we immediately gave up playing FIFA.

PES is a must have, and a game worth BUYING, because you can spend so many hours with it, that it's quite amazing. This is the game which, if I'd be asked which game I played most in my whole life, would be.

Rating 9/10 and big up!!!

[J T]

I had a mate at uni that was massively into PES, and WE. He used to get all the patches for names, crowd chants, proper shirts (with sponsor logos), everything (even down to having the proper markings on the football).

It's a really good game but could also be quite frustrating to begin with, plaing against someone experienced lead to many a beating but I did improve very quickly.

I like it in multiplayer, but to be honest I bored of the single player quite quickly. and I really do like football. It just didn't do it for me as one player.