pro evolution soccer 6 review

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Picture courtesy of Happydan.

Average Ratings

Addiction Level	8.3/10
Graphics	8.5/10
Value for Money	6.5/10
Reviewer Rating	8.3/10
Overall Rating	8.3/10

75% Recommended3 out of 4 Reviews

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By Takahiro on 2nd Nov 2006

Takahiro's Ratings

Addiction Level	9/10
Graphics	8/10
Multi-player	Yes
Value for money	4/10
Overall value	7/10
Takahiro's recommendation

Good Points

Pro Evo on next gen!
Decent graphics but amazing animation.
Best gameplay of any football game.

Bad Points

Missing stadiums.
Edit player/club option gone.
PES shop missing.
Limited (and slow) online mode.
After match analysis missing.

General Comments

We finally get Pro Evolution Soccer on a next gen system, and it's not the game it should have been. In fact, it's quite a big let down. Granted, I've only had the Pro Evolution Soccer 6 XBox 360 game for just over a week (as my local shop started selling them early), but as I've been a massive Pro Evo fan for years, I very quickly came to notice what's changed, and more importantly what's missing. Especially considering the PS2 version (which my brother has) has all the usual features you'd expect.

Firstly, although PES always has incorrect club names (such as Merseyside Red - Liverpool and Teesside - Middlesborough etc...), we have always had the option to correct this through the edit menu, but unbelievably, that has now gone! You cannot edit the clubs in any way at all; only some attributes for individual players. And although I never bothered to do so, my brother has complained that the create a player option has also gone.

Then other features to have disappeared is the PES Points shop. You can no longer save your most glorious goal replays, which seemed ideal with the 360 having a 12GB hard-drive... And almost all of the after match analysis has gone down the sinkhole too. You still get the shot total and yellow cards etc., but all the individual records have gone. And this is a little petty really, but you can no longer simply press right or left in the substitute screen to quickly move up or down the list. Little things, but it makes a difference.
It just seems to me that so much is missing that shouldn't be. Although thankfully, the Master League mode is as good as ever.

But despite all that, it's still got what was always best about PES, unrivalled gameplay. PES5 was a fantastic simulation, and I honestly didn't think Konami would be able to do much with it and not ruin it, but somehow they have, and it's all the better for it. Now it's far harder to score goals, as the defense (of both your team and opposing AI team) is radically better and more organised, and every time you manage to slip a sweet through ball through them you'll really feel good about it. The goalkeepers have been improved too, and the 'easy goal' methods from PES5 have been fixed, and so those spots where you could always or nearly always score from have gone, such as running to touchline in the box, passing back to a player running in and scoring an easy open goal, now a defender is likely to intercept or you'll likely slice it wide, as a player's movement and position now make a real difference on how they can shoot. (so no more easy 180 turning shots either).

The graphics are a bit disappointing. Up-close it's decent with some pretty good player likeness, but I thought the animation was superb, and better than the IGN review gave it credit for, and recognisably better than the PS2 version. But the audio is pretty good on pitch. The atmosphere is incredible, but elsewhere it's cheesy J-pop and worse than PES5, which is quite an achievement. And comparing the pace of the game directly to the PS2 version, it all seems a little slower, but a lot more fluid, and I find the camera is in a much better position. (with all default settings left intact anyway).

But having only had it for a week I know there's still a lot to see, and only time will tell if there are still any glitches to take advantage of for scoring easy goals. Although the missing features are a huge disappointment, it's still Pro Evo, and it still rules.

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