Pro Evolution Soccer 6 review

The 360 has had a handful of football games in the past year and this can be attributed to Electronic Arts’ FIFA series. One was terrible (Road to FIFA World Cup), one wasn’t bad at all (2006 FIFA World Cup) and one is actually downright excellent (FIFA 07, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for that review).

But there is of course a rival in the form of Pro Evolution Soccer. Now for the first time, PES can be played in high definition widescreen glory. Widescreen! Did you get that? Surely widescreen was invented for PES!

On me ‘ead son. On me ‘ead!

PES on the 360 is initially a worrying proposition. Pop it into your drive, start up your first game and there are a few disappointments in store. The graphics aren’t quite as good as what you may have hoped for despite the fact that the animations are glorious and better than ever before. Apart from the widescreen it really doesn’t look that much better than an Xbox game.

Once you get over this initial low point you tweak the camera to make better use of the widescreen functionality and this should bring a large cheesy grin to any PES player. More of the pitch is now visible making those passes easier to target. If like me, you struggle with the radar then you will find the widescreen an absolute godsend. Playing the ball around the field is initially jarring as I kept finding my passes falling short of the mark. After many hours on the game now this isn’t such a problem but it does seem to be one of the changes Konami have thrown into the ring and you learn to adjust, making your players run to intercept the pass to compensate.

He shoots, he……. kicks it out of the stadium?

Another huge change seems to affect the shooting. I can almost guarantee that virtually every shot or header you initially aim goalwards will fly over the bar. Not just a little bit either, it will rocket skywards at a shocking angle. This is probably something I’m still getting to grips with. My shots are indeed getting better and I’m scoring more goals but sometimes I just stare at the screen in disbelief when after tapping the shot button the ball once again decides to try and leave the ground.

Giving players a little bit of space and time before a shot helps immensely as does learning to be lightning quick with your button taps when shooting. Incidentally, it’s not just shooting with your foot that has this effect but headers too. I had played seven games before I managed to score with a header, though admittedly it was a screamer. I’d really liked to have saved the replay of that header too but alas, there is no save replay option.

Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham?

PES has always been a slow burner of a game when jumping from one version to the next and this one is no different. The pace is much slower this time around though thankfully they have fixed the pressing which no longer results in free kick after free kick. At the risk of sounding clichéd it does indeed take a bit of time before the game begins to grow on you. Unfortunately this means it’s one of the most unfriendly versions of the game if you are new to the series, as the aforementioned passing and shooting changes could put you right off before you learn how to deal with them.

Once you have played a handful of games though you do get lots better. Your shots become on target much more frequently and the possibility of scoring decent goals opens up. My first few goals were excruciatingly poor but are now almost watchable. Player intelligence seems to be pretty good, and poor defence can be tightened up with a change of formation or a bit of man marking. Through balls need to be played smart or they’ll be picked up by the opposition. Sprinting doesn’t seem to have as much effect as PES 5 but again this is something you can adjust to.

I didn't ask to be good at football, Gura Nanak must have blessed me

In short, after a bit of adjusting and learning the ropes PES still plays an absolutely wonderful game of football. More than any other soccer game it looks just like a football game should. In full flow with two players, any spectating third party can’t fail to be impressed by the similarities to the beautiful game at its best. It’s not as huge a leap from the last version as previously but it’s still a cracking game, and you’ll want to pick it up for the widescreen and HD support alone. The fact it is still (just!) the best football game around is the icing on the cake.

Much has been made of the deficiencies of the 360 version in regards to content when compared to the Playstation 2. Whether or not this is something that will upset you is an individual thing. The 360 may only have a quarter of the stadiums, no shop and no 2 vs 2 online play but these aren’t the sort of things that wind me up. I’d be much more upset if the game was rubbish. Even the fact that you can’t edit certain things like Team Names or player appearances is not something I’m going to mark the game down for, though I do understand the grievances of others who honestly prefer authenticity in their game. For me, it’s mostly about how the game actually plays. There is a good chance that Konami may address the editing issue in a patch anyway so all is not lost.

I'm sorry I missed that penalty, coach

The jewel in the PES crown is of course the multiplayer side of things and it’s here that I simply can’t fault the game at all. Two player matches with a friend are exciting and vocal and that ‘just one more game’ factor could keep you playing well past bed time. Unfortunately my brother now visits on a nightly basis to play against me as his beloved Man United; if he keeps this up I’ll be serving him an eviction notice. Buy your own copy cheapskate!

On Xbox live against friends I’ve had some fantastic games. All have been lag free and without issue and I’ve even managed to win a few. Playing ranked matches against folk around the world introduces the risk of lag but if all you want to do is thrash your friends, then you won’t have any trouble. I didn’t notice any button lag either which is something I had read about before getting stuck into the game online proper myself.

As predictable as a Gareth Southgate penalty

In a way that final heading kind of sums things up. The game remains the same, except tweaked in some good ways and in some odd ways but overall it is still a step forward over PES 5. I think it’s just that it’s not a huge step forward that might make the pill slightly hard to swallow and the lack of completion in the 360 version compared to the PS2 is a little galling.

If all you want to do is play football with friends then PES will still provide you with everything you need. Just don’t go expecting miracles as it is still very much another evolution in the series, we might have to wait until next year for the revolution.