Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10468 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Konami
• Released on: 2006-10-26
• Platform: Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review

In a nutshell:
The world’s most popular football sim returns with numerous tweaks and additions to make it even more realistic in both gameplay and graphics. If England don’t win the World Cup you can always take solace in the latest Pro Evo.

The lowdown:
This latest sequel sees one of the biggest overhauls in the game’s history with the new improvements to the already impressive animation directly affecting the way you play. Dribbling with the ball is now easier but the quality of your passing and shooting now depends on the position of a player’s body in terms of both accuracy and power. Make a shot straight after a sharp turn, for example, and your chances of hitting the target are slim. Opponent and team artificial intelligence has also been greatly increased, to the point where every man on the pitch is thinking independently. Apart from the animation, the graphics in general have also been upgraded with much better player likenesses.

Most exciting moment:
Thanks to the new changes Pro Evo 6 plays a much more attacking game than previously, with counter attacks after a fluffed shot on goal made much easier than previously.

Since you ask:
Although the game doesn’t have the official FIFA World Cup license it does simulate an unofficial international tournament, including both qualifying rounds and the finals.

The bottom line:
The best just keeps getting better with the most beautiful virtual game ever.
HARRISON DENT

Customer Reviews

Pro evo 6 thoughts
Hi,

This game has taken some flak because it is a much more attacking style than the previous pro evos in the series. The thing is in the older versions plyers that weren't so good at the game could just defend all the way, you can still defend but its harder and sustained presssure tires the defenders out. Also I feel in this version the player stats mean more. In the older versions all I needed to worry about was having players with high speed attributes where as in this one you need to consider all stats strong and weak. The shooting seems to be better but its still realistic , if you take a shot to fast or are facing the goal with your weak foot you can miss some sitters. The AI in master league is VERY good , I use the default master league team so none of my players have decent special abilities and I need to work for every win. The only reason I didnt give this game a 5 is because its close to next gen but it isnt quite there graphics wise although they are still good .

I have never bought a strategy guide ever as they are usually crap but the piggy back one is awesome and a great addition to this game. Online play is good but what lets it down is some of the number one players buy 2 copies of the game so they can spoof the rankings. Online play is flawless when playing against opponent with 2 bars but some of the Lag cheat by turning downloads on when they host a half making it lag free for them and a knightmare for you. Im just trying to buy some players with good dribble accuracy at the momment so I will have some tricksters up front; its hard though because some of the star players dont want to play for a div 2 team. I have just purchased my 2nd copy of this game which I have never done before with any game, its so I can teach my father to play. Seriously though the way the players dribble and the context sensitive moves are a bit more intuative and responsive this time around and you can get some spectacular moves and goals. One final thing the commentary could have been alot better.

An Excellent Game Badly Converted to PC
There is no doubt that PES6 is a superb step forward in the franchise. Play is more realistic than before, with players moving into space intelligently and no absurd long-range goals that could never happen in real life. Perhaps most rewarding in terms of replayability is that there is no longer one main way to score. In PES3 once you got the ball out to the wing you could score pretty much every time. PES5 was better on this front, but again wing play combined with low crosses had a disproportionate rate of success.

PE6 is much less predictable, and requires more thought into how you're going to unprise the opposition defence.

But while it's all well and good, Konami have again given us an embarrasing half-hearted conversion to PC. Like in previous editions, there's no attempt made to utilise the better functionality of PCs. We still get key-mapping based on console controllers.

But worst of all is the completely botched job in terms of making the game compatiable with PC graphics cards, particularly ATI chipsets. It seems the more modern your graphics cards is, the worse it will play. Apparently, Konami are working on a patch, but I'm not holding out much hope. In the meantime apparently they are recommending unofficially using a (dubious) no CD crack, which seems completely mad. However, it did seem to improve things for me so I could play it on one computer, albeit on the lowest graphics setting.

a fantastic update to the series
At first sight, Pro Evolution 6 may appear to be the same as PES 5, with no major changes to the way players dribble or the graphics. However, once a full match has been played, the gamer can really appreciate the small changes that make this game the best on the market.

Firstly, the defending system has dramatically improved. No longer can players just press 'o' or the corresponding button to immediately clear a cross or a corner. The player must stick with his man all the way, and then the jump must be timed perfectly to head the ball clear. Similaryl, while attacking, the player must time the jump perfectly and add accurate direction for the ball to stand a chance of ending up anywhere near the back of the net.

In previous pro evolution titles, players could slide tackle from anywhere and still not give away a free kick. PES 6 allows players to only slide tackle with precision, else yellow and red cards will be given out all over the place. This is very realistic, and the referees will punnish any one who makes a poorly timed tackle, and will let play on should there be a good attacking opportunity. The referee consistency has also dramatically improved. No longer do they give a red card for a mear shirt pull and then completely ignore a two footed synical last man tackle from behind. Both teams (most of the time) seem to be treated equally, and this does enhance the gameplay as a whole.

Shooting is now a lot lot harder. Players can no more score from 40 yards with their weaker foot. In fact, if any pressure is put on the shooting player, you will see an amazing reduction in accuracy or power. This is complimented by (for me) the biggest and most realistic change in the game, the goalkeeping system. In PES 5, players would pull of an amazing shot from well outside the box and the keeper would produce an equally outstanding save. However, now, if the player does manage to pull off such a good shot (which is incredibly rare) the keeper will be nowhere near it. Likewise, any shot driven straight at them will be parried depending on the keeper's skill, and so many goals can be scored from rebounds. The keepers also dive a lot more realistically, looking much more like human beings than robots.

The passing system has also beeen improved since the last installment in the series. Through balls are difficult to master, and swicth balls can be used a lot more effectively. The players passing skill becomes a lot more relevant, with players such as Ashley Cole, Gerrard and Deco being able to play the killer ball alot more effectively.

There is a new mode called international challenge, where a nation is picked, the squad is picked, and you must then lead them to world cup success (via the qualifiers and world cup). This is a fantastic new addition, especially seeing as there are now over 30 liscenced nations with kits and player names, including England, Spain, Argentina, Italy amongst others. Furthermore (the referees where Addidas kits!)
A new random match mode also features, where players can choose a continent or league or a selection of clubs, and then will be randomly allocated players for each postiion from the desired field. Although not much fun alone, this is great when you have friends around, and are bored with normal teams!

The star system has now gone, and the difficulties are ranked amateur, top player, professional etc. A downside is that they have lost the liscence to chelsea, and there is now no german league, yet this is made up for by the liscence or the Orange French League, with official teams and names, and the dutch league, Serie A and the Spanish league reamain unchanged. However, Arsenal still play at Highbury, and Old Trafford's recent extension is not included. Manchester United and Arsenal are the only liscenced teams from the Premiership.

Back to gameplay, and taking on players is a lot more difficult than befor, and one on ones are more or less impossible to score on the highest difficulty ranking (top player). The quick free kick option is now available, and this does help a quick counter attack.
I belive that the game is best played on the PC, providing you have a nice bright monitor and a couple of game pads, due to the noticable graphical advantage. I have had no problems running the game, except for configuring the buttons for my pad, which must be done in the settings part of the konami folder in 'my documents'. I play the game on a 3.2ghz dual core pentium with 2 gb ram and a 512 graphics card, so I haven't come accross any problems in this are so far.

In conclusion, you must buy this game if you do not own any pro evolution titles as of yet, yet love playing football games with your mates, and especially if you are a fifa fan. I have played on the latest FIFA title, and am glad to report that it is really bad. The graphics are worse, the game doesn's flow, and the score lines are always fake. I played my mate Chelsea V Barcelona on FIFA and it was 6-2 at half tiem. A repeat on pro evolution proved to be much more realistic in a half hour match, with the scores tied at 1-1 at the final whistle.

If you are a PES5oholic, however, be prepared to have to change your playing style completely to fit in with this new installment, especially to change from 5 stars to 'top player'.

Definately worth the small amount of money, and if you are unsure of your purchase at forst sight, its worth knowing that it took me and my mates ages to get used to it, yet after a small 'break in' period, you will truly appreciate the benefits.

In total, it is a fantastic game, and PES will always be better than FIFA.
Do yourself a favour and order a copy now!