World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 International

"Rather like a mixed bag of sweets. Some are great, others just make you sick."

This is a pretty good game, but it has more aspects about it that can put off than you can count. Or rather, how far the commentators count. (That’s right, Mr. Brackley can only count up to about 4!)
Still, Pro Evolution Soccer 2 just has enough in it to beat FIFA 2003 into taking the credit of being the best football (or soccer) game so far. What a depressing thing to say, but I’m afraid it’s true.

GAMEPLAY (9/10):
This is why you’ll love this game, if you do. The striking thing about the game is the depth of the physical areas of the game; the ball isn’t magically attracted to the players’ feet like FIFA games, where it seems there’s some kind of invisible magnetic circular barrier surrounding your player’s feet. Here, the players actually dribble the ball. Furthermore, tackling is smooth and realistic rather than simply achieving success by tapping one button when you get close. The turning element of players is fabulous and the feints are phenomenal, basically, Pro Evolution Soccer 2 is just about a realistic football game you can get.
Compared to its predecessor (Pro Evolution Soccer) which also was one of the more realistic games from bunch of soccer games you get, Pro Evolution Soccer 2 has been improved by smoother consistent play and also been turned more realistic by the individuality of the players. For example, not every Tom, Dick and Harry is given surreal amount of pace and limitless energy to take on a whole side by himself, different players have different attributes and the world class talent can create wonderful opportunities with their sheer talent whilst Castello and co (starting Master League players) may have difficulties in even successfully passing the ball.

Although you can’t see the referee on the pitch, you’ll be glad to know he doesn’t make outrageous decisions. He actually makes sensible ones, for example a mistimed sliding tackle from the back ends up in an instant free kick and a possible sending off. However, in FIFA 2003, you can slide tackle like nobody’s business. Plus, in FIFA 2003, you’ll only concede a free kick if the goalkeeper is blatantly fowled whilst the ball is safely secured in his hands. That is what I’d call an opportune moment for one to wonder ''WHAT THE HELL?!?'' Getting back to Pro Evolution Soccer 2, the bad thing is that sometimes you’ll find the ref will award goalkicks rather than obvious corners and the game classifies a shot as a ''save'' even though the goalie has gone fractionally behind the line.
Next, I shall discuss free kicks and penalties. The set pieces in Pro Evolution Soccer 2 are either the best thing that has ever happened to set pieces in the development of soccer games or the worst thing imaginable. That is because there are no aiming devices when taking free kicks, so you’ll have to use your own judgment. This means that taking free kicks and penalties are more realistic than previous games, or horrible as it increases the difficulty in getting any success from them (remember, set pieces are supposes to benefit the team who receives them).

What really makes the game stand out is the simple controls. It’s really easy to learn how to pass, sprint, cross, shoot and basically do the lot. You have the decision to allow your goalkeeper to run out and challenge attackers one on one by pressing the triangle button, and while the opponent has the ball you can press X to apply pressure and square to get another one of your players to join you to try and tackle the ball from the opponent. These nifty features introduce the sense of real contest between the 2 teams.

GRAPHICS AND SOUND (8.5/10):
The graphics are sound, and the sound is graphics. (Sorry, made no sense did it?) Anyhow, the graphics are good, but nothing to marvel at. That’s mainly because there’s only a minute improvement in the graphics when compared to the original Pro Evolution Soccer, if Pro Evolution Soccer 2 was the original first game then perhaps I’d be more enthusiastic about the graphics. Still, they’re fine and dandy and the best thing is how great the players look, you’d be blind if you can’t recognise some of the more famous footballing stars. Okay, so that’s that, now let’s move along.

Right, before I go on, what I mean by the “sound” in this section is things like the ball clattering against the post and the crowds chanting, cheering, or booing (basically, the thing which is labeled as SFX in certain other soccer games). I don’t mean the commentary, I have a whole section for that malarky.
Carrying on, I find that the sound is splendid. The gentle thud you hear as the ball is passed to and fro is almost lifelike, the crowd's sentiments are echoed wonderfully by chants that are easy to recognise, and the boos and cheers reveal the crowd’s passionate feelings in a non-exaggerated sort of way. A nice option before you play the match is that you can change the crowd’s stance to be either in favour, against or neutral towards the home team.
So in a nutshell, I think it would be hard to further improve the sound in Konami’s next installment of this seemingly popular soccer game.

COMMENTARY (0.001/10)
This is where the game falls apart. The commentary is just plain horrible. The commentator is called Peter Brackley (oh my, what an original name!) and there’s an analyst who goes by the name Trevor Brooking (originality ensues!). The main flaw of the commentary is that it’s too repetitive; you’ll feel sick of it after a good 10 minutes of playing a match. The analyst doesn’t speak much during the duration of the game but when he does, he comes out with the most out of place comments ever. During half time and at the end, you just know if he’ll say ''I hope they can keep it up'' and ''They took a thrashing, but they didn’t play that badly.'' Most of the time, he talks nonsense, such as saying something along the lines of the match being great ''even though the goals weren’t there'', when it was grueling match that ended up in a 3 – 2 victory. Honestly, one day I’ll warp into the word of Pro Evolution Soccer and kill that guy.
As for the main man himself, Peter Brackley, he talks little sense too. He also repeats himself too much, showing that he has the concentration span of a goldfish. Examples of his garbage are when he says, ''If I tell a lie, he missed'', but the thing is, that is NOT a lie.
The commentary can seriously put you off when playing the game, and it really lets down the game as I consider the commentary being a very important element of a soccer game. FIFA far outclasses Pro Evolution Soccer commentary wise. Hey, what can I say, John Motson does have a rather sexy voice, y’know. (Sorry about that, couldn’t resist).

OPTION MODES AND IN-GAME DETAILS: (1/10)
The option modes are unoriginal, everything is divided into international or club cups or leagues. So what so they call these tournaments? Well, they’re called International cup, International League, Asia Cup, Master League, Konami Umbro cup…and so on.
Honestly, they might as well have not bothered with names.
The most noticeable thing in the game is how messed up some of the names are. Okay, so we understand that Konami haven’t got the rights to some of the player names but it is still annoying as hell. It’s impossible to ignore it. Plus, calling Dutch players ''Oranges'' is going over the top, it ruins the entire experience of playing a game that could have been legendary.

One more thing that I’ll comment on is the Master League, and I must say that it’s not bad. You have a 3 division and you start off with a team of not-so-good players, from there you work your way up to the top. It’s a nice original touch to the game, but the whole transfer and selling business could be improved as it’s quite tiresome.

REPLAY VALUE: (8/10)
It’s a sports game you jokester, so it’s made for playing over and over again. I’d say that the replay value here is pretty good, unless your whole experience of the game is seriously hindered by the dodgy commentary. So go on, play it over and over till the direction buttons end up giving you a sore thumb!

RENT OR BUY?
If you’re a fan, then buying this game is pretty much imperative. (Heh, even if you’re a fan and don’t like it there’s nothing the refund policy of stores like GAME can’t solve.)
Anyway, you can rent it to see what it’s like. That’s a good idea too. On the other hand, if you’re not to keen on soccer games, then I suggest you avoid this game and rent it if you really must.

CONCLUSION:
So all in all, I’d sum it up as a pretty decent game. Though that could depend on how I’m feeling on that particular hour, for the hearing the horrendous commentary can turn my opinion around at times. It’s just something about the game that makes you feel is if made to annoy, but then again, there’s something about the ball physics of the game that allows you to feel that it’s made for marveling at the gameplay.
I guess I’m just that bit undecided about Pro Evolution Soccer 2, as I often wonder if I gave the game 7/10 for how great it is or 7/10 for it’s annoyance factor.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 02/18/03, Updated 02/18/03