World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 International

"The finest of console football up to date, or at least the European version of it."

The only reason to play the Pro Evolution soccer games would be if you by some reason were not able to play the Japanese version called Winning Eleven. And as getting games from Japan requires both devotion and a modded Ps2 this is reason enough for me.

With the Winning Eleven games Konami have definitely brought football onto the Ps2, this is as good as it gets in means of gameplay, and the European version is not that different.
While EA Sports have made huge profit with their FIFA license, offering football fans games containing often very lifelike players in videogames that feels just like “videogames”, Konami have with PES something completely different.
Most of us know by know that Konami because of expensive player and club licenses has not been able to make their games extremely true to life in the means of players and club teams.
PES2 is not very different from this; most of the European players are right and some South American countries like Argentina is also licensed. However, the World Cup champions Brazil is not. When you check the Brazilian roster you don’t see totally new players, you see the World stars only with all the names spelled wrong. Brazil now has a quick short defender on the left who takes incredible free kicks named R. Larcos. Up front we’ll see Radolvi and Radolno team up and it’s not a coincidence that they happen to look just like Rivaldo and Ronaldo…
While some people might have a problem with these funny names it’s now possible to change (read: correct) them in the very useable editor now included. That’s a nice feature.
And while the FIFA games often has nothing more to offer than fashionable box art, awesome menus and great graphics, Pro Evolution Soccer 2 offers all things necessary to imitate real football.

Story 6/10: I guess story is the wrong word for this, but there’s a game mode in Pro Evolution Soccer called the Master League where you start from scratch in div 3 with a team full of mediocre players. From there on you get to build your team by putting together a formation and buying new stars for the cash you earn from your success. This is a nice feature for any football lover but there are also setbacks I tell you. The Master League can be played in four different levels of difficulty, and while Easy is to damn easy even the first time you play it, Normal and Hard can prove quite a challenge before you master them. I like challenges but I don’t like when you face the same kind of AI in all of the difficulties only that the AI in Hard tend to cheat a LOT when needed. Make sure you can stand loosing match after match with 0-1 or 1-2 after last minute computer goal. As winning the Master League unlocks some interesting legendary players it’s almost needed to beat it a couple of times though.

Graphics 9/10: Pro Evolution Soccer 2 brings a clean interface with many lifelike players, the graphics works perfectly in the matches. From time to time I realize “damn this game looks just like real football”, but then there are some animations that need to be bettered. PES2 is not a flashy game filled with effects, it just looks like football on the Playstation 2 should.

Sound 6/10: Somehow it was easier to laugh at the commentary in the first PES game. In PES2 we know got to listen to two new guys (Trevor Brooking and Peter Brackley) who manage to comment the matches with even worse timing. This section is funny at best but awkward in overall. The sound from the supporters are not bad though which brings up the score slightly.

Gameplay 6/10 & 10/10: There are two scores on this section. That’s the only way to describe it. The first one is for single player matches against the computer and the second is for matches against your friends. Not only does the single player mode tend to get repetive and boring after only a couple of matches, it can also be extremely frustrating with the computer who rather cheats than really plays better than you.
Over to the multiplayer mode now, this is where PES2 is superior to any other football game available. Everything feels just right, sometimes I wonder how Konami have managed to create a game engine that understands to laws of football the way this does. Endless ways to score and even more ways to bring the ball up the field makes you want to challenge your friends in match after match after match, there’s quite nothing like this game.

Replay Value 10/10: It would be pointless to talk about the singleplayer mode here as that hardly makes a sports game, but the multiplayer mode in this game is just awesome as described above. You can play this forever and I probably won’t stop playing this with my friends at least until PES3 hits the shelves.

Overall 9/10: Football as it’s finest. Right now it feels as a new PES title is needed to beat this game and there are so much to discover in this game that I want to recommend it for everyone who likes good multiplayer, not only for the football fans (even if a little interest helps) but also for everyone.
If you’re looking for a singleplayer game you better look somewhere else however.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/16/03, Updated 03/16/03