Game: Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (2006)
Developer: Konami
Platform: PC/PS2
There are a few reasons why the Libero magazine exists. Games like these are one of those reasons.
There are many reviews written about Pro Evolution Soccer 6 out there on the biggest gaming sites of the internet. Even if you somehow were able to read all of them – I sure haven’t – I bet none of them were able to describe a tenth of the brilliance of this specific Pro Evolution iteration. You can prove this yourself; you can even close the Libero tab on your browser while you do read the others. Go ahead, do it; I know you will be back anyway. Why do I know this? Because all of those reviews were written in 2006, back when the game was released; and there is no way that anyone in 2006 could’ve guessed what PES6 would eventually become. The PES6 all of them talked about bear little resemblance to the football gaming ‘monster’ it eventually developed into. In retrospective, however, we are definitely able to understand its full impact on the virtual football scene and on the history of sports gaming itself, for we have time on our side whereas the others didn’t. So do get in, fasten your seat belts and put on your best game face: you’re in for quite the ride.
2006.
Konami celebrates the end of a vastly-successful PS2 era comprised of superb football titles with Pro Evolution Soccer 6, the last ‘newgen-PES’ before the subsequent iteration of consoles was out. Konami wants to ‘go out with a bang’ before embracing a new challenge; yet after what the common football gaming fan had experienced over the previous half-a-decade (even more than that if you count the extraordinary PS1 ISS/PES versions too), the question that was on everyone’s minds was: is it even humanly possible to improve the Pro Evo series – at least on the pitch, where it truly matters? Plus; would it even make any sense to risk the game’s well-earned reputation by changing too much of what the series had built over the previous seasons instead of focusing primarily on providing a much-improved game for the first iteration of the new generation of consoles – employing a strategy seen recently with the release of a ‘PES2021 Season Update’ whilst Konami works on PES2022 away from the spotlight?
The fact is that the previous Pro Evo titles since PES4 didn’t exactly reinvent the footballing wheel themselves; they didn’t need to because their supreme domination over any other football game was unquestionable, and Konami developers found out that it was possible to rely on the winning formula of PES4 as a platform for the 5th and – spoiler alert – also the 6th iteration, merely tweaking the bits that needed tweaking, needing not to carry out any massive revolution. Off the pitch these three games aren’t much different; on the pitch though, otherwise small changes ended up recreating Pro Evo’s football as a totally different beast on each iteration, even if, for example, visually speaking, again, there isn’t much between them. All were bloody great football simulations, yet each had its own unique footballing character: PES4 provided a brand of frenetic yet deep representation of the sport, one able to attract not just the die-hard football fan but the casual player; PES5 on the other hand brought the game to a simulation-minded path with a representation of football that was gruesomely realistic and unapologetically physical – and not at all frenetic this time around. As we’ll find out, PES6 would carve out its own identity too, a testament to the artists’ unmatched vision; but whilst its immediate predecessors relied on their charismatic yet limited depictions of football, PES6 focused on making the game work as a whole even if it had to let go of the series’ footballing charisma to achieve that. This was Konami’s strategy for the farewell to an age that defined football gaming history. Could it work?
As we enter the game’s main menu, a couple of new features present themselves to the audience.
First, the International Challenge mode expands the experience of a regular International Cup mode played with National Teams beyond just the (unlicensed, of course) final tournament: on the International Challenge game mode, one has to take his selected nation through the continental qualifiers and then on an unofficial World Cup; on each matchday, we are asked to call up the group of players that will be disputing that fixture. Most notably, this feature is inspired on the wonderful experiences the World Cup and Euro games created by EA were providing by including for the first time ever not just the top footballing nations in the world, but also the other more obscure ones on each continent; from Andorra to Liechtenstein in Europe, Qatar to Thailand in Asia. All of these nations have real players, though all of them with the usual fake names, as well as well-crafted likenesses – obviously you won’t find any Andorran footballer with a preset face but you can tell the producing team cared about representing these with some accuracy…more than FIFA did anyway -; as for their footballing attributes, I’ve always suspected they’re realistic enough according to what these teams produce on the pitch, though you can’t really tell for sure because, and here’s the only disappointing fact about this very interesting feature, the player can’t play with these teams; they can only be played against. Basically they’re hidden teams which do not appear anywhere else in the game (not even on the game’s Edit mode) and will only be available on the environment of the International Challenge mode. Even after more than a decade since PES6 was released, this remains one of the most elusive issues for modders to fix; so don’t be surprised if you download a PES6 mod with all the bells and whistles yet when you play an IC save, the original hidden teams and their squads remain the same as the original game’s database provided.
The latter of these two new features is the Random Selection Match, a surprisingly attractive innovation that Pro Evo fans around the world did appreciate: so much so that despite being absent from the Pro Evo series after PES6, people kept metaphorically shouting in front of Konami’s headquarters, protesting for Random Selection Match to return to their beloved football game, smashing windows and all that. One decade later and they were finally heard, as PES2018 reintroduced that feature.
In PES6, this mode clearly looks like the evolution of the former All-Star match mode from the late PSOne, early PS2 PES days; whereas that previous mode allowed one to play a game between two teams comprised of the best footballers of both Europe and the Rest of the World, on the Random Selection Match (RSM) there will always be a clash between PES and WE Athletic, yet instead of having to utilize the default All-Star rosters, the game comes up with a randomized selection of footballers from a certain, chosen region of the globe, or from the league you want. Plus, regardless of the group of players selected, you can then tweak both teams as much as you want as well. It’s Serie A vs. English League; Eredivisie vs. Rest of the World, Ligue 1 vs. Africa: it’s whatever you desire. At the time I was astonished to find that this game mode was able to accomplish the unthinkable, which is snatching my attention away from the Master League. I vividly remember how great of a tool the RSM also was when it comes to discovering talent from all around the world, sometimes acquiring those players for my Master League save later on. Sadly, Konami gave up on this very popular feature – the millionth reason that helps explain the series’ decline…? – which only makes PES6 as a retro-PES game all the more uniquely valuable.
PES6 is regretfully a memorable game for the wrong reasons when it comes to a particularity of its database, one that caused a lot of stir back in 2007: the otherwise fake-named Bundesliga from PES4 and PES5 was removed from this PES iteration, even if despite the real player names, the team nomenclatures, crests and kits were all ‘Konamized’; from the Isars to the Westfalens. However, a full fake league comprised of teams (Team A, B, C, etc.) and players (Player001, 002, etc.) whose sole purpose is to serve as cannon fodder for some editing replaced the ‘German League’, curiously containing the exact same eighteen clubs pertaining to the Bundesliga, encouraging the ever-active Pro Evo editing community of the 2000s to get to work and recreate through amateur hands what the professionals were prevented from doing. And so they did…spectacularly. More on that later on…
On the other hand, the Ligue 1 appears fully licensed for the first time ever on a Pro Evo iteration, as well as many National Teams and clubs from the ‘Other Clubs’ section. Konami was taking its first steps on providing a more official-looking simulation, given they had pretty much nailed the actual football played on the pitch. Over the years, this tendency evolved into an obsession that took its toll on the otherwise brilliant football simulation Konami provided, awkwardly so as the licensing part was never a part of Pro Evo’s identity and this series itself was the living proof that such a thing was merely secondary if one’s game provided an interesting, realistic depiction of the sport anyway.
On the pitch action. That what makes or breaks a football game. Before we get to the actual gameplay, it’s important to note that PES6 looks a lot like PES5, which in turn looked a lot like PES4. The late-PS2 PES titles were clearly stagnating on the visual side of the experience, minus a few small tweaks here and there of course, such as the memorable vapor of the players’ exhalation on winter matches introduced in PES5. A keener eye might be able to detect any new graphical improvements on the overall presentation of PES6 but I admit I can’t see any newsworthy. Graphically, the game had peaked way earlier; PS2 PES would never see any more substantial evolution on this regard until its very last iteration, PES2014.
PES6 was a very divisive game when it came out. Hardcore football fans and PES gamers (but I repeat myself…) had been supremely pleased with the previous iteration, one that pushed the game towards a less arcade-ish, more realistic simulation; on the other hand, PES5 wasn’t that attractive for the casual type of player looking for a game able to entice a wider audience, a more romantic version of the sport than the gruesome PES5. Up until PES4, Konami could do both on a single iteration (hence their superb success); were the Japanese losing their touch? PES6 was going to be the answer to that question. Upon my first PES6 match the first thing I notice is how the simulation as a whole has lost that spark acquired on the previous title. That chaotic but brutally realistic element. Those endless battles for possession, the tantalizing physicality, the unpredictability of the gameplay; it seems to be all gone, replaced with a version of football that looks like late-PS2 PES, still feels a lot like it as well, but lacks the depth of its more immediate predecessors.
Upon closer inspection, the reasons for that lack of depth rapidly appear. The ball physics are nowhere as rich as that of the previous versions’. These are clearly the most disappointing of the PS2 PES era. Up until PES6 this specific part of the game had never caused problems. On PES6 though, the vivid (almost ‘alive’, in a way) ball is replaced with a much heavier version, at times feeling more like a futsal ball than an actual football. Remember how it used to bounce; how long passes and crosses felt realistic, how shots were distinct? None of that occurs anymore. The ball is too heavy, and as a consequence its airborne arch is unrealistic, plus its trajectories are less varied. This was such a glaring issue that the Pro Evo community worked to find a way to correct it; hence works such as Kingsley’s Ball Physics mod, which does an amazing job at providing very similar ball physics to that of PES5 – and one that proves how much of a game-changer realistic physics of the ball can be.
In addition to that, the ever-present physicality of the previous PES title is nowhere to be seen. PES6 matches produce very little fouls when compared to any previous PS2 PES, and that is a natural consequence of a simulation that removed one of the greatest aspects of PES5: the physical interaction between the players; the pushes and pulls, the timid touches and tackles, the realistic jostling for possession. Some of that still exists but it almost never leads to a foul: the exact opposite of PES5, where almost always the referee called them. ‘Streamlined’ is a word that perfectly describes the gameplay of PES6. It seemed that anything that gave the appropriate depth to its virtual football was streamlined in order to pave the way for an experience that produces a more spectacular depiction of the sport, erasing the ‘ugly’ parts of it.
Still, the developers sure knew what they were doing. This was the beginning of PES’ reformation; the game had evolved beyond a mere fetish into a worldwide obsession, therefore it now had to be mass-marketed to the a general audience. Such a football game couldn’t hang on to the admirable hopes of an iteration like PES5, one that wished to lead the virtual football scene ever closer to the heaven of hyper-realism. We did thought at the time that PES5 was the inaugural step on that dreamy path, but it turned out to be just an ephemeral spark of brilliance. PES6 brought football off the pedestal for the masses to enjoy. Now, that doesn’t mean PES6 completed a transition towards becoming, say, PS2 FIFA – God forbid! The impact of the players’ attributes on the football played was as important as it had ever been, much more than on any other contemporary rival. The lack of proper ball physics and the streamlined physical part of the simulation are hindrances that prevent the typical Pro Evo stat-based experience to shine as much as it did on the iterations that preceded this one: previously, getting a decent centre-midfielder for your Master League side meant finally being able to build-up play competently without wasting possession; now, you can make do without one. Having Libermann or Valeny as a CB would make a tremendous difference because of the former’s physical profile and aerial ability; now, it’s not entirely a meaningless choice but you’ll feel less of a difference between them on those areas. Sometimes PES6 feels like a PES ‘Lite’. You keep on waiting for to smell that footballing fragrance that was so typical of the series; at times you do, but the match ends and you’re still not satisfied. That perfume is not entirely gone, it comes in a much smaller bottle anyway.
Fortunately, what truly saves the day for PES6 is the fact that it improved massively upon the dreadful attacking AI of the previous iteration, bringing it back to the levels every PES game had achieved earlier on up until PES5, whilst giving it a bit more flair and creativity, in turn creating the most evolved attacking AI of any Pro Evo game until then. It’s so good that I’ve even watched a full CPU-vs-CPU tournament recently and was actually quite entertained by it. The CPU builds up the play competently, tries to surprise the opposition by varying between playing short and long balls; then, completely negating the AI’s offensive passivity in PES5, actually ‘goes in for the kill’ when it ‘smells blood’ and delivers potent, incisive counterattacks when it can’t look out patiently for a gap in the opposition’s defense, which it competently does too. The CPU is so skilled – offensively and, as usual, defensively too – that more than a decade later it keeps on being as challenging for me as it was back in the day; the mark of a classic game and a testament to how timeless a sports game can be if the AI is not just competent but also unpredictable, therefore creating a game you can play for decades without getting bored of, for it always gives you a proper challenge.
As a result, PES once again gives you that feeling that if you’re not paying attention, you can lose a match to any team in this game, for each smartly uses their own strengths to get a goal; not just relying on their best players but doing so respecting each side’s unique playing styles. Whereas despite the usual, heavy tactical influence on the game, in PES5 the CPU was clearly lacking offensive creativity (which led all teams to typically use crosses, long balls and long shots as their weapons of choice), here in PES6 the AI’s all-around offensive proficiency actually clears the way for the resurgence of more varied attacking styles, supported both by the influence of the players’ stats and the deep tactical options that are offered. If you were to play against the exact same team with the exact same rosters and tactics on both PES5 and PES6, there is no doubt that the difference would be immense.
If you wonder why PES6 became one of the most popular sports games in history, and we’ll of course be fully exploring that further on, its gameplay is part of that success. Even with all its flaws, you may ask…? Absolutely. Say whatever you want about the sixth installment of this series but what nobody can deny is that the whole on-the-pitch experience…just works as a whole. That, my friends, is how classic games are made. While a game like PES5 absolutely shined bright but merely occasionally, it was not a complete experience. PES6, on the other hand, doesn’t go as deep as its immediate predecessor yet it manages to provide a depiction of football that is simultaneously complex enough to keep the hardcore player engaged, fun enough to keep just about everyone glued to the screen – and whose rough edges have been dealt with. Except for the glorious Cutback Goal – it is so effective in this game that I remember participating in online competitions over the years whose rule number zero, one, two, and 3056th all were: thou shan’t ever use the cursed cutback shot! – there isn’t anything to ruthlessly exploit here, forcing one to actually play smart football in order to win a match.
Interestingly, over time it was possible for particularly the database modders of this game to showcase a different PES6 than the one everyone recognized. I can attest to that after working on the unforgettable AMADOR mod. In order to replicate what we wanted to be a Sunday League-level type of player, a mere footballing amateur, we drastically reduced the players’ attributes and to our astonishment, that provoked the resurgence of elements we thought to have had been totally eliminated from PES6 but were present up until PES5; the bouncy ball physics for example, which we unintentionally recreated, as we eventually found out, by reducing drastically the players’ Short/Long Passing Accuracy and Shooting skills. Suddenly, also the PES5-like physicality is back and produces plenty of fouls as well, through reducing the players’ Balance. We didn’t bring back PES5 as a whole but, and try it for yourself if you want to confirm it (you should), AMADOR looks virtually a whole new different game: it’s not really PES6 anymore. In fact, many more editors understood this (though they were never as drastic as we were!) and messed around with stat adjustments in order to skillfully ‘rewrite’ the gameplay, ultimately producing a more realistic experience. Here too, PES6 is able to shine as it proves it is the perfect playground not just for all kinds of graphical experiences but also for gameplay tweaking as the players use their creativity to recreate many distinct versions of football; PES6 is then able to handle them all by perfectly ‘shape-shifting’ into what the player desires it to become, be it a more PES5-inspired brutal and chaotic representation of the sport or a super-arcade-y virtual game based on the sport, focused more on providing some relaxed fun.
Elsewhere, the game is a living proof of the beginning of the series’ decadence, which would be confirmed without any shadow of doubt on the subsequent iteration of consoles.
The audio experience is one of the examples of that decadence. The commentator duo is as forgettable as ever; Konami didn’t really do much to improve it on the late-PS2 PES era. If at least on PES2 we could hear Peter Brackley’s football-fueled orgasms whenever the occasion demanded that release – therefore we had at least one good reason not to turn off the ever-uninspired match commentary – later PES games don’t even have that. And this is, naturally, another area where Pro Evo modders shined bright above the producing team itself, as over the years, many different amateur ‘audio packs’ were released to the public with a totally reformed match commentary – there is even one that literally transferred contemporary FIFAs commentators onto PES! – in many languages, from (Brazilian) Portuguese to Greek, Spanish to Italian. Plus, even the otherwise dull stadium audience can be replaced with more vivid, creative and realistic sounds, also a courtesy of the PES community, obviously.
Leagues, cups, and the Master League: the usual plethora of Pro Evo options appears in PES6, though almost completely unchanged from the previous version. And here too the first signs of decadence appear. Looking at the Master League of PES6, especially when compared to its ‘equivalent’ on contemporary FIFA (the Career Mode), you wouldn’t believe that that game mode used to be by far the deepest, most complex football gaming ‘franchise mode’ in the scene. It evolved massively from the very simplistic environment of its ISS Pro Evo version – when the ML made its debut – ever since the PSOne days up until the first few PS2 Pro Evo titles; then, the introduction of player development in PES4 was the last meaningful upgrade, as both PES5 and PES6 chose the conservative option of not messing up what was working beautifully. Perhaps Konami was saving the producing team’s energy for the following generation of consoles? Time would tell us that they weren’t; in fact, the Master League would never again be anywhere near as relevant on the football gaming scene as it was on the PS2 era. There are many reasons for that particular decline as well, one of them being the fact that Konami struggled creatively and couldn’t come up with any of those innovations that once rocked the virtual football world, instead they went for small tweaks when they weren’t outright copying other games’ features. But that is still many years ahead of our PES6, and back then, the ML was still good enough to keep one hooked, supported by the beautiful on-the-pitch action first and foremost. So if you played a ML save in PES5 or PES4, you’ll be quite at home here too: everything remains pretty much the same. FIFA’s Career Mode was at this point a much deeper mode even if its gameplay just couldn’t match PES’.
Now, the climax. Everything you read above is a depiction of PES6, the game. What you will read now is an assessment on PES6, the myth.
To this day, despite the solid gameplay we recognized early on in this retro-review, I wholeheartedly believe PES6’s immense popularity is more due to PES’ decline. Let’s go back in time again: PES6 is the last PS2 PES iteration. The first Pro Evo of the new generation of consoles, PES2008, turned out to be a disaster of universal proportions and singlehandedly threw the series onto its own Dark Ages. Many, if not most, believe PES has yet to escape that nightmare come true, more than a decade after its inception. Konami was able to get the game back on its feet after PES2008, though it was totally drunk, smelled awfully and could barely put two sentences together. By PES2009, the game was in a somewhat acceptable state, didn’t smell of cheap wine and could hold a conversation about the weather, though it was very far from both the brilliance of its ‘elders’ and, now, also quite distant from a positively overhauled newgen-FIFA at this point. Heavily disappointed with the first newgen iteration of PES, many fans of the series opted to keep on playing PES6, which was undoubtedly a better option especially because of the wonderful support provided by the game’s modding community – one that developed through the whole PS2 PES period and reached a point where it became a worldwide phenomenon: that community was using PES iterations to create a truly complete football simulation, on and off-the-pitch, and everywhere you look (and hear). Those who then kept on playing PES6 also kept modding it; and when PES2009 is out, it is hard for anyone to convince people to leave a PES6 that, at this point, was completely transformed on all areas; for the first time in the history of the series, the fans told the latest version to go take a hike and kept working on and enjoying the previous one. Having more time dedicated to PES6, they used it to bring the game to virtual football heaven. Some of the most inspired football gaming mods begin appearing on the scene, as the likes of Shollym and ISS Patch use the gameplay of PES6 whilst overhauling the entire platform, from top menu wallpapers to match scoreboards, stadiums and match commentary, balls, kits, boots, all the bells and whistles, and, of course, up-to-date rosters. Circa-2008 the choice was simple: either you play a game with a mediocre gameplay, few content and lacking audiovisual features, or instead you play one which allows you to have thousands of stadiums, kits, balls and more graphical content than you can keep track of, has a very competent gameplay you’re already used to and enjoy, and is constantly being updated by a tireless community that…you yourself can be a part of! The obvious answer was picked by countless players around the world. And so, even if the PES series would go on to recapture some of its lost audience with its newer titles, at this point PES6 had evolved into a football gaming galaxy out of anyone’s control but the fans who supported it themselves.
Almost a decade and a half after PES6’s release, that unstoppable force hasn’t been neutralized yet – though it was damaged alright. Naturally, as time passes, the game has more and more modern rivals to compete against; time and circumstance have admittedly pulverized most of its once prolific and numerous modding community, as well as its loyal player base. Yet, as technology itself improves and changes our patterns of consumption and production, interestingly, the PES6 community accompanied that evolution: if in the late-2000s modders used forums to showcase their work, nowadays they rely on social media like Facebook and Twitter and also YouTube. Whereas in the past a more global, yet Europe-based PES6 community existed, these days, curiously, the main supporters of this retro-PES titles are found mostly in South America; Asia seems to be still preserving its flame of adoration for PES6 too. They are all scattered across those modern media platforms, decentralized but independent. In a way, this makes it harder for the player to keep track of the PES6 modding happening around the globe; for the modder himself, it undoubtedly widened their audience: the Shollym Patch Facebook page registers more than 25.000 likes, Infinitty Patch gets more than 10.000; even kit and facemakers were able to create their own micro-communities with thousands of fans each.
After all these years, PES6 turned into what I half-jokingly frame as the “Netflix of football games”. The audience seized the game and used people’s talent to fill the game with more content than any other football game could ever dream of. If you were to use your whole lifetime to experience all that PES6 has to offer, it wouldn’t be enough. If it exists, it exists also on PES6: do you want to play the Greek League? Or the 1930 World Cup? The 2000/01 Champions League? The 2004 edition of the Euro Cup, why not…? Denmark’s 2nd Division? Or perhaps you’re the kind of man who prefers a full database containing fantasy amateur players representing each region of various European countries? Before you ask, yes, there are even mods with updated rosters – Firebird is simply one of the most competent PES mod series in history, take a look at their 2020 version. All of this is possible, and the installation processes are always quite simple. You don’t need any fancy programs beyond a Kitserver, the program that handles most of each mod’s content (and it often comes with the mods’ installation anyway): say you want to install a stadium. All you need to do is to drag and drop the file onto the “stadiums” folder inside the Kitserver. Et voilà: you’re set. Balls? Just drop them there and accumulate how many you desire. This is another great aspect of PES6: everyone is able to tune the game according to their preferences regardless of how tech-savvy they are.
Unfortunately, as time passes, some of the most wonderful PES6 mods are lost, probably forever, either due to expired download links or, in cases such as the extinct Rapidshare and MegaUpload, the sites that hosted the content no longer exist. Efforts such as Sany’s are much applauded; due to his installers many of these files are downloadable (and therefore playable) again, a valuable modern contribution to preserve the memory of an unforgettable retro-PES game and keep its flame alive for as long as possible. Just like it was the public who elevated PES6 to the legendary heights it reached, it’ll also have to be up to the general audience to protect the game’s legacy and history.
The cherry-on-top of this unforgettable game is that those wonderful community-made mods are also playable online. In 2020, there are still loads of online tournaments happening all around the world. One of the most popular mods used for these network adventures is the Infinitty Patch; some even have created dedicated Discord servers for their online leagues using that mod! The process of joining some of those competitions is rather simple and painless. Perhaps you can even create one yourself…!
I must admit I have centered this review on the PC version, given the PS2 title was identical. The ‘mod galaxy’ you’re able to access using the PC version is more of a, say, ‘mod city’ on the PS2 when compared to the former: you do have lots of patching options for the console iteration (Brazil has practically seized it for themselves, as they seem to produce the vast majority of the PES6 PS2 content these days…) yet the PC version is incomparably richer on that area, as it provides many more mods of all types, especially because not every aspect of the game can be tweaked on the console version as it can be on the computer.
Finally, I couldn’t end this review without mentioning the absolute game-changer that was the introduction of something so awkwardly out-of-the-box’ that you have to look for it yourself if you want to grasp its maniac brilliance. If you’re asking, no it’s not a mod: it comes with the actual game; you’ll have to unlock it on the PES Shop where among the usual unlockable classic players and teams, one is able to acquire this feature. Then, on matchday, regardless of the team you choose to play with and against, you can force all players to either:
- ride a dinosaur (yes, you read that right);
- ride an ostrich wearing a sombrero – I mean the ostrich wears the sombrero, not your player, for he sticks to his poncho (don’t worry, the keeper’s poncho is distinct!);
- wear a penguin costume.
Good luck forcing the likes of Gattuso and Roy Keane in any of those.
I don’t know what Konami developers were drinking when they decided to come up with this – a short-lived featured promptly eliminated from the game (forever) in newgen-PES2008, though it would still make a few appearances on later PS2 PES titles after PES6 – but whatever substance they consumed was totally worth it: alongside super-villain referee Kazuki Ito, Cuito Cuanavale and its legendary full-time potato cultivation, part-time football pitch, Dinosaurs vs. Ostriches vs. Penguins remains as one of the most memorable quirkinesses of retro-PES games from the PS2 era. What a fantastic way to end this retro-review – literally.
The Good
- More than a game, the world of football: PES6 is now a gigantic platform for football gaming brimming with community-made (often brilliant) content. It’s the galaxy of virtual football.
- Classic Pro Evo gameplay: it’s the PES way: deep but fun, challenging but rewarding, realistic but spectacular; PES6 is an encapsulation of the previous iterations in a single game – and it works.
- There is still an active online gaming community: a testament to the game’s unmatchable longevity.
- Both the International Challenge and the Random Selection Match are welcomed introductions able to get the players’ attention.
The ‘Meh’
- While losing PES5’s lovable physicality and stellar ball physics, it massively improves its attacking AI, providing a less in-depth but infinitely more coherent experience.
- Creative stagnation: PES6 is, on most areas, not a significant evolution over its predecessors.
The Ugly
- The game’s sound is as dull as ever: yet, as always, the Pro Evo community also has mods for that.
- Features the less memorable depiction of football of all the titles from the PS2 PES era. It lacks the frenetic charisma of a PES4, or the grittiness of a PES5.
The Verdict: 9/10
In 2006, PES6 had all the makings of a competent but mildly-impressive Pro Evolution title: which, though it was already good enough to annihilate any contemporary competitor as it usually did, was a bit underwhelming for a Pro Evo fan habituated to the virtual football heaven Konami had brought the series to. PES6 did fix its predecessor’s issues – at the same time pushing the game towards a more arcade-y route – and brought a couple of interesting innovations to disguise its overall creatively stagnated platform, but it’s obvious that PES’ flame was dying out; the PS3 era would confirm that suspicion.
A potent combination of circumstance and human resourcefulness would elevate PES6 to the sports gaming myth that the default game would never be able to become on its own; PES6 being simultaneously a very good football game yet only a decent PES, it seemed destined to be forever reminded merely as the last chapter of a wildly-successful era. Fate had other plans. The series’ fans changed the course of history: they refused to let go of this title and play the mediocre modern ones, seized it for themselves, came together to work on improving it and in the end, created a fully and extensively moddable football game based on PES6 but completely tuned to fit one’s preference. The history of retro-PES began here; as for the first time ever, football gamers ignored the stigma of playing an older iteration, especially if one could enjoy the plethora of community-made content PES6 provided. Over time, this game ceased being just a game; it became a platform supported exclusively by amateur editors all over the world, spawning a true “Netflix of football gaming” as a consequence, one that stood the test of time as it was able to capture the fans’ attention for more than a decade and, almost fifteen years later, fresh mods are still being released for a title that is remembered by many as the most iconic football game of all time.
PES6 – the myth – is a testament to human brilliance; simultaneously a playable encyclopedia and an interactive art gallery and a workshop; PES6 – the game – is not at all on that level but still, it is realistic and entertaining enough to keep one hooked. From the fusion of game and myth emerged one of the most important chapters in the history of sports gaming. Will its success ever be replicated? Probably not. Almost fifteen years later, the people and the world have changed. A lot. In 2020, it’s already hard to believe this myth could ever be imitated again. I bet that in a few decades, it’ll be impossible to believe it actually happened. My dear reader, I don’t know at what point in time you are reading this, but let this Libero article stand tall as the confirmation that I did see the time when The People’s Football game ruled the (virtual) football world. And it was great.
Libero Magazine 