Pro Evolution Soccer 6 is actually the *tenth* installment of Konami's hit football series. Winning Eleven publishes every summer in Japan, is then localized and optimized, renamed and shipped here to Europe, only to go through the same procedure again in order to find its way to American stores as "World Soccer: Winning Eleven [Number]". Even if incessant touring like this hampers the likes of Real Madrid, it apparently works just fine for PES as it just keeps getting better and better. Although it is forever doomed to sell less than the impeccably presented FIFA, Pro Evolution will not have to worry about coming in first to the educated football fan's heart for at least one more year.

There is one thing and one thing only that sets Pro Evolution apart and makes it the choice game for virtually all video-game-football competitions: the incredible gameplay. Thankfully, since this is football we are dealing with, that is what it all really comes down to. The depth, the diversity and the authenticity all guarantee an amazing gaming session. The only catch is that it's not very friendly to the new user.

Important questions also arise, with "Why did my shot ended up outside the stadium?" easily being the most popular. All Pro Evolutions feature insanely sensitive shooting controls and this one is no different. Using the Square button you determine the power of the shot, with the respective bar going up extremely fast and even faster when the player you control is running, using his weaker foot, heavily marked, tired or trying for a first-time shot. You shouldn't watch the bar to determine when to release the button, which is a common mistake. It's more about timing it in your head, with millisecond presses for low shots and a millisecond later for top-corner blasts.

Depending on the direction of your stick, your footballer will try to shoot for either corner, or the center of the goal. Adding the fact that there are two types of lob-shots that can be tried at any time, at the press of a trigger button and you have the wide range of shooting options a real player has when trying to score. Some efforts are less likely to succeed from certain spots, but this is just another area where real-life familiarization with football comes in handy in PES. Knowing your footballers helps immensly, as Nedved has little problem of unleashing piledrivers with either foot, while with Rivaldo you'd be better served using his precious left.

The passing is great, especially if you take advantage of the pressure-sensitive buttons. Ideally, the person to which you pass the ball is determined by the *pressure* with which you hit the button, with easy strokes for nearby teammates and harder for those further away. Inarguably the smartest use of DualShock 2's pressure sensitivity this side of Gran Turismo.

"Why do I foul all the time?" was an increasingly asked question as Pro Evolutions progressed, but Konami took good measures to eradicate it this year. Holding X while defending automatically "homes" your player at the opponent in possession and then takes defensive action, from simple taps to hit the ball to blatant shirt-pulling. Gamers embraced this Mecca of defending and Konami continuously increased the amount of fouling when employing it, in an effort to diminish its use. Old habits die hard and the only thing that accomplished was to heavily slower the pace of the game, due to the exponential amount of fouls called.

I've mentioned several times that different players behave differently as this is another major aspect of Pro Evolution. While as far as visual representation is concerned PES doesn't hold a candle to FIFA, the opposite is true for gameplay matters. In FIFA the only prevailing characteristic that changes from player to player is the speed and that is no exaggeration. For Pele's shake, every player shoots equally as well with either foot! In Pro Evolution Soccer, Maradona would sooner try his trademark left-foot-behind-right shot rather than unleash one with his weak right.

The fantastic Artificial Intelligence, ranging in 5 difficulty levels, also assures that when having two computer teams play each other you'll get a very realistic interpretation of football, actually imitating the way these particular teams play. It won't be difficult to mistake for the real thing either, as the graphics are pretty decent especially for the licensed leagues, which are: Liga Espaniola (Spain), Serie A (Italy), Ligue 1 (France) and Eredivisie (Holland).

PES are special points that are awarded each time a game is played, training is completed and Cups are lifted. They are used to unlock hidden extras from the PES-Shop, like famous veterans and new stadiums. For the celebratory edition Konami included some weirder extras and opted to have the cherished different match-balls available from the beginning. Fans are sure to be pleasantly surprised.

Points are awarded for winning, drawing and scoring goals, as well as more generous amounts for good league position and cup wins. These are your Funds, used to pay your squad's salary at the end of each season and for arranging transfers. Players' attributes improve when they play well and deteriorate as they get older, spicing up the sessions.

An auto-save feature is optional for the pathological cheater and winning the highest competition, the European Championship, is going to take at minimum 3 seasons. It's great and lasting entertainment.

Previous years' commentators return for the audio coverage and it's nothing remarkably different from last year's version. With FIFA adding more and more colour commentary for specific teams and stars, Pro Evolution seems to be falling a bit behind in this department.

Konami has designed every Pro Evolution so far specifically for the Playstation and its DualShock Controller. As such, it was always detracting to play with the original X-Box's controllers, be they the huge or monstrous version.