Pro Evolution Soccer 6
Konami
It’s an outrage. Choose the Welsh team in Pro Evolution Soccer 6 and
at right back you will find that Richard Duffy has been renamed Rinard Taffy.
Surely, in these politically correct times, you can’t go around calling
us taffies? Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Pro Evolution Soccer
6. It’s the latest version of a football franchise which, alongside EA’s
Fifa series, has dominated the footy games market for nearly a decade. The
Fifa games have always looked better and featured properly licensed teams -
hence no silly player names, whereas the PES franchise has offered superior
gameplay and a more gritty, realistic feel. But whilst the Fifa games have
slowly chipped away at their deficiencies, this latest Pro Evolution Soccer
is showing dangerous signs of stagnation. The football itself is still superb
and the success of Pro Evolution Soccer is based on its core ability to genuinely
capture the feel of the beautiful game. There have been numerous tweaks to
improve the gameplay but these changes are becoming so subtle that they are
increasingly difficult to spot, even for a hardcore PES fan. Pro Evolution
Soccer remains the definitive football game but it’s in danger of becoming
the equivalent of a smug, lazy Premiership star living off past glories.
The Godfather
EA
I could never really get excited about the Godfather movies. They always struck
me as being like watching an Italian version of Eastenders, with a few added
explosions. But it’s a healthy sign that a publisher like EA is prepared
to make a game based on a slightly more sophisticated movie licence than usual.
But it’s not the themes of loyalty, honour, betrayal or corruption that
the game focuses on, it’s the running around and whacking people. This
Xbox 360 version tries to use the power of the new console to create life-like
representations of the characters from the movie. But they just look weird.
They have that freaky, waxwork, extreme cosmetic surgery look which has become
an unfortunate feature of many Xbox 360 games. Strip away the cut scenes from
The Godfather and you are left with a decent Grand Theft Auto-style game set
in 1940’s New York. You get to create your own gangster using the same
kind of customisation tools as seen in EA’s Tiger Wood games. And the
rest is pretty familiar territory as you work your way up the ranks of the
mafia by completing various driving and combat missions. Like a mafia hit,
The Godfather does an efficient and clinical job but leaves you feeling a bit
empty.
Catch all the latest games reviews in the current issue of RedHanded.
Tom Law is the biggest kid in the playground