Picking out players with a crafty through ball is now the most effective way of getting on goal. Teams like Inter and Brazil are unstoppable if you can combine a possession game with the use of the radar at the bottom of the screen. Players such as Henry and Adriano are lethal at cutting swathes through a defence or outpacing nearly anyone down the wing.

Konami has also created an even larger gulf between the star players in the world and everyone else. You should definitely be facing the recipient when passing, as indirect passes often end up short or off-target. As a result, you have to adapt your game toward making quick, short passes that are accurately directed to the intended player. However, defending players are much more effective at relieving you of the ball, and they're certainly favoured in one-on-one situations. It's now easier to dribble the ball while running, with players keeping it closer to their feet.

In terms of playing the game, Konami has made a number of tweaks that certainly make this the tightest Pro Evolution Soccer yet. Pro Evolution Soccer is a game that rewards real-world tactics, and the lifelike movement of the players only adds to this suspension of disbelief. There's more tangibility in the way they interact with each other and the ball, and collisions and tumbles better reflect the physical nature of the game.

One of the more noticeable improvements is in player animation, with polish added to the already astounding movement. It will take you quite a few practice games to adjust to the new playing style of Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 (known as Pro Evolution Soccer 6 in Europe), which is even faster than last year's game. Player movements and likenesses are better than ever. There are also only a handful of new features, chief of which are eight-player online support, an increase in the number of licensed teams, and an international challenge mode. The tweaks that Konami has made to the match engine have produced a more refined game, but there's not a hint of the revolution attempted by EA Sports in most annual FIFA updates. True, the series has long offered deep and rewarding gameplay, but the lack of innovation has become increasingly apparent of late. The second word of 'Pro Evolution Soccer' proves to be more appropriate with each passing year, thanks to incremental updates that never go beyond slowly evolving Konami's winning formula.

Game pes 6