Winning Eleven 6 International review (PlayStation 2)

When on the defensive in any soccer game, the player who comes under the most scrutiny is undoubtedly the goalkeeper. Thankfully, the keepers in Winning Eleven 6 are very realistic, and although you'll occasionally curse them for failing to make what looks like an easy save, the believable match scores in the game speak volumes for their abilities, and since you have the option to bring your keeper out for the ball manually at any point, you'll often be just as much to blame for conceded goals as your keeper.

Once you've mastered the basic game controls, checked out the game's excellent training mode, and perhaps unlocked a few of the classic international squads by winning leagues and cup tournaments, the best way to play Winning Eleven 6--particularly when you're on your own--is in the master league mode. Starting out with a relatively unskilled team in the third division, you'll take your team all the way to the top by spending points earned during every match on signing valuable players for your squad. This, in turn, makes winning subsequent matches a little easier, which is a good thing, because the wage demands of the top players can put a real strain on your finances if you lose too many matches. Perhaps the coolest feature of the master league mode is the ability to pit your team against those of your friends. And because of the way the transfer market works, it's highly unlikely that you'll have many of the same players on your squad--even if you both believe your personal selection has very little room for improvement.

Like most sports games nowadays, Winning Eleven 6 features multiplayer support for more than two players--eight in fact, though filling two Multitaps can become a little confusing, and playing two-on-two is perhaps as good as it gets. The great thing about teaming up with a friend is that while one of you has the ball, the other can make runs to draw away defenders or get into space--playing a great ball that allows your teammate to score is every bit as rewarding as scoring one yourself, and since the game rarely allows you to move the ball from one end of the pitch to the other without passing it around, there's very little chance of one player hogging the ball.

Winning Eleven 6 International is, without a doubt, the finest soccer game available for any game platform right now. KCET has managed to develop a game that achieves a near-perfect balance between realism and gameplay, and the drastic changes that have been made to the FIFA games in recent years are undoubtedly EA's attempt to catch up in light of the Konami series' increasing popularity. If you're a fan of the sport, or of sports games in general, you'd be doing yourself a disservice if you didn't take a look at Winning Eleven 6 International--friends who see you playing it might not be overly impressed by the presentation or the commentary, but if you can persuade them to play a few matches against you, you'll be guaranteed a playing partner for life.