Winning Eleven Pro Evolution Soccer 2007 hands-on

The player models are looking tremendous, and the team-specific crowd signs and flags on display in the huge stadium immerse you into a chanting, revved-up environment. Off the heels of the real World Cup, it was immediately evident that bunches of licensed players were in the game representing their countries- and in many cases that they look strikingly like their real-world counterparts. Footballers like Beckham, Rooney, Crespo, and Totti were easy to spot at the start of the matches, with Rooney even sporting his trademark scowl. We hope that this points to even more true-to-life leagues, clubs, and players showing up in the final game, since editing bunches of pretend names is not our idea of a good time.

Pro Evolution is the follow-up to the superb World Soccer Winning Eleven 9. We're pretty sure the name change has come about at least in part because anyone would trip over trying to make sense of something called Winning Eleven 10, much less Winning Eleven 11. Name changes aside, footy fans have a lot to look forward to when it launches this holiday season.