Frankly, we could have had all of them in this list.
We could have picked any of the four games from Pro Evo 2 to Pro Evo 5 and made a case for its inclusion. That its standards did eventually drop was inevitable, but it doesn’t make the glory years from 2002-2005 any less special. Well, Pro Evolution Soccer managed the same feat. The Simpsons did that from about season 3 to season 9, for instance, but it’s pretty rare. But then it does – for year after year after year. There are times in popular culture when a thing – band, TV series, game, whatever – reaches such a peak, you think it can’t possibly stay there. But in truth ISS Pro Evolution was already creeping ahead of FIFA by this time it was more realistic yet also more playable – and that’s a winning combination in any game. While the Master League was a great addition to the series, it would have meant nothing if the gameplay hadn’t matched up to it. Instead, it gave you the chance to shape the team of your dreams, packing it with attacking midfielders if you chose, or instead making sure you had a Mourinho-solid defence. You could buy and sell players, but you used points earnt by winning games, rather than money, and there was none of the complicated day-to-day running of the club that you’d have to endure in Championship Manager. And it was here that it first appeared.Īlthough at this stage a relatively basic affair, the Pro Evo Master League still bolted a decent career sim on to an already superb football game. Ah, the Master League: just how many hours have we spent cocooned in your comforting embrace, steadily building up a team of honest pros and turning them into world beaters? Probably several thousand – and that’s no exaggeration.