J League Perfect Striker 4 (New)

The player faces are scanned so accurately you can tell who’s who even in a quick glance, and the whole promotion-relegation cycle actually makes each season feel like it has stakes. I’ve already spent hours just building up a mid-tier club in career mode.

The promotion and relegation system keeps each season feeling fresh, and the player face scans are surprisingly detailed for this era. It's got that proper official license feel without being cluttered.

Finally, a football game that actually tracks promotion and relegation properly — my created club went from J3 to J1 over several seasons. Player faces look frighteningly real thanks to the scanned imagery, which is a huge step up from last year’s version. Best footy sim on the PS2 right now.