It’s tough being the best,
especially when – despite your greatness – many gamers still decide to go
elsewhere with their hard-earned cash. Welcome to Winning Eleven’s world,
because for the past several years Konami’s prize-winning soccer simulation has
had to endure this injustice. Sure, Winning Eleven has been a critical success
all over the globe during this time period, but it seems that most of North
America’s gaming population prefers a slick presentation and a more lenient
learning curve over realism, and have seemed to flock to the competition like
the swallows of Capistrano. So in order to help the less-interested see the
light more clearly, Konami has added a slew of new gameplay features and options
in this year’s game, and has managed to do all this while keeping the series’
core elements intact.
First off, most people should know
that Winning Eleven 9 now has an Online mode, which is something that the
competition has always been able to dangle in its face up until now. Most every
match I played was lag-free, and turned out to be just as exciting as my
single-player experiences, sometimes even surpassing them. It did have a few
questionable decisions implemented into it, as the infrastructure is fairly
basic, and is missing voice chat of any kind. There are also a limited number of
options to choose from, which includes Create match, Optimatch, and Quick match,
but signs of a Tournament mode or similar options are nowhere to be found. This
is a bit understandable, though, considering this is the first attempt at online
play, and hopefully up-and-coming titles will be more robust.
Of course, Winning Eleven has never
been about playing online, and this year is no different, as it has a multitude
of ways to keep you busy when playing by yourself. Available are Quick match,
Master League, Custom League, and Cup tournaments, along with the very deep Edit
mode. The Training mode is especially fun, and although simple to complete,
mastering each of the situations will be crucial to winning on a consistent
basis. This lets you practice nearly any type of situation any time you wish,
which range from the basic give-and-go technique to the complicated
middle-shooting ability. You can also perfect your corner kicks, penalty shots,
or just work on your all-around game by scrimmaging. There’s also the Challenge
Training mode, which breaks each event into a number of levels where you must
reach the targeted score in order to proceed to the next tier.
Another notable addition is Konami’s
ability to slowly secure a few more player licenses, as this year’s game now has
some of the more recognizable teams like Chelsea, Rangers, Arsenal, and
Galatasaray, but sadly squads like Manchester United and Liverpool are still
missing. Instead they are replaced with generic abbreviations, but thankfully
the Edit mode allows you to change everything from player and team names to
uniforms and stadiums. If you go this route just be prepared to spend hours
correcting the roster and team issues, since as you might have guessed there
just isn’t a time efficient way to do this. The Edit mode isn’t all bad,
however, as the ability to customize your uniforms is something that every
sports game should have, and ultimately consumed hours upon hours of my time.
Not only can you choose from hundreds of jersey designs, but you can also create
text and symbols to display on your jersey to help give it that extra European
look.
Of course, the only reason anyone
would spend hours toiling in the Training or Edit modes would be to have it all
pay off in the Master League mode, and this year’s version is just as addicting
as the previous one. One new interesting feature is the development system,
which lets you train your younger player’s right from the start of their career
in hopes of crafting them into the next big star. After each match all
participating players gain experience depending on how well they performed in
the game, and throughout the season you will slowly see their statistics
elevate, or slowly drop if they’re doing poorly. This makes for some tough
decisions a lot of times, since most every team has a consistent mix of both
youngsters and veterans on the roster, both which need playing time. So playing
that highly-touted rookie a lot may help him develop more quickly, but just make
sure that it doesn’t affect your team’s performance too much since a poor record
can cost you your job. And the veterans on the bench aren’t exactly getting any
younger either, and will slowly depreciate in value until they receive playing
time once again.
The on-field action has seen a few
upgrades as well, most of them for the better. You will notice that things flow
more nicely now thanks to some new player animations, but the smoothness that
this adds is sometimes taken away by some stiff penalty calling. Simply jamming
on the X button to gain a better position will result in more penalties now,
which is a big departure from last year. It does seem that players fall down and
get tripped up more easily, so it appears to be a fair trade-off, and will not
be much of an issue if you know your physical limitations on the field. This can
work to your benefit as well. If your roster is loaded with speed-demons you
will find that other teams will overload the outside and box areas, and will try
to lay the body on your superstars more frequently. This of course results in
more penalties on your opponent’s behalf, and will ultimately make you glad that
the officials are stricter this time around.
Both the visuals and audio are
handled with great care as well, and while they may not have caught up to
Winning Eleven’s competitor yet, they do indeed get the job done. The
presentation is livelier now, and the rambunctious fans chanting and waving
flags really add to the atmosphere, and honestly make you feel like you’re
actually in the stadium. There were a few times during stoppages in play that
the stands appeared to be empty for a few seconds, but this ceases once that
particular player animation is over and the game resumes. While I’m not sure why
this happens, it really only occurs a few times every game and before too long
you fail to notice that it even exists.
The sound is somewhat of a mixed-bag
of both near-perfection and utter strangeness. The music in the game is of the
fast-paced techno variety, which may be perfect for the Japanese market, but
here it just seems awkward and out of place. However, Peter Brackley and Trevor
Brooking’s play-by-play is superb, but just like every other sports title in
existence, they do manage to repeat themselves just a little too frequently. And
as I mentioned earlier, the crowds sound fantastic and will cheer you on with
chant after chant, and for the most part follow the shifts in action nicely.
Overall, Winning Eleven 9 is still
the best soccer game around, even if it is only slightly better than the
previous version, that’s still quite an achievement. With several new tweaks to
the gameplay engine, and finally online play, there should be little reason why
Konami’s football-masterpiece is overlooked this year.
|
Review Scoring Details for World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 |
Gameplay: 9.3
Winning Eleven builds upon last year’s version by adding a few key gameplay
elements, especially online play. There’s no doubt that it has a steep learning
curve, and will force gamers to become real soccer fans before they know it, but
once you get caught in Winning Eleven’s twisted web of addictiveness there’s no
turning back.
Graphics: 9.0
It’s no secret that the series has always valued realism over presentation,
which may have cost them in the past, but WE9 is a nice improvement visually
from the year before, and should provide enough eye candy to even satisfy the
average fan. It could use a little help in the transition of player animations,
especially after goals, but it’s not so bad as to ruin the experience.
Sound: 8.7
The play-by-play is stellar, but most people will find the awkward beats
slightly out of place, especially when compared to the competition.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Concept: 9.4
Winning Eleven has strived on realism since its debut, and this addition is no
different. Any game that stays true to its roots year after year gains big
points in my book, and this will hopefully be the year that it finally pays off.
Multiplayer: 8.5
The series has finally gone online for the first time in North America, and even
though this is a welcomed feature for sure, the amount of options at your
disposal is limited. The ability to use voice chat would’ve been nice, and the
possibility to create tournaments or leagues would’ve been appreciated as well.
Overall: 9.0
I’ll be the first to admit that Winning Eleven 9 isn’t perfect, but it’s the
best soccer game in existence. Anyone who is willing to give it a chance will
likely find that it provides a more rewarding experience than any other sports
game they’ve ever played.
