The average American sports fan knows almost nothing about soccer. Most of them certainly wouldn’t be able to pick Theirry Henry out of a lineup. Perhaps some might know that Brazil is usually pretty good, and others may have heard about some sort of British soccer player marrying one of the Spice Girls, but by and large we Yankees are woefully not up to speed on the world’s most popular sport. Therefore, any US version of a soccer videogame often must not only function as an engaging simulation but also as a sort of ambassador of the sport as well. Konami’s Winning Eleven series is the current reigning king of soccer videogames, and their newest Xbox installment, Winning Eleven 9, successfully delivers in both respects.
Every new installment of the series gains more teams to pick from, and this year the soccer world is well-represented in WE9 as it includes 57 national teams and 138 club teams. Comprised of English, French, and Italian club teams amongst others, only a portion of the clubs are officially licensed, leaving out some prominent omissions such as Manchester United. The teams are still there under assumed names, and their players are still represented as well. Those who are not familiar with international soccer or some of the smaller leagues can browse the detailed ratings for the players and teams to learn all about their qualities and strengths.
Licensing aside, a sports game is really only as good as its controls, and it may take quite a while to get used to WE9’s, especially for series newcomers. Moving around carries with it a definite feeling of momentum, and one has to get used to knowing when to pull up ahead of time as turning on a dime isn’t usually possible. It can sometimes feel like you’re not totally in control, but that’s likely a realistic feeling when running full bore down the pitch. Even amongst the game’s basic move set, there are some quirks to absorb. Since many of the moves like passing and shooting can be "preloaded" on the fly, there is often a sizeable delay in those situations from when you push a button to when the action is actually carried out. The power put behind passing and shooting is also controlled by how long you hold the button to fill up a power meter. At first, this press-and-release mechanism feels haphazard and floaty, but as you gain a softer touch it starts to feel natural. The defensive controls include some "auto-homing" buttons where you or a teammate will automatically pursue the ball carrier as long as the button is held down. To the uninitiated, it feels counter-intuitive to approach the opponent without touching any directional control, but it’s a practical aid for effective tackling.
However, we haven’t even delved into the more advanced moves, a veritable galaxy of specialized kicks and feints which are triggered by taps, timing-based holds, and even double and triple taps of certain buttons. All face buttons and triggers are used, the right analog stick is employed, and unfortunately several things have been mapped to the problematic black button.
"...repeated play is rewarded with advanced mastery..."
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Having to hold down the black button while pressing something else makes for some frustrating fumbling around with the controller in the heat of battle, and this is an obvious example of where the Dual Shock’s layout is sorely missed. The sheer amount of moves to keep track of can be paralyzing at first; as you approach the opponent’s goal you might start wondering to yourself if that crossing move you wanted to do was supposed to be three taps of B or two, and by then it might be too late if the defense has already caught up to you. It takes some serious practice to get the move set down, but those that take the time to learn them will have an arsenal of moves to throw at the opposition; repeated play is rewarded with advanced mastery.
There is a great deal of control afforded off the field as well. Every strategy concerning your team and its players can be tweaked in detail. Where your players will position themselves on offense and defense, what the focus of your attack will be, and other things such as your team’s emphasis on things like counter-attacks can all be fine-tuned from the strategy screen. Even after you have a plan in place, it would all be wasted if your computer teammates weren’t up to the task, and their AI in the game is commendable. Your teammates are usually where you expect them to be, whether helping out as wingmen on the attack or coming back to help on defense. The bottom line is that if something goes wrong, it’s often your fault and not the computer’s mistake.
As far as the one-player difficulty is concerned, soccer newbies will most likely struggle at first with generating offense on the default and lower difficulty setting, while the lowest setting is too easy with the computer committing obvious mistakes. There are no difficulty sliders for any finer-grain adjustment of different categories of play as in other modern sports games, and perhaps that’s a feature Konami could add for the next installment. For advanced players, the computer puts up a decent fight at the higher settings, and those pining for more of a struggle can unlock a bonus highest difficulty mode.
For those seeking the additional challenge of trying their hand at franchise building, the Master League mode adds an enjoyable layer of talent evaluation and player development to the games. Starting out with a team of average to below-average players, the objective is to shape them into a profitable winning team suitable for promotion to the higher leagues. Do badly and your team might get relegated or go bankrupt. Your players will gain experience after every game which adds to their ability ratings, but their skills can also deteriorate from age or lackluster play. The players’ emotional levels even figure into their performance and occasionally you will have to take measures to motivate them. As your team acquires more money, you can negotiate trades with other teams, hire new players, or even borrow players on a short-term loan. There is a wealth of data to pore over after every match, including pass-by-pass summaries of your scoring attempts and analysis of how your opponent was able to score on you. It’s a lot of fun to play coach with this data in hand, adjusting your play to what works for your team and fixing what doesn’t. There’s a huge amount of replay value in this mode, and in some respects it almost feels like a soccer RPG.
Anyone new to soccer or the Winning Eleven series should certainly check out the Tutorial mode right off the bat. This excellent feature interactively explains all the rules of soccer and does a good job of
"The detailed controls tutorial is especially appreciated, given the amount there is to learn..."
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hand-holding even total soccer neophytes through learning concepts like the offside rule. The detailed controls tutorial is especially appreciated, given the amount there is to learn in that department. There, the student can repeat the same example lessons over and over until a certain move is properly executed, which is very helpful for mastering the more tricky maneuvers.
This year also marks the first time Winning Eleven has had an online feature, at least in the US. The online Xbox Live component is rather straightforward; there’s no league interface or anything like that. The leaderboard feature doesn’t seem to work at the moment either. However, it’s easy to set up a match and the experience is lag free. It’s a good start, even if it’s a simple low-frills one.
There are a few notable problems with the game. While most other aspects of the game feel right, the frequency of fouls seems off as they occur far too often. Oddly, in turn, the number of penalty cards assigned feels too infrequent. The basic consequence of this is that a lot of hard fouls can happen with few repercussions, meaning that playing with very aggressive tackling has almost no drawbacks. Another problem is that while the commentary’s quality is solid, professional, and understated, there just isn’t enough of it. You’ll hear phrases redone over and over within your first few games, and it grates on the nerves. Also, sadly, this game is not backwards-compatible with the new Xbox 360. It’s a real shame, given that its shoulder button control setup would be much preferred.
On the other hand, the game’s overall pace on the default settings is actually pleasantly brisk. It takes less time to play a full game of WE9 than many other sports games out there, and it still results in realistic scores and stats. While a game in real life clocks in at 90 minutes or more, you can be in and out of a game of WE9 in about ten minutes.
"...you may start to feel an interesting feeling come over you - addiction..."
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This leads to positive feelings of wanting "just one more game" as compared to how other sports games’ default lengths can cause a single game to bloodlessly plod. After learning the controls, getting comfortable with them, and getting a few games under your belt, you may start to feel an interesting feeling come over you - addiction. No matter what your attitude may be to the real-life sport of soccer, you won’t be able to get around the fact that an addictive game is an addictive game.
In all, Winning Eleven 9 has a lot to offer not just to soccer fans, but to open-minded casual sports game fans as well. The game does a great job of explaining the sport and its controls, and anyone looking for a new kind of challenge will find a whole new world of competition opened up for them. Soccer fans should snap this game up to enjoy the detailed controls, Master League, and online competition, but people that haven’t given soccer games a chance recently should still try out WE9, and yes, America, this means you.
