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Winning Eleven 6 Review
Mark Simons
00/12/0000
We fully explore the latest Japanese version of this stunning soccer series FROM Konami.
Generally we do not get that excited by the yearly updating of sports games, weâve just fallen into the natural feeling that they come around and will offer a marginally better experience than last seasonâs title. World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 is one of the exceptions; in this case a simple update, refinements and adjustments are all that is needed.
Known in Europe as Pro Evolution Soccer, Winning Eleven 5 was a wonderful game that is a joy to play and so perfectly balanced that you had a hard time believing it could be any better. In fact there is always a nagging worry that perhaps some quirky twist of fate may mean that any changes to the game may be for the worse. Sure we had our own list of what we would like to see improved, but what was the likely-hood that this would happen. Such was the perfection of Pro Evolution that you didnât want the balance upset in any way. Fans of Pro Evo rest assured, the stunning football experience has, some how, been made even better to produce something that is quite beautiful.
From the off you know you are in for a treat, the introductory movie sets the tone marvellously âWe Will Rock Youâ by Queen in conjunction with a glorious montage of soccer action gets you ready and itching to kick off. Once youâve gawped at the stunning graphics Konamiâs CGI artists display in the intro you will be wanting to find out what is new. The menu screen is reassuringly familiar and the options are very similar to Pro Evolution. You have the choice of friendly matches, leagues, cups, master league and practice. Before we get into the changes to the gameplay we need to mention a few of the additions to the gameplay mode, the biggest being the practice section which has had a bit of an overhaul.
Normally the training in a sports game is not that exciting, youâd much rather be playing matches than training right? A very natural thought, however, the Winning Eleven series warrants practice so you do yourself justice on the pitch. In Pro Evo it was always worth practicing your free kicks and various other things, but there was no structure to the training, you just did what you wanted sporadically. Winning Eleven 6 has introduced a challenge mode, which is somewhat akin to the mini-games seen in Virtua Tennis, Crazy Taxi. These challenges see you take to the training ground and practice various aspects of soccer in a way that is also fun from a gameplay point of view. You practice dribbling, shooting, passing, keeping possession, tackling and other aspects of the game. The challenges are mini-games that require you to get a specific score to complete them successfully. We love this addition because it allows you to get very good at the game, Konami have implemented a training mode that really does teach you what you need to know to get better and when your skill increases so does the enjoyment you can get out of it.
For instance the free kick practice sees you trying to hit a target in the goal, the system has been refined even more and practicing these dead ball situations allows you to get to grips with the aiming and power from your shots. You can subtly adjust the after touch to result in some glorious goals, but initially you take time to find the most productive techniques to score. In the challenge mode when you score there is a replay with one of the angles being in the goal so you can see exactly where you shot goes â“ there is a pause as the ball goes over the line. Therefore you can hone your free kicks to total and utter perfection, which is far more satisfying than you could possibly expect. The rest of the challenge modes are equally well thought out with regards to improving your game, and make us feel a ridiculous love for the creators of this game.
Away from the practice field there are some slight changes to the master league with regards to signing players. We are reviewing the Japanese version of this game so we have had some slight difficulty with the text-heavy master league mode, but after a bit of being confused it became clear enough. First off there are three divisions to progress though, it takes longer to win the top prize, but this is no bad thing, as playing the game is a lot of fun. Secondly in addition to the other league there are now cup competitions that you can progress in to gain more points and win prizes. Thirdly the transfer system has been slightly adjusted to be a bit more realistic. You can loan players, sell them and it seems perform wage negotiations with players. Whilst not using money â“ you buy and sell players with points you get for goals and winning â“ this comes very close to being a player-management game especially given the tactical depths to be explored. However it doesnât feel like a management game and it isnât in all fairness, but it does seem to edge that way with regards to the searching of a new player who would fit snugly into your team so they can play how you want them to. The changes to the transfer system make Winning Eleven 6 more like Championship Manager in the sense that it eats your time in the most addictive and dangerous way.
The changes to the practice and master league modes would mean nothing if the gameplay had suffered, but no all of the changes seem to be for the best. It would take far to long to note everything that has changed, and no doubt there is still a lot more to explore, but we will explore some of the changes and try to convey exactly how good this game now is. Initially things look very similar to Pro Evolution there is no great leap in graphical detail, perhaps the textures are a little cleaner, but nothing great. When things get moving you can instantly tell that the gameplay has been worked on, polished so that it is now just unbelievably good. Animation is the main thing that has been improved, more of it and a higher quality. The speed of the game has been ramped up a little bit, but the technique used to animate has been refined so that transition between movements looks amazingly realistic. Small little flicks, movements and deft touches are all over the place and you can play some beautiful football.
Recently we have seen the latest Fifa and International Super Star Soccer games and have been comparing and contrasting them, and whilst Fifa has a lot of impressive animation it is too easy to do fancy ball skills. This results in a game that looks good but just doesnât play like football, what is the best thing, the absolute genius about Winning Eleven 6 that makes it so compelling and just utterly addictive is that the games do feel like football matches. The animation of the players always seems right for the situation and you feel totally in control. Importance is placed not only on your skill on the ball, but also off it, you can now move and jostle for position, drawing defenders and spinning off them resulting in devastating runs. It all looks beautiful, especially with the new replay angles, when you score there are two replays from different angles which are far better than the ones in Pro Evo â“ this is just one of the little things we wanted improved and from upon high our little wishes have been granted.
Some other new additions are the numbers over the playerâs heads turning yellow when they get booked, the centre of the power gauge is marked allowing you to judge shots better, defenders try and grab the shirts of attackers if theyâre getting away from them. The goalkeepers are animated much better than before and have a huge range of dives that look spectacular and a whole lot more realistic. There are more stadiums, the crowd chanting takes into account home and away teams, even whether it is a derby match. Now to the un-initiated these changes may seem very small, and indeed, most of them are, but they are small changes that make the overall package better, and push it towards total perfection. As a videogame Winning Eleven 6 is close to perfection the controls are so well implemented and allow you to do exactly what you want so well that a two player game between skilled players becomes just like a top level football clash. The practice mode is now a stunning example of how to train you at a game and the master league mode is bigger, better and even more compelling but the most impressive thing is just how good it is to play this game.
