World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International - Review
Added March 7th, 2005 by Dakota Grabowski
Introduction:
Konami finally has brought their high profile soccer franchise to the Xbox in Winning Eleven 8. Over in Europe is referred as Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and they are just raving about it. Does Winning Eleven 8 match up to the FIFA series from EA? Will Americans go out and pick this up over FIFA? To answer both of those questions with four simple words, this game is great.
Shingo Takatsuka is still the brainchild behind this project and continues to provide the best soccer games on any console. With being a legendary football (soccer in America) expert, he brings new innovation to the soccer genre and makes it all around entertaining. Konami TYO is of course on board developing the game and has done an excellent job with the eighth edition of the series. I am impressed that this is such a well polished game and it continues to keep my attention attached to the game. Read on for my full impressions.
Gameplay:
This is the first time the Winning Eleven series has showed up on the Xbox so just having Konami finally bring it to the Xbox is surely a pleasure. For those who haven’t played any games in the series, Winning Eleven has never supported authentic names of the players or teams but this year there is quite bit of real players being represented in WE8. For those curious, David Beckham is available on his actual club (Real Madrid) so I am glad to say that WE8 does have some licenses even though EA does own most of them. Right off the bat with the inclusion of real players, WE8 is off to a great debut on the Xbox.
Five playable modes are available on the Xbox; Match Mode, League Mode, Master League Mode, Training Mode and Cup Mode. Training Mode should be your first stop to learn the basics on how to play WE8 as the game is hard to pick up and play if you aren’t a soccer freak. Match Mode is the usual exhibition mode that allows you to play pick up games and even practice up on your penalty kicking. In Cup Mode, you can play in any of the world’s cup tournaments and participate to win that major cup. Within League Mode, you can control various leagues with up to 18-20 people depending on International or National leagues. The Master League Mode is the heart and soul of the game. Being able to create your own team with the option to pick their uniforms, designing a flag, their emblem and picking up players, the features are almost endless for the Master League Mode.
The team selection is incredible even though some licenses weren’t attainable. 57 National Teams and 80 European Teams are available for selection. The vast amount of teams may seem overwhelming but it’s nice to have a wide range of selection to choose from with not many licenses supported in WE8. I am hoping next time around there will be more licenses attained to continue the authenticity of Winning Eleven 8. You can always change the names of the players and teams if you want this to be the closest to the real thing.
Graphics:
Sport games and racing games usually show off a lot of the consoles power with graphics. Winning Eleven 8 doesn’t disappoint as player models are detailed and easily recognized (that’s if you know your soccer players well enough). Stadiums seemed to be focused on enough that they are amazing themselves. Each game opens up with some cut scenes with players walking out, taking pictures and shaking hands. The cut scenes (opening intro too) all look beautiful. Only thing that seemed to be below top notch was their crowds. The crowds could be touched up to liven them up to compare to how great they actually sound. WE8 only has a few drawbacks with their crowds and not too many shadows but that is easily overlooked with visual treats such as their player models.
Audio:
The stadiums in Winning Eleven 8 would be the biggest plus within the audio division. They are lively and chants can be heard from the usually wild crowds that are found in soccer stadiums. Commentary is present as Peter Brackley and Trevor Brooking provide play by play commentary. Their commentary is on the light side and sometimes hard to hear so their presence isn’t one that sparks you to play more. They sometimes are too repetitive and their lines don’t seem to fit in certain scenarios. Coaches can be heard from their benches screaming out commands to their players may it be foreign or not. Refs and players though are barely heard but maybe that’s a good thing with a lot of foreign languages being spoken? The last thing I’d like to mention is you can turn on an option to hear all the dialogue spoken in the game in Spanish rather than English. So yeah this is the first time I have heard of a game supporting spoken Spanish dialogue.
Controls:
Winning Eleven is similar to more of a simulation of soccer than arcade. Calls will be made if you trip and commit infractions. Refs are on the field and are visible. Sometimes they may even get in the way so watch out for them for sure. You have the use of a speed burst if you want to make a run towards the goal to make a pressure kick. Bicycle and corner kicks are found within the game. I found that WE8 switches your players on the run so that often causes problems when you want to continue with one player and they automatically change you to another character. The problem is that you still think you are using the other character and are still running left when actually you are controlling a new defender and are running right. This can break your whole formation and what set was called to stop the opposition from scoring. The computer A.I. isn’t a joke either so the whole changing of character on the spur of the moment is somewhat of a deadly shot in the arm if you don’t pay attention to which player you are in control of.
Replay:
Xbox Live is missing but that doesn’t limit the replay value of WE8. You can continuously play the Master League Mode and still have a natural want to pick it up and play again. WE8 is a great way to pass time with a friend as exhibition matches are interesting and never that dull to bore a new player. The penalty kick mode is certainly entertaining but you may find it to be boring after 4-5 matches in a row. I am sure Xbox Live would have been loved with the possibilities of Download Content, 4 player matches, and online leagues. With this being the first version for the Xbox, it wasn’t necessarily needed as I am sure soccer fans are just happy to see it on the Xbox. Next time around I am sure they will look into the Xbox Live Factor but this time around, the gameplay is addicting and draws you into endless hours of fun.
Summary:
The total package of Winning Eleven 8 won’t let down soccer fans. While FIFA may have the licenses, Winning Eleven 8 is on top of the soccer game world in every other area that matters. Gameplay is superb, the graphics are impressive, the top players are included and it’s thoroughly enjoyable. You must try this one out even if you don’t like soccer. You’ll be thrilled to have played this title and want your friends to pick up a controller to challenge you.
