Product description
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Winning Eleven 8 once again raises the bar with in-depth
gameplay, improved realism and increased control. The game now
features all the teams from the Italian, Spanish and Dutch
leagues under the official license. Featuring 136 club teams and
57 national teams, Winning Eleven 8 offers gamers control of up
to 4,500 of the world's greatest soccer players. The game
introduces a wealth of new moves and tricks including new free
kick and penalty kick techniques, an innovative indirect free
kick move and a new dribbling system that offers more control as
gamers go one-on-one and try to pass sing players. Also
featured is the first-ever on-screen referee in the history of
the series. Boasting an enhanced ref AI, the referee will run up
and down the field reacting realistically and instinctively to
fouls, giving advantage for minor infringements and even stepping
in to calm things down when the action gets heated. Winning
Eleven 8 also features improvements to the popular Master League,
which now has more strategy through player development and
injury, and a new 'My Best Eleven' option so fans can save their
greatest teams.
Review
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This series has collected accolades as the best soccer game out
there, and I don't dispute that. As an almost haughty
acknowledgement of the near-perfect action on the field, there
isn't much that's different for this year's installment. Instead,
Konami has turned its attention to solidifying some of the sim
aspects of its franchise. It's not a quantum leap, but it's the
kind of adjustments that will only endear the faithful to this
already beloved series even more.
Gameplay wise, it's very hard to see much that's different from
last year. That sounds like laziness on Konami's part, but it
already runs as smooth as the bald head of "Kojak" Collina.
Positioning is very important in this iteration, as players
jostle and interact better when it comes to dribbling and steals.
I also like how teams play with different strategies, making you
adjust your offense and defense accordingly.
Although Winning Eleven's coup of getting to feature the Italian,
Spanish, and Dutch leagues is cool in the face of EA's ownership
of the FIFA license, the real allure of this new game is the
revamping done to the Master League. Players will now age and
retire. Their myriad attribute stats will decline as they get
older. Moreover, everyone's skills will fluctuate from match to
match, and each player is built based upon one of three attribute
curves. Some will find their talents blossom early, while others
might be able to be at their peak for most of their career. This
close attention paid to the players means you have to be more
aware of substitutions, spreading the ball around so everyone
gets a touch (thereby keeping their skills up), and taking care
of transfers and the Negotiations phase of the Master League.
There is also a mid-week training option. However it's pretty
boring, though I'd enjoy it if it were more like Madden's
training camp.
I doubt that the new additions to this Winning Eleven are going
to convince anyone who hasn't already taken the plunge to buy
this game (nor is the conspicuous lack of online), but its small
steps forward are more than baby steps to the many fans it has
around the world.
Concept:
The franchise bolsters itself behind the scenes to its continued
betterment
Graphics:
It looks crisp as always, and all your favorite players are
recognizable
Sound:
: If the commentary has changed any, I certainly haven't noticed
Playability:
As always, the franchise gives you the freedom to attack the goal
in many ways
Entertainment:
Master League improvements make the game stronger, but on the
field it's basically the same
Replay:
Moderately High
Rated: 8.75 out of 10
Editor: Matthew Kato
Issue: March 2005
2nd Opinion:
One word comes to mind with the new Winning Eleven – definitive.
This is the quintessential adaptation of the world's biggest
game. Boasting an exhaustive set of controls that gives you
unprecedented control over the actions of your players, it's hard
to fault anything but the learning curve in the gameplay
department. There could still be a few improvements in the
graphics, selection of announcer sound bites, and variety of
music, even if those elements on the whole are quite excellent.
If you like to watch soccer, by all means go play the gorgeous
fields of FIFA's popular franchise. But to play a real game of
football, the better choice by far is Winning Eleven.
Rated: 8.75 out of 10
Editor: Matt Miller
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