Title: Winning Eleven 9

Date: 06.10.2006

Genre: Sports

Platform: PlayStation 2

Developer: Konami

Publisher: Konami

And that's enough reason for anyone to buy the game. Since I've been playing video games there's been a standard that says EA is the king of sports gaming, period. And believe me, I was a staunch believer in that... until I played FIFA. Being a lover of sports games, I wanted something that would be a true soccer experience. With the rave reviews I'd heard about Winning Eleven 9, I thought I'd give it a try, and I'm very glad I did.

Gameplay

As always, the most important thing for me when writing a review is gameplay. This is also the primary reason that I wanted to get this game as opposed to a FIFA game. The realism is incredible. First and foremost, you can lose the ball dribbling, as opposed to FIFA where the ball is practically glued to the players’ feet. In addition, stealing the ball is far more difficult better simulating real life soccer. In attempting to score a goal, there must be coordination along with patience, just like real soccer. There are times during the course of the game where you must decide whether to settle the ball when receiving it, or whether to move it up field quickly with a dash dribble. When crossing, you have to decide where to cross it and who to cross it to, but there's no guarantee that person will get the ball, unlike... well you know what game it's not like by now.

Features

There are more features in this game than you can shake a stick at. Now, being an American I'm not all that familiar with the players in Europe or all of the teams, but even I can see that with the incredible amount of teams put into this game that the developers went through every little minute detail to make this game as enjoyable as it can be. There are several different modes in the game. The first is just a single match where, you guessed it, you pick two teams and you go right to the pitch. The second mode is league play in which you choose a team, the length of the season, difficulty, and all of the other options that you want and start your season. Then there's Master League which is the career mode if you will. There's a multitude of options in this mode, not the least of which is being able to create your team's uniforms, their flag, and their logo. You manage the team throughout every season, play the matches of course, and ultimately decide the fate of the players and your organization. Finally, there's the training mode which simply allows you to play a training match that doesn't count for anything but pure enjoyment.

Graphics

The graphics in the game are solid, but nothing special. They're not bad by any stretch of the imagination, and there's absolutely nothing at all wrong with the frame rate. Overall, the graphics are very solid, but where the game really shines is in gameplay which is why the graphics, though very solid, aren't really that important.

Sound

Very solid sounds. The sounds and the graphics both do a lot to reinforce the gameplay aspect of the game and complement it very well and add to the overall quality of the game.

Replay Value

If you're asking why I put this here it's for a very good reason. You see, a certain soccer game (which I've already stated I can't stand) had no replay value whatsoever, because as soon as you picked it up, you put it back down screaming. This, on the other hand, is what a true soccer sim should be, having you craving for more as soon as you finish a match.

Overall

A wonderful experience that shouldn't be missed by any soccer fan. The folks at Konami have done a wonderful job at proving that though EA can make football and baseball games extremely well, they may as well pack up the FIFA franchise and throw it in the closet.

Game Score

9.0

Reviewed By: Contributed