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Konami's Winning Eleven series has built a sterling reputation among soccer fans worldwide. Now, finally, North American players can play the game as it finally arrives on this side of the pond under the name World Soccer Winning Eleven 6. With excellent graphics, intuitive play mechanics and controls, the game is easy to learn, and fun to play. Adding to the depth, a brilliant team-management system makes WE 6 one of the most comprehensive and addictive console soccer titles to date. Is it good enough to dethrone FIFA? The Laser hits the pitch and finds out.
WE6's extensive training mode is one of the best we've played to date and allows you to improve your skills through tutorials, interactive matches and even challenges. In this mode, you can play interactive tutorials that give you proficiency in basic skills from dribbling and shooting to more advanced techniques such as tackling and shooting. WE6's comprehensive training mode doesn't end there because there is a unique training system that takes you to the Umbro Pro Training Center. Here, you train to complete a series of challenges that improve your team's skills at the various techniques of soccer. You can make each player on the team perform these challenges, and each will have increased skills when you're finished. Challenges have a strict set of rules, such as not allowing the ball to go outside the line, or passing without letting the opponents pass the ball. Doing this successfully increases your skills, though the later challenges become much harder. Playing through this mode serves two purposes: to build up your skills while introducing you to the game's intuitive control interface. WE6's training mode is excellent and
definitely makes it more accessible, even to those gamers who are unfamiliar
with the rules and techniques of soccer. During training matches, you can adjust
the options to turn fouls, off sides and can select which team will control the
ball after a restart. Finally, players can create or edit players in the
extensive editing mode. This is surprisingly robust and allows you to change
their physical appearance, abilities, commentary name and position. After a
player is created, you register them and can then train them in the normal
manner. After doing this, you can save the registered player and trade or sell
them to other teams. Additional editing options allow you to change the team
name, colors, uniforms and attack strategies. These options can then be saved to
the memory card, which allows you to download the customized players to a
friends' machine. WE6's most interesting mode of play is the Master League where
you can manage a real life team. As the manager, you can set up the team's
schedule, negotiate with This title excels in its feel and
intuitiveness, WE6's control interface is as good as any soccer game on the
market. Its the small, yet important details that really makes WE6 shine. For
example, instead of messing around with the face buttons constantly, the system
here uses both analog sticks. The left stick moves the players downfield, while
the right can be used to pass in any direction. This makes a huge difference in
the performance and makes simple passing much easier and more intuitive than in
other games. Shooting the ball is accomplished with an elegant system where the
shot strength is determined by how long you hold down the square button. A
power-meter appears on the bottom of the screen, and you can choose the
direction you shoot using the digital pad. Tackling is likewise easy to
accomplish with players only having to press down on the square button. More
advanced moves allow you to fake out a goalie by shooting a false shot then
suddenly trapping the ball and moving in another direction. Players can also
perform special moves such as headers, sliding tackles and more. During each
match, you can also adjust your team's attack and defense levels by pressing on
the L1 key, which is quite intuitive by itself. Overall, Winning Eleven 6's
controls are excellent and intuitive, allowing plenty of flexibility without
losing sight of the game itself. The pace and feel of WE6 is outstanding and
accurately mimics real-life soccer. Ball physics are quite impressive with
realistic spin and direction that makes successful goals almost as rare as in
real soccer. The
game's AI ranges from easy to incredibly difficult at the harder levels. The
rival teams can be quite aggressive and charge the net multiple teams, keeping
the pressure on you until your goalie breaks. Soccer is a game of momentum, so
it's important not to let the opponents control the ball for too long. Since
your players wear out after an extended time on the pitch, it makes sense to
change them when they become exhausted. You can tell this is happening when the
player bends over and heaves after a heavy play. WE6's difficulty ranges from
easy when playing matches in the lower-rungs to intensely competitive
championship rounds at the top levels. For soccer purists, this depth is welcome
and the game is never as simple as in many of the arcade-style soccer games on
the market. You have a lot of strategy in the formations, attack/defensive
posture, and player positioning to keep track of in real-time. Don't be mistaken
because the team's strategy definitely plays a huge role in the outcome of each
match, so you'll need to be aware of this throughout. While the play is
exceptionally deep, Winning Eleven's graphics are also exemplary The player
models look almost lifelike, especially from a slight distance with dozens of
animations included for each move. This gives the game a great deal more visual
variety than most other sports titles on the market and makes WE6 a cut above
the pack. Despite all of these excellent points, Winning Eleven 6 does have a few drawbacks that we need to mention. Unfortunately, lacks the MLS, English and European licenses, which should hurt it's appeal amongst die-hard fans. However, the Japanese league officially licenses it. In addition, it lacks real players and team colors as well, which is disappointing to purists. Instead, players get generic teams in the same general cities. While it would have been a nice addition to the logos and players, the good points in WE6 outweigh this omission substantially. The extensive training and challenge modes, pitch-perfect controls, intuitive play system, and outstanding depth make it the first true challenger to FIFA in some time. Winning Eleven 6 may be new to most gamers over here, but the high-polish evident in the graphics and presentation show this to be a transplanted veteran, not a rookie. Overall, Winning Eleven 6 is a great alternative to FIFA and it's different approach actually exceeds the quality of it's rival in many areas, especially in terms of controls and game flow, which are outstanding. Fans of video soccer have probably already gone out and bought Winning Eleven 6, and even casual gamers should thank Konami for finally brining this excellent game stateside. - M. Palisano
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Konami has responded to the cries of American
soccer fans and relented by finally releasing their much-praised title Winning
Eleven here in the states. While the market is currently dominated by EA's FIFA
franchise, this solid title has a good chance of stealing some of the loyalties
of gamers out there. WE6 doesn't have the official licenses that that other game
does, but it compensates with the an extensive list of impressive features. To
begin, it features more than 100 club and national teams with thousands of
players, which gives it quite a comprehensive roster. WE6 allows you to go
through five distinct modes of play. These include exhibition, league, cup,
practice and Master League Modes. The exhibition games are single mat
Even
though team management modes have been implemented in many
other sports titles, the difference here is that you can actively build up your
team skills by playing in the training mode, which is quite interesting. In this
mode, players take their team from the bottom rankings of Division III to the
top of Division I play and the championship round. You begin with a minor team
and as you play more matches your team becomes more cohesive. This increases the
Team Chemistry rating. This is really deep and challenging, requiring not only
skill but persistence. This is because the length of the extended season comes
into play in a big way because players can become fatigued, which means you'll
need to perform squad rotation to make sure that your team on the field is
fresh. Before each match, players can set the team's formation and attack plans
to either a defensive or an aggressive posture. Substitutions and switches can
also be made during the match and you can change strategies if the one you're
using isn't working. You can also set other aspects of gameplay including
match-length, penalties, offsides and referee strictness. Once your through
setting your team's formations and options, it's time to hit the field and get
playing. Here you'll find that WE6's gameplay is fast and challenging, yet the
same depth and attention to detail that have gone into the options is evident on
the field as well. The biggest change of pace from the norm lies in WE6's
intelligently designed, intuitive controls which are simple to learn and easy to
use in practice.