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Winning Eleven 8: Import Playtest
Nuance and subtlety once again make the world's best soccer game even better.

August 10, 2004 - While on the surface it seems that little has changed since Winning Eleven 7, there is little doubt that Winning Eleven 8 is by far the unquestionably best game in the series on PlayStation 2. This is mainly due to the well struck balance in gameplay rather than the addition of new teams, statistics, better hair and the like (of course these things also do their bit to round up the package). For the first time no one part of the game mechanic is weaker than the other. Winning Eleven 7 had problems with its ball control and long passing, but these have been fixed with a host of small additions which help to improve the gameplay to no end.

For instance, Konami has finally upped the ante when it comes to team selection. Winning Eleven 8 features 138 club teams that include the full team selection of season 2003-2004 for German, English, Dutch, Spanish and Italian leagues. The last three are fully licensed so jerseys have the correct logos, colors, and more. A large part of the national team squads feature accurate rosters with the correct names for each player but not proper jerseys. While this doesn't affect the gameplay, it's become a tad more annoying since some of the club teams now feature such accurate kits. Even if the jerseys are from last season.

The front end has changed. Thankfully the interface has become easier to use. Several of the editing tools, such as the player editing tool, are more powerful. Create-A-Player is very deep. It's also possible to create your own logos which can be applied to shirts. This way it's possible to create quite accurate jerseys for the teams that don't sport licensed gear.

Will you bother? And should you? These are, of course, valid questions. While messing about with the jerseys and player names is part of the Winning Eleven experience, it's really something we shouldn't be doing. With WE8 poised to sell 1.5 million units in Japan alone it's more and more difficult to think that Konami cannot afford to get all the required licenses.

Visually Speaking
WE8 retains an arcade-like yet realistic visual edge to the in-game graphics. The stadiums are magnificently modeled and the player models have been beefed up. There's more variety in player body types and the players' faces are far more detailed than before. This is noticeable especially if you go back and look at the player models of Winning Eleven 7, which is are a tad blocky and angular in comparison. The new player models are more organic and realistic-looking.


 
There are many small visual details that we covered in our exclusive preview. Some players have necklaces and the most recognized players such as Beckham, Raul, Rooney and Owen look exactly like they do in real-life right down to freckles. There are almost 40 different goal celebration animations as well and you can actually customize each player's celebration.

The crisp visual look is great, but underneath the initial gaze, it's the incredibly life-like character animations that impress the most. There are a staggering amount of different animations. There are more animations for tackling, dribbling and heading than ever before. All of these look very realistic and the animation blending is second to none. The moves flow naturally from one to another and it seems there are a massive variety of moves for every imaginable situation.


It gets deeper. There are more player-specific moves than before. Famous players sport specific animations not just during set-pieces but during in-game. There aren't that many of them, but the ones in place do help to create more personality for the players. Ronaldo's stocky movement and Ryan Giggs' explosive pace have been well captured.

Gameplay
Perhaps the most important change to the gameplay is that the pace is far slower. It is this change that facilitates improved and more varied gameplay. The slower pace combined with improved ball handling are what make playing the game more fun and rewarding. You can hold onto the ball easier than before which makes taking on players more fun. The ball physics are incredible. And thankfully the ball feels less floaty than in WE7I and it doesn't make weird bounces either.

Easier dribbling doesn't mean the defense AI is weak or that when playing defense you don't have the means to prevent attacking players from doing their thing: the AI's improved, especially the central defenders and defending does take skill. Scoring against the CPU isn't easy but it doesn't cheat either. Carving up openings and coming up with a set of passes and movement that result in a goal are supremely satisfactory.

Konami's been able to create some very convincing physics that result in some great on-pitch action. Players jostle for the ball in a very realistic and cool-looking way. When you manage to dribble past a few players and gain enough momentum to shrug off a defender running alongside you, it feels and looks great.

The same applies to defending. You can play defense aggressively and just tackle, but you can actually try and succeed in playing like an elegant, skilled defender such as Alessandro Nesta. Learning the timing to cutting of passes and how to mark players out of the game are very satisfying elements.


 
It's now easier to foul players by just running into them with enough momentum that might result in a foul. Before you could only foul using the tackle or charge buttons; but now bodychecking players by standing in front of their running path has realistic consequences. You can send players flying -- but you can be sure the ref will take notice. While you can turn injuries off, if you keep the option on, too many serious injuries will occur from harmless looking bodychecks.

There's more pronounced differences in the behavior of players in various positions. Wingers tend to actually play like they do in real-life and forwards seek openings much more effectively than before. Remember how you wished your attacking-side midfield players would do that in WE7? Here they do it realistically and with conviction.

The slower pace also has made it more fun to take your time with your midfield players. Now you have time to search for open players or to create open spaces with dribbles and then look for the pass. Not that there's too much time to mess about with the opposition breathing down on your neck, but the midfield is the heart of a soccer team and the developers have managed to capture real midfield play better than ever before.


The speed balance between the players is good too. If you are caught standing still while say, Roberto Carlos is coming your way, you'll have a very tough time catching up to him. This means that you have to be careful about not playing yourself out of position by too much aggressive defending.

The CPU's way of playing is more varied than before. While the AI is awesome, WE8 is easier than previous games. It's possible to unlock a six-star difficulty level (five being the default maximum setting), but on that level the CPU tends to cheat, which results in the ball sticking to its players in a supernatural way.

The passing system has been over-hauled to give more control and accuracy. It works the same way as before but there's more finesse and nuance. Sending through balls to players is more realistic as before since the passes tend to travel where you want them to instead of falling way short. Long passes have been improved too and you have greater control over them. It's now possible to place your crosses better even when running. Long passes and changing sides with quick passes were problematic before but the execution in WE8 is faultless. The ball travels much faster and the players can chest the ball down while running instead of having to stop to chest it. Again, there's the option to use the right analogue stick for passing which theoretically gives you maximum accuracy and control, but it's very difficult to get to grips with.

 
 
You still don't get any kind of arrows or markers to help you with throw-ins, free kicks or corners. Instead the controls are so accurate, so full of depth and nuance that with practice you can learn to become a master at free-kicks. You don't need no stinkin' arrows when you know the control system inside out. It's a far better option than FIFA's corner-kicks which have become on-rail minigames. The again, for newbies the free-kicks in WE8 will be pretty difficult at first.

The Master League (ML), which is aimed for single-player gaming, is once again a mixed bag. Some of the design decisions are downright strange: Players age, then they retire, only to come back as younger versions of themselves. While the ML has improved in some ways it still falls short. Then again Winning Eleven's designed for the Japanese market and that explains some of decisions that have been made in the Master league. The ML feels more like a videogame rather than a real management simulation, if that makes sense.


There are some good improvements. For instance, there is the ability to analyze opposing teams and to train young prospects into future stars. That's definitely fun. But why do you have the option of editing the league tables to your liking? The teams are set up in divisions instead of offering the players the option of playing in an all-Spanish league. The separate League game mode does offer this option and you can continue up to 30 seasons, but there are no player trading or additional cups to spice things up. Still, any changes you make to the team rosters in the new, easy-to-use player transfer tool, will update the rosters even with the season underway.

If there's one area of the game that Konami could really improve in, it's by changing the Master League into something that's easier to get in and out of, a franchise that's organized and presented with the gamer in mind. By looking at what Visual Concepts and EA Sports do in their sports franchises, The Master League could be really great. There are all sorts of areas to improve. Something like a proper Franchise or Owners mode would be very welcome.

Overall
The beauty of the game lies in how natural it feels. The gameplay feels and flows very organically. Yes, you have buttons for dribbles but for the most part the fancier footwork and impressive moves happen naturally when you expect them to. The players do small feints and tricks depending more on the timing of your moves instead of being activated with a button press. This helps to make the gameplay flow better. While it might not sound like it, you are in full control and pretty much every button and both analogue sticks are stacked with various moves. But most of the cool moves and fancy animation depend more on the situation and timing than anything. So things such as nutmegs and body feints happen naturally as you dribble instead of you having to use the nutmeg or flip-flap button to achieve them.


 
The beauty of Winning Eleven's game mechanics is that they are incredibly deep, yet the game is very easy to get to grips with. Over time you become more and more comfortable with the controls and the moves only to realize there's a whole different set of move complex moves and tactics to use. This is how good game mechanics should work. They're easy and fun from the start. They lure you in. Then they become addictive. Simple stuff, yet so many developers get it wrong.

So Winning Eleven 8 is the best game in the series and the best soccer game produced so far. Still, and it's strange to say this, Winning Eleven would benefit from becoming a bit more mainstream in its presentation. That's pretty much the only improvement that would help compliment the experience. When it comes to gameplay, no other soccer game comes close.

The developers have again managed to capture the essence of soccer, what makes it entertaining, thrilling and what makes it the world's most popular sport. While some might complain about the licenses, the lack of all the proper licenses certainly does not lessen the quality of the overall gameplay experience. The lack of online play is pretty criminal though, but that issue is more down Japan's lack of interest than anything else.

-- Thomas Riot Puha