Now wait a second, what’s this? A second J-League game based on the Winning Eleven 10 engine? On the surface it would seem that KCET are taking the milking of each iteration of their game to new levels with J-League Winning Eleven 2007 Club Championship (or ‘Club Championship’ as it’ll be referred to from here on in). However, while J-League Winning Eleven 10 was basically a slower version of WE10 with J-League teams, Club Championship features new animations, tweaked gameplay, and a fantastic new game mode that represents a solid step forward for the series.

Graphics 75/100

On the surface, Club Championship looks more or less identical to J-League Winning Eleven 10. Sure, there are new menus and a new intro-sequence, but everything else looks the same – except, that is, until you see the game in motion. While the animations still aren’t as fluid as those in FIFA 07/Champions League 06/07 for the Xbox 360, there are subtle new animations that help to make the players move more life-like.

One of my favourite new subtle touches is the way that players now seem to swing their arms more to maintain balance. This is probably seen best when you make tight turns and players will seem to shift their weight more realistically than before. Player interactions are also improved, though the shirt-pulling mechanic that’s been promised for Winning Eleven 11/PES 2008 isn’t present here. A few new slide tackling and dribbling animations round out the package nicely.

Player likenesses and builds are the same as before (very good) and the massive 60+ stadiums present in J-League Winning Eleven 10 are all present here and captured nicely (albeit still with shitty 2D fans).

Unfortunately, there still isn’t 480p support and no option for widescreen. The graphics are already grainy enough compared to the next-gen consoles so the lack of an option to use 480p (like other PS2 titles such as Resident Evil 4 and God of War 2 use) is a pain. There is also some slowdown in the 3rd Person/Player Cam view, particularly during night matches which can slow to a crawl in a crowded penalty box.

Audio 75/100

Different menu music (not licensed, obviously) and lots of team-specific crowd chants for the J-League teams are the main changes. Kabira-san is ever present and fantastic as usual.

[Yes, I cut and pasted that from the J-League Winning Eleven 10 review]

Options 85/100

With respect to gameplay modes, the usual suspects are present; Exhibition Match, Selection Match (using various All-Star teams), Master League, Cup, League, Community (like the FIFA Lounge), Edit, and Training. There are two brand-new game modes that I’ll discuss in a moment.

Club Championship features the following domestic leagues;

All are licensed, except for the EPL which now has no licenses whatsoever (in the last game Man U were licensed). As you can see there’s STILL no Bundesliga, no K-League, and only a few random teams from other nations (e.g. Boca, River, Bayern Munich, the Old Firm, and so on). There are also NO international teams. Further rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that rosters and teams are only up to date till the end of the 06/07 season. Therefore, Henry is still at Arsenal, Ribery at Marseille and Watford are still included in the EPL. I cannot speak on the accuracy of the J-League rosters.

The ever-present Master League makes a return with the only change being the ability to play in a full domestic division from the get-go. So, for example, if you pick West Ham you can play in a full 20 team EPL from the outset, instead of playing in a haphazard ‘Division 2’ and a 16 team EPL. While this is nice, it’s about 10 years too late and compared to the Manager Mode in FIFA 07 (Xbox & PS2) the Master League is a joke.

However, as I mentioned before, there are two new game modes; World Tour and Fantasista. The World Tour mode involves you picking a team and then taking them around the world playing different opposition. What makes this mode special is that each match requires you to complete a different ‘challenge’ (or scenario) in order to proceed. For example, the very first match you play is against J-2 side Cerezo Osaka and you have to win by 2 goals to nil (or better). The second match has you playing Avispa Fukuoka at the start of the second half with the score tied 0-0 and you have to win. The challenges get progressively more difficult as does the opposition (you initially start playing teams from Japan but then move to other countries).

While I still prefer the historical scenarios present in the Challenge Mode in EA Sports’ UEFA Champions League 06/07 (Xbox 360), the World Tour mode in Club Championship is a nice diversion and it’s good to see Konami learning from their rivals.

And by learning, I mean stealing.

But forget the World Tour mode, forget the cups and leagues, forget the Master League (it’s stale carcass is attracting flies anyway) – the real star of this game, and a breath of fresh air for this franchise is the awesome new Fantasista mode.

What the hell does ‘Fantasista’ mean? Is it the female sibling of the soft-drink Fanta? Is it a mode named after a soccer manga of the same name? Who knows? The mode entails you creating a 17 year-old soccer player and then guiding his soccer career all the way from the lowly second division of the J-League to the Champions League!

What makes the mode so neat is that throughout your career you only control one player on the field – yourself! To be fair this is not even close to being a unique idea or the first time that this has been implemented. Back as far as the 80s, Player Manager for the Atari ST had you controlling a single player and following/developing his career. Libero Grande for the Playstation had you taking command of a single player with the AI controlling your teammates. And in recent years no game has done a better job of immersing you in the career of a single player than the brilliant (and tragically under-appreciated) New Star Soccer 3.

However, what makes the Fantasista game mode so good is that it uses the best soccer game engine out right now and that makes it, on the field at least, superior to the aforementioned titles.

As mentioned before, you start out as a 17 year old player. While your nationality is fixed as Japanese you can edit your appearance any which way you desire and you also get to select your position. Unfortunately, you’re stuck being designated as a midfield (either DMF, CMF, SWB, OMF and so on) though there have been more than a few times I’ve been put on as a centre forward/striker when the team needs it. It would have been great to be able to be a goalkeeper or a defender and hopefully that’ll be present in the next iteration.

Next you play in an exhibition/scouting match after which you receive offers from teams based upon your performance and what they perceive as your potential. At this point in your career your stats are dreadfully low (think worse than a benchwarmer for the default Master League rejects) so the only offers are from second division J-League teams.

Once you’re on a squad it’s like playing on any other professional team. You’re not guaranteed a starting spot; sometimes you have to ride the pine, and sometimes you’re not even in the squad for a match-day! The better you play in a match (i.e. the higher match rating you get) the more development points you gain (to improve your attributes). If you’re not playing then you get to do training where you can gain development points across all categories or you can select to focus on a particular area of your game.

What’s particularly good about stat development in Club Championship is that it’s much slower than you’d see in other games. Across the course of my first season my attributes increased by an average of 2% each. When you start off with ratings in the high 60% to low 70% it means that it’ll be more than a few seasons before you’re even approaching a world-class player. Furthermore, since this is the Winning Eleven game engine, even when you do have great stats you’re not going to be taking on a whole team by yourself.

As you progress in your career you can receive transfer offers from other teams and of course you’re always pushing for promotion/honors with your current side. Even though you start in the J-League you can receive offers from European leagues (the EPL, Serie A, Eridivisie, La Liga and Ligue 1) and each nation features league, cup and continental play! So, for example, if you get transferred to Real Madrid you can play in La Liga, the Kings Cup and the Champions League!

I’ll discuss more of the appeal of Fantasista in the next section and why it’s more addictive than crack, however, there are still a number of shortcomings and things I’d like to see in the next version. Firstly, there’s no way to request a transfer if you’re unhappy with your current team and this can be a pain if you’re stuck on the bench of a high profile team that isn’t quick to sell. Secondly, there are no actual ‘contracts’ – you sign for a team but you have no terms of the agreement (i.e. a 5 year deal) and there is no wage involved (though teams do spend money as transfer fees). Thirdly, while it makes sense that you would gain experience/attribute/stat points from playing matches, it would be neat if training involved more mini-games like those in New Star Soccer 3.

Gameplay 90/100

In the main gameplay modes Club Championship doesn’t reinvent the wheel. One of my criticisms of this series that I voiced in my last review is that improvements in the overall game engine seem to be progressing at a crawl; little tweaks and fine tuning here and there but nothing major. The same applies with Club Championship.

As is characteristic with all J-League Winning Eleven titles, the pace of the game is slower and slightly more methodical than the non-J-League games. Personally, I prefer the slower pace of the game but your mileage may differ. With respect to the AI, opposing teams seem to have a greater tendency towards possession football and general AI positioning when defending seems better.

Ball physics are as excellent as they’ve always been and now passing seems a little quicker and more crisp than the last version. Shooting as also been given a bit of zip and using players that have high shot power ratings you can really let fly. When the ball does reach the goal I find that keepers (while still prone to the odd clanger) are better at rebound control than previous versions and (this could be my imagination) seem to display better judgment when it comes to rushing out of net to close down the angle.

Finally, while dribbling is largely the same, Konami have decided to bring back the auto-sidestep! I was one of the few fans that didn’t mind the auto-sidestep at all and though it’s returned AI defenders are much better at nicking the ball away when you do it.

All in all, Club Championship plays an excellent game of football but there probably aren’t enough changes in the gameplay engine to justify a purchase, except until you get to the Fantasista mode.

Now, as a I said before, the Fantasista concept is nothing new. Other games have had you controlling a single player, and in fact, for several years now you could control a single player in Winning Eleven games. However, now that a mode is available that actually gives you ownership over that player (so you feel a connection and a reason to play) you’ll finally be arsed to try it out for more than five minutes.

The default camera angle is the player cam which closely follows your player from behind. Unfortunately, I found that a combination of slow-down and a swinging camera made this view almost unplayable. Instead, I chose my preferred regular camera angle and had the camera follow the ball (instead of me) and followed my off-screen movement using the radar. The controls are identical to the other gameplay modes except, of course, that you can’t switch players. Furthermore, if you tap the R2 button your player will ‘call’ for a pass.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of the language barrier and poor in-game explanations, Fantasista can be quite frustrating at first. As mentioned previously, you start out as a very raw (i.e. shit) 17 year old with crappy skills on a second division team. And, like most 17 year olds you’re not going to be in the starting eleven straight away and sometimes you won’t even be on the bench! However, just like in real-life you have to use those few minutes of substitute time, or the odd start, to prove that you’re good enough to stay in the team. Your ability to stay in the team seems directly related to your rating at the end of the match (with one caveat that I’ll get to) – get a 7.0 or above and you’re likely to impress. Getting high ratings, however, doesn’t strictly mean you have to get on the score sheet with a goal or an assist (which can be hard when you start off as a crap player). Instead, just making tackles and completing lots of passes can get you a good rating.

So where does the potential frustration lie? Well, in my first season, once I got used to the controls, matches would take the following pattern; I start a match, play well (even getting Man of the Match honors occasionally) and then the next game…..I’M NOT EVEN IN THE SQUAD! This would be particularly frustrating when my team would lose the matches I wasn’t playing in (and would fall further down the table). It sometimes seemed completely random, sometimes I’d play two in a row, then I’d be out of the squad, then I’d start, but the next game on the bench!

It was all very frustrating until I realized another factor (besides your match rating) that determines your place in the team – you’re cumulative fatigue! The CPU managers are very aggressive about not including tired players. So, if you run your ass off in one match (which isn’t hard at the start of your career when your stamina is in the 60s) you’re less likely to be fit for the next match. This even applies to your AI controlled teammates and I’ve seen players who’ve scored in the previous game not even make the bench because of fatigue. A general rule of thumb is that if your stamina is under a quarter at the end of a match you probably won’t start the next one.

While this sounds slightly annoying, I like it because it encourages you to play in a realistic fashion! Your stamina only depletes greatly if you hold down the sprint button and while you do see some players running around more than others in real life, no one spends the entire match running around at full pelt like a headless chicken. This also forces you to not be a one-man show and realize that you have 10 teammates to spread the ball around in a realistic manner.

Speaking of teammates, the AI is another area that can be frustrating initially. Since you start in the J-League second division, depending upon the team you sign for, you can have some teammates that have very low Offense ratings. The first team I signed for was Mito Hollyhock and many of their players, to put it bluntly, are absolute nimrods! The ball would be out on the wing with a teammate, I’d be charging hard into the penalty area tapping R2, screaming for the ball, and the brain dead winger would be dipsy-doodling with the ball before losing it. Pretty much every match had at least one moment where I was screaming bloody murder at my idiotic teammates and I’m sure this will be a common occurrence with most players on shit teams.

However, you begin to appreciate the beauty of the AI once you move on to better sides. From Mito Hollyhock I transferred to Ventforet Kofu who had MUCH better (and smarter) players and I played on the right side of a midfield in a 4-3-3 with Sergei Rebrov (yes, that Sergei Rebrov) playing as a right winger. The two of us had a fantastic understanding, he’d move into space appropriately, and if I was making a run into space or was open for a pass I often didn’t even need to ‘call’ for it– he’d automatically pass it to me! Likewise, Ventforet’s Ken Fujita was another intelligent player who wouldn’t dally on the ball like my previous teammates.

Once you start to play the game more, you also learn that you have to take into account the technical abilities/stats of your AI teammates. For example, if Titus Bramble has the ball and you ‘call’ for a crossfield pass, he’s likely to over-hit it or play it short and give up possession. Conversely, if Deco has the ball at his feat and you hammer R2 while running down the channel he’s likely to thread a beautiful through pass to you.

When you combine the different player AI and abilities the game really shines as your teammates take on ‘personalities’ and even if you’re not familiar with the real-life equivalents of your teammates you’ll soon come to have favourite players to play along-side and you’ll tailor your play appropriately. For example, with Ventforet Kofu I knew that if Josimar was playing upfront I should play the ball more into feet because he’s not that great in the air. If Kimura was playing as a central striker I could mix it up more because he’s good at knock-downs and I knew we had a much better chance of winning when he was in the starting eleven.

Add in the fact that the game rewards realistic player movement (not sprinting all the time, not always running to the ball, but moving into space to draw defenders or create space for yourself) and you have one hell of an immersive experience. The feeling of satisfaction you get from an assist or being part of a well-worked passing move is fantastic and I haven’t had this much fun with a sports game in a long, long time.

Replay Value 90/100

It’s all about the Fantasista mode here and I haven’t been this addicted to a game (any game) in years. The sense of immersion is incredible, you not only want to further your career in-game but also win honors with your team. In my current ‘career’, I’ve left Ventforet Kofu after 3 relatively successful years (promotion and then finishing second in the first division) for Lens and am having a ton of fun in Ligue 1.

Since each match you play improves your ratings (albeit very slowly) this title has a “just one more game” feeling that’ll have you playing till the wee hours even on a week-night.

Overall 85/100

I feel like a bit of a sellout waxing lyrical about the Fantasista mode. Like I’ve said before the concept is nothing new and no game does a better job of simulating the personal drama and intricacies of a footballer’s career than New Star Soccer 3. However, it’s the Winning Eleven game engine that makes Fantasista shine as you really feel like an individual footballer on a team playing real football. I can’t remember the last time I was this addicted to a game.

The Fantasista mode has reinvigorated the series for me and provides the shot in the arm that Winning Eleven so badly needs after years of the same old game modes. It is a crushing disappointment then, that it doesn’t appear that this mode will be present in the next-gen versions of Winning Eleven 2008/PES 2008. What a bungle by KCET!

Here’s hoping that Fantasista makes an appearance on next-gen consoles soon, and that FIFA’s ‘Be A Pro’ mode comes close to the sense of on-the-pitch immersion as you find here. For me, this is a must buy and PES 2008 will have to be damn good to stop be from playing this on my PS2.

Now wait a second, what’s this? A second J-League game based on the Winning Eleven 10 engine? On the surface it would seem that KCET are taking the milking of each iteration of their game to new levels with J-League Winning Eleven 2007 Club Championship (or ‘Club Championship’ as it’ll be referred to from here on in). However, while J-League Winning Eleven 10 was basically a slower version of WE10 with J-League teams, Club Championship features new animations, tweaked gameplay, and a fantastic new game mode that represents a solid step forward for the series.

Graphics 75/100

On the surface, Club Championship looks more or less identical to J-League Winning Eleven 10. Sure, there are new menus and a new intro-sequence, but everything else looks the same – except, that is, until you see the game in motion. While the animations still aren’t as fluid as those in FIFA 07/Champions League 06/07 for the Xbox 360, there are subtle new animations that help to make the players move more life-like.

One of my favourite new subtle touches is the way that players now seem to swing their arms more to maintain balance. This is probably seen best when you make tight turns and players will seem to shift their weight more realistically than before. Player interactions are also improved, though the shirt-pulling mechanic that’s been promised for Winning Eleven 11/PES 2008 isn’t present here. A few new slide tackling and dribbling animations round out the package nicely.

Player likenesses and builds are the same as before (very good) and the massive 60+ stadiums present in J-League Winning Eleven 10 are all present here and captured nicely (albeit still with shitty 2D fans).

Unfortunately, there still isn’t 480p support and no option for widescreen. The graphics are already grainy enough compared to the next-gen consoles so the lack of an option to use 480p (like other PS2 titles such as Resident Evil 4 and God of War 2 use) is a pain. There is also some slowdown in the 3rd Person/Player Cam view, particularly during night matches which can slow to a crawl in a crowded penalty box.

Audio 75/100

Different menu music (not licensed, obviously) and lots of team-specific crowd chants for the J-League teams are the main changes. Kabira-san is ever present and fantastic as usual.

[Yes, I cut and pasted that from the J-League Winning Eleven 10 review]

Options 85/100

With respect to gameplay modes, the usual suspects are present; Exhibition Match, Selection Match (using various All-Star teams), Master League, Cup, League, Community (like the FIFA Lounge), Edit, and Training. There are two brand-new game modes that I’ll discuss in a moment.

Club Championship features the following domestic leagues;

All are licensed, except for the EPL which now has no licenses whatsoever (in the last game Man U were licensed). As you can see there’s STILL no Bundesliga, no K-League, and only a few random teams from other nations (e.g. Boca, River, Bayern Munich, the Old Firm, and so on). There are also NO international teams. Further rubbing salt in the wound is the fact that rosters and teams are only up to date till the end of the 06/07 season. Therefore, Henry is still at Arsenal, Ribery at Marseille and Watford are still included in the EPL. I cannot speak on the accuracy of the J-League rosters.

The ever-present Master League makes a return with the only change being the ability to play in a full domestic division from the get-go. So, for example, if you pick West Ham you can play in a full 20 team EPL from the outset, instead of playing in a haphazard ‘Division 2’ and a 16 team EPL. While this is nice, it’s about 10 years too late and compared to the Manager Mode in FIFA 07 (Xbox & PS2) the Master League is a joke.

However, as I mentioned before, there are two new game modes; World Tour and Fantasista. The World Tour mode involves you picking a team and then taking them around the world playing different opposition. What makes this mode special is that each match requires you to complete a different ‘challenge’ (or scenario) in order to proceed. For example, the very first match you play is against J-2 side Cerezo Osaka and you have to win by 2 goals to nil (or better). The second match has you playing Avispa Fukuoka at the start of the second half with the score tied 0-0 and you have to win. The challenges get progressively more difficult as does the opposition (you initially start playing teams from Japan but then move to other countries).

While I still prefer the historical scenarios present in the Challenge Mode in EA Sports’ UEFA Champions League 06/07 (Xbox 360), the World Tour mode in Club Championship is a nice diversion and it’s good to see Konami learning from their rivals.

And by learning, I mean stealing.

But forget the World Tour mode, forget the cups and leagues, forget the Master League (it’s stale carcass is attracting flies anyway) – the real star of this game, and a breath of fresh air for this franchise is the awesome new Fantasista mode.

What the hell does ‘Fantasista’ mean? Is it the female sibling of the soft-drink Fanta? Is it a mode named after a soccer manga of the same name? Who knows? The mode entails you creating a 17 year-old soccer player and then guiding his soccer career all the way from the lowly second division of the J-League to the Champions League!

What makes the mode so neat is that throughout your career you only control one player on the field – yourself! To be fair this is not even close to being a unique idea or the first time that this has been implemented. Back as far as the 80s, Player Manager for the Atari ST had you controlling a single player and following/developing his career. Libero Grande for the Playstation had you taking command of a single player with the AI controlling your teammates. And in recent years no game has done a better job of immersing you in the career of a single player than the brilliant (and tragically under-appreciated) New Star Soccer 3.

However, what makes the Fantasista game mode so good is that it uses the best soccer game engine out right now and that makes it, on the field at least, superior to the aforementioned titles.

As mentioned before, you start out as a 17 year old player. While your nationality is fixed as Japanese you can edit your appearance any which way you desire and you also get to select your position. Unfortunately, you’re stuck being designated as a midfield (either DMF, CMF, SWB, OMF and so on) though there have been more than a few times I’ve been put on as a centre forward/striker when the team needs it. It would have been great to be able to be a goalkeeper or a defender and hopefully that’ll be present in the next iteration.

Next you play in an exhibition/scouting match after which you receive offers from teams based upon your performance and what they perceive as your potential. At this point in your career your stats are dreadfully low (think worse than a benchwarmer for the default Master League rejects) so the only offers are from second division J-League teams.

Once you’re on a squad it’s like playing on any other professional team. You’re not guaranteed a starting spot; sometimes you have to ride the pine, and sometimes you’re not even in the squad for a match-day! The better you play in a match (i.e. the higher match rating you get) the more development points you gain (to improve your attributes). If you’re not playing then you get to do training where you can gain development points across all categories or you can select to focus on a particular area of your game.

What’s particularly good about stat development in Club Championship is that it’s much slower than you’d see in other games. Across the course of my first season my attributes increased by an average of 2% each. When you start off with ratings in the high 60% to low 70% it means that it’ll be more than a few seasons before you’re even approaching a world-class player. Furthermore, since this is the Winning Eleven game engine, even when you do have great stats you’re not going to be taking on a whole team by yourself.

As you progress in your career you can receive transfer offers from other teams and of course you’re always pushing for promotion/honors with your current side. Even though you start in the J-League you can receive offers from European leagues (the EPL, Serie A, Eridivisie, La Liga and Ligue 1) and each nation features league, cup and continental play! So, for example, if you get transferred to Real Madrid you can play in La Liga, the Kings Cup and the Champions League!

I’ll discuss more of the appeal of Fantasista in the next section and why it’s more addictive than crack, however, there are still a number of shortcomings and things I’d like to see in the next version. Firstly, there’s no way to request a transfer if you’re unhappy with your current team and this can be a pain if you’re stuck on the bench of a high profile team that isn’t quick to sell. Secondly, there are no actual ‘contracts’ – you sign for a team but you have no terms of the agreement (i.e. a 5 year deal) and there is no wage involved (though teams do spend money as transfer fees). Thirdly, while it makes sense that you would gain experience/attribute/stat points from playing matches, it would be neat if training involved more mini-games like those in New Star Soccer 3.

Gameplay 90/100

In the main gameplay modes Club Championship doesn’t reinvent the wheel. One of my criticisms of this series that I voiced in my last review is that improvements in the overall game engine seem to be progressing at a crawl; little tweaks and fine tuning here and there but nothing major. The same applies with Club Championship.

As is characteristic with all J-League Winning Eleven titles, the pace of the game is slower and slightly more methodical than the non-J-League games. Personally, I prefer the slower pace of the game but your mileage may differ. With respect to the AI, opposing teams seem to have a greater tendency towards possession football and general AI positioning when defending seems better.

Ball physics are as excellent as they’ve always been and now passing seems a little quicker and more crisp than the last version. Shooting as also been given a bit of zip and using players that have high shot power ratings you can really let fly. When the ball does reach the goal I find that keepers (while still prone to the odd clanger) are better at rebound control than previous versions and (this could be my imagination) seem to display better judgment when it comes to rushing out of net to close down the angle.

Finally, while dribbling is largely the same, Konami have decided to bring back the auto-sidestep! I was one of the few fans that didn’t mind the auto-sidestep at all and though it’s returned AI defenders are much better at nicking the ball away when you do it.

All in all, Club Championship plays an excellent game of football but there probably aren’t enough changes in the gameplay engine to justify a purchase, except until you get to the Fantasista mode.

Now, as a I said before, the Fantasista concept is nothing new. Other games have had you controlling a single player, and in fact, for several years now you could control a single player in Winning Eleven games. However, now that a mode is available that actually gives you ownership over that player (so you feel a connection and a reason to play) you’ll finally be arsed to try it out for more than five minutes.

The default camera angle is the player cam which closely follows your player from behind. Unfortunately, I found that a combination of slow-down and a swinging camera made this view almost unplayable. Instead, I chose my preferred regular camera angle and had the camera follow the ball (instead of me) and followed my off-screen movement using the radar. The controls are identical to the other gameplay modes except, of course, that you can’t switch players. Furthermore, if you tap the R2 button your player will ‘call’ for a pass.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of the language barrier and poor in-game explanations, Fantasista can be quite frustrating at first. As mentioned previously, you start out as a very raw (i.e. shit) 17 year old with crappy skills on a second division team. And, like most 17 year olds you’re not going to be in the starting eleven straight away and sometimes you won’t even be on the bench! However, just like in real-life you have to use those few minutes of substitute time, or the odd start, to prove that you’re good enough to stay in the team. Your ability to stay in the team seems directly related to your rating at the end of the match (with one caveat that I’ll get to) – get a 7.0 or above and you’re likely to impress. Getting high ratings, however, doesn’t strictly mean you have to get on the score sheet with a goal or an assist (which can be hard when you start off as a crap player). Instead, just making tackles and completing lots of passes can get you a good rating.

So where does the potential frustration lie? Well, in my first season, once I got used to the controls, matches would take the following pattern; I start a match, play well (even getting Man of the Match honors occasionally) and then the next game…..I’M NOT EVEN IN THE SQUAD! This would be particularly frustrating when my team would lose the matches I wasn’t playing in (and would fall further down the table). It sometimes seemed completely random, sometimes I’d play two in a row, then I’d be out of the squad, then I’d start, but the next game on the bench!

It was all very frustrating until I realized another factor (besides your match rating) that determines your place in the team – you’re cumulative fatigue! The CPU managers are very aggressive about not including tired players. So, if you run your ass off in one match (which isn’t hard at the start of your career when your stamina is in the 60s) you’re less likely to be fit for the next match. This even applies to your AI controlled teammates and I’ve seen players who’ve scored in the previous game not even make the bench because of fatigue. A general rule of thumb is that if your stamina is under a quarter at the end of a match you probably won’t start the next one.

While this sounds slightly annoying, I like it because it encourages you to play in a realistic fashion! Your stamina only depletes greatly if you hold down the sprint button and while you do see some players running around more than others in real life, no one spends the entire match running around at full pelt like a headless chicken. This also forces you to not be a one-man show and realize that you have 10 teammates to spread the ball around in a realistic manner.

Speaking of teammates, the AI is another area that can be frustrating initially. Since you start in the J-League second division, depending upon the team you sign for, you can have some teammates that have very low Offense ratings. The first team I signed for was Mito Hollyhock and many of their players, to put it bluntly, are absolute nimrods! The ball would be out on the wing with a teammate, I’d be charging hard into the penalty area tapping R2, screaming for the ball, and the brain dead winger would be dipsy-doodling with the ball before losing it. Pretty much every match had at least one moment where I was screaming bloody murder at my idiotic teammates and I’m sure this will be a common occurrence with most players on shit teams.

However, you begin to appreciate the beauty of the AI once you move on to better sides. From Mito Hollyhock I transferred to Ventforet Kofu who had MUCH better (and smarter) players and I played on the right side of a midfield in a 4-3-3 with Sergei Rebrov (yes, that Sergei Rebrov) playing as a right winger. The two of us had a fantastic understanding, he’d move into space appropriately, and if I was making a run into space or was open for a pass I often didn’t even need to ‘call’ for it– he’d automatically pass it to me! Likewise, Ventforet’s Ken Fujita was another intelligent player who wouldn’t dally on the ball like my previous teammates.

Once you start to play the game more, you also learn that you have to take into account the technical abilities/stats of your AI teammates. For example, if Titus Bramble has the ball and you ‘call’ for a crossfield pass, he’s likely to over-hit it or play it short and give up possession. Conversely, if Deco has the ball at his feat and you hammer R2 while running down the channel he’s likely to thread a beautiful through pass to you.

When you combine the different player AI and abilities the game really shines as your teammates take on ‘personalities’ and even if you’re not familiar with the real-life equivalents of your teammates you’ll soon come to have favourite players to play along-side and you’ll tailor your play appropriately. For example, with Ventforet Kofu I knew that if Josimar was playing upfront I should play the ball more into feet because he’s not that great in the air. If Kimura was playing as a central striker I could mix it up more because he’s good at knock-downs and I knew we had a much better chance of winning when he was in the starting eleven.

Add in the fact that the game rewards realistic player movement (not sprinting all the time, not always running to the ball, but moving into space to draw defenders or create space for yourself) and you have one hell of an immersive experience. The feeling of satisfaction you get from an assist or being part of a well-worked passing move is fantastic and I haven’t had this much fun with a sports game in a long, long time.

Replay Value 90/100

It’s all about the Fantasista mode here and I haven’t been this addicted to a game (any game) in years. The sense of immersion is incredible, you not only want to further your career in-game but also win honors with your team. In my current ‘career’, I’ve left Ventforet Kofu after 3 relatively successful years (promotion and then finishing second in the first division) for Lens and am having a ton of fun in Ligue 1.

Since each match you play improves your ratings (albeit very slowly) this title has a “just one more game” feeling that’ll have you playing till the wee hours even on a week-night.

Overall 85/100

I feel like a bit of a sellout waxing lyrical about the Fantasista mode. Like I’ve said before the concept is nothing new and no game does a better job of simulating the personal drama and intricacies of a footballer’s career than New Star Soccer 3. However, it’s the Winning Eleven game engine that makes Fantasista shine as you really feel like an individual footballer on a team playing real football. I can’t remember the last time I was this addicted to a game.

The Fantasista mode has reinvigorated the series for me and provides the shot in the arm that Winning Eleven so badly needs after years of the same old game modes. It is a crushing disappointment then, that it doesn’t appear that this mode will be present in the next-gen versions of Winning Eleven 2008/PES 2008. What a bungle by KCET!

Here’s hoping that Fantasista makes an appearance on next-gen consoles soon, and that FIFA’s ‘Be A Pro’ mode comes close to the sense of on-the-pitch immersion as you find here. For me, this is a must buy and PES 2008 will have to be damn good to stop be from playing this on my PS2.