Just over a month ago it seemed like things in the soccer gaming world were slowing down for Christmas, apart from FIFA Road to the World Cup 06 for the Xbox 360 there weren’t many major soccer game releases on the horizon, particularly since Pro Evo 5 was released in Europe. However, the past few weeks have seen the release of J-League Winning Eleven 9: Asia Championship (what a mouthful!) and also Championship Manager for the PSP. While I’ll be posting my review of the latter before the end of the week, here are my thoughts on KCET’s newest game.

Graphics 90/100

I think its really nice that the aliens in Close Encounters (of the Fifth Kind) not only returned all those people they abducted through the course of that movie, but also returned the crowds to Winning Eleven. Yes, thankfully after a hiatus in WE9, the crowds are back in all the gameplay views and with no slow-down!

Another addition to the graphics are the SIXTY or so stadiums in the game! This list includes most of the stadiums in WE9 and a ton of J-League stadiums. I’m a big fan of these J-League grounds because not only are they beautifully designed (and quite varied), but many of them have very pretty scenic vistas in the distant background. It’s kind of neat to see a replay of a goal in a pretty stadium, with a stunning range of mountains in the background!

Speaking of stunning, it was quite a shock to actually see inclement weather over the course of a Master League season! Yes, Konami finally realized their snafu and over the course of a season you see rain and snow affect matches.

The licensed kits (for J-League Division 1 & 2, K-League, and assorted European Club teams are all very impressive though it’s a shame KCET still don’t have licenses for all the European teams and many of the other Asian teams.

With the exception of the previously mentioned stuff, a wicked anime-style intro, and new menu colors, the rest of the graphics and animations are pretty much identical to Winning Eleven 9.

Sound 80/100

I love Jon Kabira.

I don’t understand a word of what he says (except for maybe ‘Shooto!’), nor do I have the faintest clue as to what the colour commentator is saying, but man they bring an enthusiasm to matches that’s just infectious.

The rest of the game’s audio isn’t bad either, the generic techno for the menu screens has been replaced by this weird dance-jazz-pop mélange that can only be described as ‘unique’. I do really enjoy the crowd sounds and there are more than a few chants for the J-League teams that I haven’t heard before.

I would still like to see (er…hear) more awareness from the crowds with respect to game situations and events but as it stands JLWE9 continues the tradition of the Japanese KCET games having (slightly) better audio than their North American and European counterparts.

Options 85/100

As I listed in my hands-on impressions, JLWE9 features teams from the following divisions/groups;

Basically every Asian team you’ve heard of, and many, many more you probably haven’t are included in the game. For international play you can set up custom tournaments and you can also play in the Nippon Challenge Cup which is basically KCETs very own Road to the World Cup mode, but you can only play as Japan but this mode does feature all the CAF nations. The Master League features the J-League teams and places you in J-League Division 2 with a full complement of teams.

However, this crap is all superfluous because the most important addition to the options comes in the form of………wait for it………ONLY FIVE SUBS PER MATCH IN THE MASTER LEAGUE!!!

[Reader: WTF?!?]

Now before you think I’ve completely lost it and surf off to your favourite Adrianna Lima site, let me explain. Having a limit to the number of subs you can have in the Master League (in previous games you had access to 11 subs – basically an entire second team!) helps the game because it adds a whole new degree of strategy to the game, PARTICUARLY when you factor in the increased player fatigue (will talk more about that later in the review). Now you really have to choose carefully what five players you want to take with you, not just in terms of their abilities, but the abilities and stats of your starting 11. If you have two speedy wingers in your starting line-up but one of them starts to loose steam around the 60 minute mark, do you choose a match-day squad with an inferior attacking midfielder on the bench ready to replace him? Or do you include another centre midfielder with an eye on changing formations when the aforementioned winger gets tired?

Your choice of subs also affects the potential formations you can play – no defenders on the bench? You may have to switch up formation if your left-back gets crocked! I also like this change because it adds more difficulty to the Master League and should stop some of the whiners on the message boards – you know them, the guys who complain that the ML is ‘too easy’, and then you find out they have a starting strike force of Adriano, Ronaldinho and Shevchenko, with Pele, Maradonna, Romario, Batistitua and Van Basten sitting on the bench…….yeah…..’too easy’ my ass……

Gameplay 90/100

Okay, so after a few seasons of ML play as well as some custom tourneys using the European & South American club teams I think I’m able to come to an opinion on KCET’s newest addition to the Winning Eleven family. To put it short, this is indeed the MOST REALISTIC title in the series thus far, BUT it’s still not without its problems.

As mentioned in my hands-on impressions, the main changes in JLWE9 come in three main areas; decreased game speed, globally decreased player abilities, and an aggressive player fatigue model.

The first change to the game engine that you notice upon playing JLWE9 is definitely the decreased pace of the game. The game is noticeably slower than Winning Eleven 9, and subsequently, is drastically slower than Pro Evolution Soccer 5. My initial thought This decreased game-speed definitely nails the speed of a real-life match perfectly however it took some time for me to get used to. My first impression of the game-speed was that it represented a slower paced game like that of a typical Serie A match. After playing the game for several weeks now I think that JLWE9 nails the pace of a real-life soccer match almost perfectly. Going back to WE9 the matches are much like the opening few minutes of a heated EPL derby match – except the match maintains this pace all game long. While I still find this pace particularly enjoyable for a videogame (particularly in multiplayer) it’s not as realistic as the refined pace in JLWE9.

The result of this decreased game-speed isn’t just that the game aesthetically resembles football more closely, but also that players are given the time to make passing and dribbling movements more measured and less hectic. As a result, JLWE9 becomes more cerebral than other titles in the series and while thumb dexterity on the D-pad/Analogue is still as important as in a fighting game, knowledge of football tactics and formations takes you even further before.

Going hand-in-hand with the decreased game-speed are the globally decreased player abilities. Now while the actual numerical player ratings are still the same (i.e. Christiano Ronaldo still has dribbling stats in the 90s), all the player abilities FEEL slightly decreased from previous games. While this isn’t particularly noticeable when you’re playing with the cream of the crop, it is when you’re using mediocre players. To compare (and I know this is unscientific and completely subjective) I played a few matches with Liverpool versus ManYoo in WE9 and then played another two matches with the same teams but in JLWE9. While I was still able to make those trade-mark bursting runs through the midfield with Gerrard in both titles, I found that squad players like Zenden and Sinama-Pongolle seemed a little less effective and responsive in JLWE9.

Is this effective change in the ratings/abilities a good thing? Well that’s arguable. I definitely like the change when it comes to the single-player game as you have a greater gradation of talent/skill at the top of talent spectrum. However, I think this makes an individual’s choice of team in multiplayer far more important than it’s been in previous titles which may lead to less variety as everyone gravitates towards teams like Brazil and Argentina.

The third major change to the game engine is the highly aggressive fatigue model. Of the three notable changes to the game engine in JLWE9, I find this to be the most influential as it really changes the WAY you play the game. Winning Eleven 9 started to change the way you play defense by penalizing continual use of a pressing defense through niggling fouls. JLWE9 takes this a step further by making fatigue even more of a factor and if you’re foolish to play a constant pressing game you’ll find your players pooped by HALF-TIME! The increased fatigue plays a role on both sides of the ball and if you’re playing a style where your wingers are constantly zipping up and down the field you’ll find them winded much earlier as well.

The end result of this fatigue model is that you really begin to ration the R1 sprint and pick and choose not only when you want to go all out and sprint, but also WHOM you’re sprinting with! Its this aspect of the fatigue that really makes the game more realistic than other titles. For example, if you’re playing as Liverpool you’re able to use a gung-ho all-action style when Steven Gerrard’s around the ball as he has great stamina. However, if Stevie gets injured or you have Xabi Alonso in that position and still try to play the same way, he’ll be totally knackered. It also bears mentioning that increased fatigue doesn’t just mean that a player can’t sprint as much, but it also affects passing, dribbling, shooting and response time.

This fatigue also affect the way your entire team plays and you have to be smart about whether not your formation and tactics are appropriate for the abilities of your personnel. For example, if your defense is still slightly fatigued from the previous match, it may be more prudent to turn OFF the automatic tactical options such as playing the offside trap. Likewise, if your midfield is getting tired you may find yourself playing the long-ball a bit more to bypass your midfield and get the ball up to your strikers to deal with. I think this is really neat and it shows how much the game engine has changed over the past few years; in WE8:FE I played the entire match with the R1 sprint pressed down, in WE9 I was more judicious when on defense, but had the button depressed much of the time when attacking. In JLWE9 I’m pressing that sprint button even less.

When you combine these three main changes, the end result is a game engine that is easily the most realistic in the series. The ebb and flow of matches is remarkably life-like and the change to such a simple thing like the fatigue model affects the way you use individual players.

So that’s the good, but what’s wrong with the game and what do KCET need to fix? Well I think the biggy is that although the altered fatigue model has benefited the game, it’s a far too aggressive from match to match in the Master League and players carry far too much of a hang-over from match to match. I can totally buy that a player may have close to ZERO stamina left at the end of a hectic match, but I can’t buy that he’d still be tired a week later! To give an example, at this point in my ML career with Montedio Yamagata I have a half-decent squad but I often have to make around 8 or 9 changes to the starting line-up PER MATCH otherwise I’d be starting with players who have less than 2/3rds of a stamina bar! That’s just ridiculous and its not just because these J-League players are crap – they all have respectable stamina and condition ratings. Even real-life teams that incorporate a rotation strategy don’t rotate this many players and they definitely don’t rotate that many, per match, because of fatigue! As it stands I often sub off my best players at around the 60 minute mark if I’m winning, and even then they may still be fatigued for the following match!

Many of the other things that need to be fixed are problems that have been long-standing for a few iterations of the series now. Throw-ins are still a piece of crap because you still can’t control the pass receiver, as a result long-throws are useless as you’re basically GUESSING where the CPU will direct your players. I also don’t like the fact that forwards often come in to take throws. While I know you can change the thrower manually, I think it’s a pain in the ass and it should be obvious that if your attacking bias is set to high/red, you’re chasing a match, and you have a throw level with the opposition penalty area, Peter Crouch should NOT be running to take the throw – he should be in the bloody box waiting!

In fact, many of the remaining problems to the game engine are related to set-pieces; why can’t you rotate the camera 360°? Why can’t you take a quick free kick? Why doesn’t the CPU convert more free kick scoring chances? When will the CPU become aware enough to let a ball run out of play for a throw-in/goal kick?

Hopefully, these are things Seabass and co will address for Winning Eleven 9: Final Evolution or Winning Eleven 10.

Longevity 90/100

I would argue that multiplayer in JLWE9 isn’t as accessible as in WE9 as it leans more towards those that have a greater tactical knowledge of football. It also isn’t as action-packed as WE9, and of the two I’d rather play the previous game with my mates. That said, the changes to ML and the fatigue model add even more longevity to the Master League.

Overall 90/100

J-League Winning Eleven 9 is yet another forward step in the evolution of the series and is undoubtedly the MOST REALISTIC Winning Eleven game yet. It could be argued that the changes implemented in the game since WE9 lead to a slightly less accessible (to the non-hardcore) and less action-packed multiplayer game, however, there’s no doubt the single-player is far superior to anything that’s come before it.

Lavan Chandran

02/01/2006