1) Shooting Low and Hard

Anyone who’s played soccer as a kid remembers their coach telling them (repeatedly) that the best way to shoot is hard and low – make that keeper dive down to make the save. One of the problems in previous Winning Eleven games has been that low shots with any pace have been quite difficult to perform. Well, after further play it appears that KCET have addressed this as it’s now possible to unleash an effective daisy-cutter.

Basically, when you have the ball at your feet (or a single step away) just tapping the shoot button fires off a low, but slow, shot. However, if the ball is a few steps away from your body (either you’re running up to a loose ball or you knock the ball ahead with R1 + R2) then a short tap on the shoot button fires off a powerful shot that flies low along the ground.

Absolutely brilliant.

And these low shots are even more impressive when you perform them with a player that has a ‘Middle Shooting’ special attribute.

2) Free Kicks

I’m a dumbass.

While this is not exactly news, it must be reiterated in light of my misunderstanding of the free kick system in Winning Eleven 9. In my review I stated that one of the problems with the game was the overly complicated new free kick system that used R1 and L1 to curl the ball, with Triangle and X to add either topspin or backspin. Well I realized just after posting my original review that you can still use the OLD free kick controls without changing anything in the control menus! So you can still use the D-pad to add curl and spin.

Turns out the R1 & L1 buttons are used not for spin but to ‘trick’ the keeper – they basically shoot the ball in either direction regardless of what way your body is facing. As a result you can line up your kick as if to cross the ball in for a header and instead fire off a shot.

3) Multiplayer is the dog’s bollocks

I know I talked about some multiplayer matches I played versus my mate from Nottingham and I was suitably impressed. However, after several Winning Eleven marathons with my buddy Jas (the guy with the gorgeous DLP projector) I have to say that Winning Eleven 9 is even BETTER in multiplayer than I could have imagined. The biggest changes come from the greater fluidity of the dribbling and passing due to the one touch (and no touch) moves! The game also benefits from the better player interactions and the better refereeing. I often play a very pressured ‘headless chicken’ style of defending and in Winning Eleven 9 my clutching and grabbing is penalized far more realistically! As a result I had to once again change my style of defending to a more cerebral positioning one as I was giving up far too many free kicks (and Jas plays as Brazil with Roberto Carlos behind each set piece!).

4) Have CPU managers lost the plot? (a lot like Sven)

Another thing I've noticed, this time in the single player game, is that while the CPU is excellent at making appropriate tactical and formation changes, they occasionally seem to be a little less smart when it comes to actual personnel changes. I've noticed this in the Master League. The most recent example was in a top of the table clash against Arsenal (with my beloved Liverpool, of course). I took a two goal lead into the final twenty minutes (not real time) of the game and Arsenal made the appropriate tactical and formation changes - they switched to three up front and began to try and press up more. However, their third and final change of the night involved bringing on Thierry Henry with only FIVE MINUTES left!!?!?! Sure, he may have been fatigued, maybe he had a downward status arrow but I've seen a few other oddities - it seems that every other time I play United they start off with Rooney on the bench! This definitely isn't a game-breaker and it seems to only be in the Master League, but it's annoying nonetheless.

Seabass, fix this please!!!

Lavan Chandran

10/9/2005

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