The
release of WE9 has come at an inopportune time for my lazy ass as I’m
not only spending the month doing a family medicine elective out of town
in Waterloo (Ontario) (staying in a place with no freakin’ internet and
no freakin’ TV!) but I was also in the midst of a Master League season
with Getafe and a self-imposed salary cap of 9000 points before I left
for Waterloo…..but alas I returned to London yesterday with my copy of
WE9 waiting for me and after a evening of play which moved into the wee
hours of this morning I’m ready to share some initial impressions:
Presentation/Graphics/Eye Candy
1) Menus have been
reverted back to the old-school vertical tree style and the menu
graphics have been changed and look pretty sharp. One particular
addition I really like is the fact that if you choose to skip the intro
sequence to a match you get to see the opposing team’s formation and
line-up as the game loads which is useful.
2) Slowdown has been
pretty much eliminated as it was in WE8:LE.
3) TV-style
presentation has been improved with more varied in-game instant replays
(of shots wide, saves, etc.). There are also a bunch of new goal
celebrations (a lot more group celebrations….which still have more than
a hint of the homoerotic but some would argue that that’s accurate….lol)
and there are better celebrations following a penalty shoot-out win. The
animations for substations are also better and it’s nice to see the
player coming off giving a massive high-five to the player coming on.
Ref interaction sequences are also more varied and there’s a lot more
sequences of players bitching to the ref and also a few more scuffles
between players after the whistle (and these don’t necessarily lead to a
red card for one of the players). Finally, fouls/injuries are more
varied and you’ll actually see players limp off to the touchline rather
than be stretchered off.
4) Player models have
been improved. Perhaps KCET are nearing the max they can do with the PS2
hardware so there’s not a drastic change but the player models are
noticeably better with more facial details and more player
paraphernalia. The variety of boot styles is also impressive and now
certain players have their shirts hanging out of their jerseys.
5) Animations, of
course, are improved and the even more detailed player interactions are
portrayed in a realistic manner. There are now even more scuffles
between players and so many more fouls, bumps and shoves between
players. Kicking animations have also been improved and the new ‘inside
of the foot’ shooting animation is sweet. Keepers also routinely launch
30-40 yard throws and there are appropriate animations for that.
6) The kits are pretty
much the same as in WE8:LE with official licenses and sponsors for the
Spanish, Italian and Dutch leagues. However, there are also sporadic
licenses for other club teams such as Arsenal and Chelsea.
7) Stadium graphics
and pitch textures are top notch and there’s now the addition of snow as
a weather condition and you can see the condensation from the players’
breathing. There are also now 3D animated fans for close-ups of the
crowd and new sweeping stadium introductions.
8) The in-game
displays have been changed with a different look for the attacking bias
indicators as well as an option to have your controlled player’s stamina
bar be displayed when he has the ball which is neat (and something
that’s been in other sports games for a while now).
Options
1) Since this is a
KCET game the rosters are not up to date with respect to the litany of
summer transfers that have taken place. This really needs to be
addressed and especially so with the European release of PES 5. I
understand that the more recent transfers such as Julio Baptista and
Robinho to Real Madrid aren’t in the game but neither are transfers that
took place more than a month ago such as Zenden to Liverpool.
2) Nippon Challenge
Cup Thingy is an Asian football federation competition that features a
whole host of Asian teams that haven’t been present in previous versions
of Winning Eleven/Pro Evo.
3) I haven’t had time
to check out the Master League but at first glance it seems similar to
that in WE8:LE
4) There’s now a
profile option that tracks your individual gamer statistics (games won,
lost, goals etc) which is a nice addition and one that’s been a long
time coming.
5) There are new
positional and tactical additions but I haven’t fiddled around with them
much to comment yet (look for that soon). One new special skill/ability
is the ‘Middle Shoot’ which is basically a shooting from distance
ability that players like Gerrard and Lampard have (sorry for the EPL-centric
focus) and you do notice a major difference when shooting from outside
the 18 yard box with these guy.
Gameplay
1) Side-step dribble.
The changes in controls (and there are many) is already a contentious
issue amongst many of the hardcore WE/PES gamers. One of the biggest
changes comes in the fact that the side-step dribble is performed by a
single d-pad (or analog) press perpendicular to the direction you’re
dribbling (when you’re NOT sprinting). This is a maneuver that used be
complicated by the fact that you had to press L2 in tandem with the
perpendicular movement. There are many theories as to why KCET has made
this change, one theory I heard (er…read) floated around the Evo-Web
forums had to do with the fact that KCET are bring Winning Eleven to the
PSP (which has no L2 or R2 buttons) and want to have a unified control
scheme. While this is a possibility, I think one of the good things
about this change is the fact that you can no longer do those tight
controlled stop-on-a-dime 90 degree turns that you could do in previous
games. I think this makes for a much more realistic looking dribbling
model. At this point you’re probably asking yourself – “but what about
regular 90 degree turns with the ball”? And my response is how often do
you ever see anyone dribble with the ball and then make a COMPLETE 90
degree turn with NO forward movement? Rarely ever, rather the player
dribbling will first make a diagonal turn then complete the turn to move
in the perpendicular direction – this is what you now get with the
change in dribbling in WE9! Furthermore, the fact remains that you can
only do this side-step dribble when you’re not sprinting so you don’t
see ridiculous things like someone sprinting with the ball at full pelt
and then instantly moving into a sidestep with the ball.
2) Other control
changes include the addition of an instep/inside-of-the-foot shooting
maneuver that has greater accuracy and can be performed by pressing R2
while the powerbar is filling up.
3) Free kick controls
have also been changed with curve dictated by L1 and R1. Furthermore,
when you hold down Triangle after the powerbar is filled you put topspin
on the ball while holding down X after the powerbar is filled puts
backspin on the ball. Adding a player to the free kick routine is now
done by holding down L2.
4) Throw-ins finally
have a powerbar for the long throws which is fantastic if you have a
player with a ‘Long Throw’ special ability as you can really use the
powerbar to place the throw in a precise area. Unfortunately, it’s
useless if you’re doing the throw with a regular player as there’s
little gradation between the strength of throws and the powerbar for
players without the aforementioned special ability.
5) Keepers now can
routinely hurl the ball 30 or more yards to facilitate a counterattack
which is fabulous.
6) One of my favourite
additions to the game is the vastly enhanced player interactions – not
only is there more jostling for the ball there is far better shielding
of the ball. Now when an opposing player gets the ball with his back to
you and you rush him from behind (steady on now!) he won’t just stumble
forward under the weight of your challenge and give the ball up. Rather,
now he can also shield the ball and hold you off, or you’ll foul him or
he will perform the aforementioned stumble forward. This is a great
addition because it means players that subscrible to the headless
chicken school of defending (such as MYSELF!) and have the square button
constantly pressed when on defense to bring a second tackler into the
picture are in trouble. Now with that style of defending you give up A
LOT of free kicks and/or expose a lot of space by double teaming the
player with the ball. As such you have to play a more realistic style of
defending and close down lanes/angles rather than rushing the player
with the ball.
7)
My other favourite addition are the enhanced ball physics but not so
much with respect to the ball bouncing realistically, but rather how it
affects passing and dribbling. The turning arcs of players when
dribbling has been reduced and is more proportional to the dribbling
skill of the player with the ball. As a result the jinking and juking is
even more realistic and the higher skilled players are more pronounced
with their dribbling skills. Secondly, because of the reduced turning
arc with the ball at your feet it means that those blind, acute angled
passes are the realm of only the most skilled players (and I mean the
very top galacticos). This means that you have to position your players
more realistically to have an accurate pass. Combine this with the
player shielding and you have orgasm-inducing (well, maybe only for me)
situations when you play a ball into your big burly forward with his
back to goal, he controls it while holding off the defender behind him,
turns slightly and then dishes off a perfect pass into the path of on
incoming attacking player. The improved animations make situations and
interactions like these look phenomenally realistic.
All in all, WE9
appears to be yet another great addition to the series and after only
8-9 hours of play has made WE8:LE obsolete so unfortunately my triple
assault on the La Liga, the King’s Cup and Champions League titles with
Getafe will have to be shelved. Oh well. : ) Further thoughts about the
game soon.
Lavan Chandran
8/6/2005
