Okay, time for me to come clean – the announcement of this game was a major driving force for me picking up a Nintendo DS. Yes, I absolutely love Brain Age and other titles but I think I could have held off till a price drop…..until I saw Play-Asia finally listing Winning Eleven DS for sale – at that exact moment all resolve was lost!

Of course, I wasn’t expecting a port of the more recent Winning Eleven games (I recognize the DS just isn’t that powerful) but I was absolutely pumped at the idea of a portable ISS Pro Evolution or ISS Pro Evolution 2 equivalent for the DS. I was also intrigued to see what Seabass and co. had planned for the stylus and touch screen!

Unfortunately, all I got was disappointment.

Graphics 55/100

While WE DS’ in game menus and bottom screen (used for radar or tactics) are crisp and clear the in-game graphics are definitely underwhelming. The biggest problem is the default (and ONLY available) camera angle. Instead of sticking to a zoomed out medium/intermediate camera angle like in the PSOne and N64 WE/ISS games, the camera is closer to the pitch and higher up. While it is important to note that this doesn’t really affect gameplay in a major way, it does affect the visuals because the angle is such that you cannot fully appreciate player models or animations.

Player models sport less detail than even the PSOne version of ISS PE – only the few licensed teams have different kit textures, you can’t see club badges, and the players all look pretty much the same. The only difference between players are skin colour, hair colour and height – and the camera angle is such that you can’t appreciate height during gameplay. As a result, the only real visual difference between Ronaldinho and Eto'o is the name on the indicator at the bottom of the screen. That was fine for Kick Off 2 in 1992 but 14 years later I’m expecting just a little bit more.

Animations are slightly better but again you only really appreciate them during instant replays, yet even then they’re a little choppy and definitely not up to the same standard we’re used to with Winning Eleven games (yes, even the old ones). The catalog of animations is fairly varied but nothing special. Unfortunately, the game also falls prey to some slow-down during corners and when there are lots of players on screen.

WE DS also disappoints when it comes to the overall resolution of the gameplay visuals. Now I wasn’t expecting PSP-caliber crispness but I was expecting more sharpness than what’s on offer. The resolution is particularly disappointing when you compare it to other DS games like Mario 64 or New Super Mario Bros.

On the plus side, the TV-style presentation is decent with a variety of instant replays but no end-of-half highlites. Infuriatingly, the instant replays are shown from a variety of different camera angles which would suggest that the game engine can handle different angles but Konami chose not to include them. Nice.

There is only ONE stadium and all matches take place during the day.

Sound 10/100

No commentary (just “Goal!” unexcitedly yelled out when you score) and no crowd chants – it’s absolutely pathetic. The game gets a 10/100 for the half-decent menu music but you’re better off just turning the volume all the way down and saving battery life.

Options 50/100

Along with the Japanese version of WE:UE for the PSP that I imported last year, WE:DS is one of those rare Winning Eleven games that I wasn’t able to patch into English. That said, menu layout and navigation is simple and intuitive for anyone who’s played a Winning Eleven game before.

The main modes of play are; Exhibition (match or shootout), Konami Cup (a 4, 8 or 12 team tournament), Multiplayer (local and Wi-Fi), and World Tour. As you can see there’s NO Master League, NO World Cup-style tournaments and NO league modes (custom or otherwise). Winning Eleven/Pro Evo fans have been used to having sparse game modes in Konami titles but this is an absolute insult.

The only saving grace is the World Tour mode. This mode is very similar to that in Winning Eleven 10 where you lead your side against teams from around the world. However, unlike WE10, your team appears to be the default ML bunch of rejects rather than a club of your choosing. For each victory in World Tour mode you earn silver or gold ‘coins’. Between matches there’s a screen where you can put these coins into a machine of sorts, crank the handle (by rotating the DS stylus......yawn) and out pops a player from the team you just defeated whom you can add to your roster. Strange, but true.

Thanks to the game’s decent player editor you can change your player names to English and also edit the kit and badge of your team. Editing the badge is neat as you can use the stylus to ‘draw’ a logo – unfortunately you’ll never actually SEE the badges on players but it’s a nice touch nonetheless. Speaking of editing, you can also use the editor to change the names of players to English. You can do the same for the team names but only for the unlicensed ones.

With respect to the teams available, the Winning Eleven DS features the following number of International teams;

The game also features a paltry ten club teams. The licensed teams are;

Yes, Celtic are licensed! The unlicensed sides are;

Gameplay options are sparse and you can only select from 3 difficulty levels. Interestingly, there are 4 different ball colors to chose from – good to see Konami focusing on the important things…

Tactical options, however, are done reasonably well and you can create custom formations (using the stylus to easily assign player positions), set marking options and attacking arrows (though there are no diagonal arrows, only forward and back).

Gameplay 60/100

Controls are the customary WE/ISS fare with the D-pad to control players, the face buttons used like the PSX/PS2 versions (pass, shoot, through-pass and lob) as are the L & R buttons (switch players/modifier and sprint). The lower touch screen is used to either depict the radar or, if you prefer your radar in the main gameplay screen, it shows your selected formation. One function of the touch screen during gameplay is to change your attacking/defensive bias which can easily be done using your thumbs (no need to break out the stylus in the midst of gameplay!). The other function is during penalty shots where the lower screen shows the goal divided into 6 squares and you just touch the stylus in the area of the goal you want. Kinda useless if you ask me. The overall controls are responsive and players move in that en-bloc 90°/45° turning arc present in Goal Storm ’97 and the original ISS PE. Also old-school are the 1-2s in which the first player you pass to automatically passes the ball on once he gets it.

While anticipating this title I expected WE DS to play like the classic 32/64-bit Winning Eleven/International Superstar Soccer games and at first glance that definitely seemed to be the case. However, after my first hour of play it was clear to me that something just wasn’t right – I wasn’t needing to pass the ball around as much as the older ISS/WE games, I was scoring too many easy goals and I wasn’t having as much fun. Was nostalgia was blinding me to the faults of an older game and this was really the same as the old 3D ISS/WE titles? Or was this newest effort by Konami a bit of a stinker?

The advantage of hanging onto your old soccer games is that you can break them out to compare them to what’s on offer today. To see whether or not I was indeed blinded by nostalgia I stuck ISS PE in my Playstation and after only half a match it was clear that it was a far more deep, tactical and enjoyable game than Winning Eleven DS. The three main differences between the older ISS/WE games and WE DS, which incidentally happen to be the latter title’s three weaknesses, come from the dribbling/tackling, the size of the pitch, and the AI.

Dribbling in Winning Eleven DS is just far too easy. With anyone but the worst players you can easily take on two or three defenders, or at the very least break out into the wide areas and knock in a cross. This is made worse by the fact that the CPU isn’t very good at tackling, yet you can rob them of the ball fairly easily. As a result there isn’t much of a sense of satisfaction when you do beat an opposing player to create space or stop a goal scoring opportunity.

Another factor that hampers the enjoyment of the game is the fact that the pitch seems to be a bit too small for the pace of the game. You can get from one end of the field to the other within a few seconds and the cramped space not only gives the play a claustrophobic feeling, it also means that you have lots of situations where the ball pings around pinball-style. Consequently, you’re less likely to make longer passes because there’s not enough room and you’re more likely to have the ball intercepted. Furthermore, what’s the point of a long cross-field ball when you can easily dribble past a few defenders instead?

However, the biggest problem with the game is the AI - and that’s something I never thought I’d say about a Konami soccer game. On both sides of the ball, be it the CPU opposition or your CPU-controlled teammates, the AI is stupid. Each team plays the same route-one style of football and there’s no craft or ingenuity to the CPU’s attacking play. Defensively, the CPU plays a high line…yet is crap at the offside trap. The result? Far too many breakaways! When you have the ball your AI teammates are loathe to take up supporting positions or make overlapping movements (which just further makes you want to hog the ball and do it all with one or two players). As a result of the insipid AI, the ease of dribbling and the small, pass-unfriendly field your play often devolves into the following routine – win the ball in your own end, make two quick passes up to the forwards, and take a shot on goal. Sounds like the crappy FIFA games of the early 2000s doesn’t it?

Well it’s not THAT bad, but it’s not very good either. The ball physics are largely unscripted and there are a decent variety of goals that can be scored but after a honeymoon period of a few games you’ll start to see the faults and imperfections in the game engine. There just isn’t enough depth here to keep you playing in the long term and matches soon start to become boring.

Longevity 50/100

A paucity of game modes and shallow gameplay make for an unfulfilling combination. The World Tour mode does provide some longer-term enjoyment and I may yet try to lead my rejects to victory but I can’t say that this game will take up any significant portion of my DS gaming time.

It is important to note that the game has multiplayer via both local and Wi-Fi but there are a number of other DS games I’d rather play than this.

Overall 58/100

This is the worst Winning Eleven game in recent memory.

There, I said it. Is it horrible, unplayable? No, but it’s not very good either. Konami definitely mailed this one in and are selling the game on the back of the franchise’s name. Not only does this game not stack up to Konami games that came out almost a decade ago, there is zero innovation or effort here. That the main use of the DS’ stylus is to TURN A MACHINE WHEEL to ‘buy’ players is an absolute joke, why not just tell us to use the stylus to pick our noses? The DS’ microphone is also completely ignored. Konami must be laughing all the way to the bank!

Color me very, very disappointed.

With this game and the (apparently) lame port of Pro Evo 6 to the Xbox 360, Konami are starting a dangerous trend of mediocrity. All this while EA Sports are doing a brilliant job with the FIFA series.

Seabass and co. better be working on a mind-blowing PS3 version of Winning Eleven or Konami soccer may be in trouble……

Okay, time for me to come clean – the announcement of this game was a major driving force for me picking up a Nintendo DS. Yes, I absolutely love Brain Age and other titles but I think I could have held off till a price drop…..until I saw Play-Asia finally listing Winning Eleven DS for sale – at that exact moment all resolve was lost!

Of course, I wasn’t expecting a port of the more recent Winning Eleven games (I recognize the DS just isn’t that powerful) but I was absolutely pumped at the idea of a portable ISS Pro Evolution or ISS Pro Evolution 2 equivalent for the DS. I was also intrigued to see what Seabass and co. had planned for the stylus and touch screen!

Unfortunately, all I got was disappointment.

Graphics 55/100

While WE DS’ in game menus and bottom screen (used for radar or tactics) are crisp and clear the in-game graphics are definitely underwhelming. The biggest problem is the default (and ONLY available) camera angle. Instead of sticking to a zoomed out medium/intermediate camera angle like in the PSOne and N64 WE/ISS games, the camera is closer to the pitch and higher up. While it is important to note that this doesn’t really affect gameplay in a major way, it does affect the visuals because the angle is such that you cannot fully appreciate player models or animations.

Player models sport less detail than even the PSOne version of ISS PE – only the few licensed teams have different kit textures, you can’t see club badges, and the players all look pretty much the same. The only difference between players are skin colour, hair colour and height – and the camera angle is such that you can’t appreciate height during gameplay. As a result, the only real visual difference between Ronaldinho and Eto'o is the name on the indicator at the bottom of the screen. That was fine for Kick Off 2 in 1992 but 14 years later I’m expecting just a little bit more.

Animations are slightly better but again you only really appreciate them during instant replays, yet even then they’re a little choppy and definitely not up to the same standard we’re used to with Winning Eleven games (yes, even the old ones). The catalog of animations is fairly varied but nothing special. Unfortunately, the game also falls prey to some slow-down during corners and when there are lots of players on screen.

WE DS also disappoints when it comes to the overall resolution of the gameplay visuals. Now I wasn’t expecting PSP-caliber crispness but I was expecting more sharpness than what’s on offer. The resolution is particularly disappointing when you compare it to other DS games like Mario 64 or New Super Mario Bros.

On the plus side, the TV-style presentation is decent with a variety of instant replays but no end-of-half highlites. Infuriatingly, the instant replays are shown from a variety of different camera angles which would suggest that the game engine can handle different angles but Konami chose not to include them. Nice.

There is only ONE stadium and all matches take place during the day.

Sound 10/100

No commentary (just “Goal!” unexcitedly yelled out when you score) and no crowd chants – it’s absolutely pathetic. The game gets a 10/100 for the half-decent menu music but you’re better off just turning the volume all the way down and saving battery life.

Options 50/100

Along with the Japanese version of WE:UE for the PSP that I imported last year, WE:DS is one of those rare Winning Eleven games that I wasn’t able to patch into English. That said, menu layout and navigation is simple and intuitive for anyone who’s played a Winning Eleven game before.

The main modes of play are; Exhibition (match or shootout), Konami Cup (a 4, 8 or 12 team tournament), Multiplayer (local and Wi-Fi), and World Tour. As you can see there’s NO Master League, NO World Cup-style tournaments and NO league modes (custom or otherwise). Winning Eleven/Pro Evo fans have been used to having sparse game modes in Konami titles but this is an absolute insult.

The only saving grace is the World Tour mode. This mode is very similar to that in Winning Eleven 10 where you lead your side against teams from around the world. However, unlike WE10, your team appears to be the default ML bunch of rejects rather than a club of your choosing. For each victory in World Tour mode you earn silver or gold ‘coins’. Between matches there’s a screen where you can put these coins into a machine of sorts, crank the handle (by rotating the DS stylus......yawn) and out pops a player from the team you just defeated whom you can add to your roster. Strange, but true.

Thanks to the game’s decent player editor you can change your player names to English and also edit the kit and badge of your team. Editing the badge is neat as you can use the stylus to ‘draw’ a logo – unfortunately you’ll never actually SEE the badges on players but it’s a nice touch nonetheless. Speaking of editing, you can also use the editor to change the names of players to English. You can do the same for the team names but only for the unlicensed ones.

With respect to the teams available, the Winning Eleven DS features the following number of International teams;

The game also features a paltry ten club teams. The licensed teams are;

Yes, Celtic are licensed! The unlicensed sides are;

Gameplay options are sparse and you can only select from 3 difficulty levels. Interestingly, there are 4 different ball colors to chose from – good to see Konami focusing on the important things…

Tactical options, however, are done reasonably well and you can create custom formations (using the stylus to easily assign player positions), set marking options and attacking arrows (though there are no diagonal arrows, only forward and back).

Gameplay 60/100

Controls are the customary WE/ISS fare with the D-pad to control players, the face buttons used like the PSX/PS2 versions (pass, shoot, through-pass and lob) as are the L & R buttons (switch players/modifier and sprint). The lower touch screen is used to either depict the radar or, if you prefer your radar in the main gameplay screen, it shows your selected formation. One function of the touch screen during gameplay is to change your attacking/defensive bias which can easily be done using your thumbs (no need to break out the stylus in the midst of gameplay!). The other function is during penalty shots where the lower screen shows the goal divided into 6 squares and you just touch the stylus in the area of the goal you want. Kinda useless if you ask me. The overall controls are responsive and players move in that en-bloc 90°/45° turning arc present in Goal Storm ’97 and the original ISS PE. Also old-school are the 1-2s in which the first player you pass to automatically passes the ball on once he gets it.

While anticipating this title I expected WE DS to play like the classic 32/64-bit Winning Eleven/International Superstar Soccer games and at first glance that definitely seemed to be the case. However, after my first hour of play it was clear to me that something just wasn’t right – I wasn’t needing to pass the ball around as much as the older ISS/WE games, I was scoring too many easy goals and I wasn’t having as much fun. Was nostalgia was blinding me to the faults of an older game and this was really the same as the old 3D ISS/WE titles? Or was this newest effort by Konami a bit of a stinker?

The advantage of hanging onto your old soccer games is that you can break them out to compare them to what’s on offer today. To see whether or not I was indeed blinded by nostalgia I stuck ISS PE in my Playstation and after only half a match it was clear that it was a far more deep, tactical and enjoyable game than Winning Eleven DS. The three main differences between the older ISS/WE games and WE DS, which incidentally happen to be the latter title’s three weaknesses, come from the dribbling/tackling, the size of the pitch, and the AI.

Dribbling in Winning Eleven DS is just far too easy. With anyone but the worst players you can easily take on two or three defenders, or at the very least break out into the wide areas and knock in a cross. This is made worse by the fact that the CPU isn’t very good at tackling, yet you can rob them of the ball fairly easily. As a result there isn’t much of a sense of satisfaction when you do beat an opposing player to create space or stop a goal scoring opportunity.

Another factor that hampers the enjoyment of the game is the fact that the pitch seems to be a bit too small for the pace of the game. You can get from one end of the field to the other within a few seconds and the cramped space not only gives the play a claustrophobic feeling, it also means that you have lots of situations where the ball pings around pinball-style. Consequently, you’re less likely to make longer passes because there’s not enough room and you’re more likely to have the ball intercepted. Furthermore, what’s the point of a long cross-field ball when you can easily dribble past a few defenders instead?

However, the biggest problem with the game is the AI - and that’s something I never thought I’d say about a Konami soccer game. On both sides of the ball, be it the CPU opposition or your CPU-controlled teammates, the AI is stupid. Each team plays the same route-one style of football and there’s no craft or ingenuity to the CPU’s attacking play. Defensively, the CPU plays a high line…yet is crap at the offside trap. The result? Far too many breakaways! When you have the ball your AI teammates are loathe to take up supporting positions or make overlapping movements (which just further makes you want to hog the ball and do it all with one or two players). As a result of the insipid AI, the ease of dribbling and the small, pass-unfriendly field your play often devolves into the following routine – win the ball in your own end, make two quick passes up to the forwards, and take a shot on goal. Sounds like the crappy FIFA games of the early 2000s doesn’t it?

Well it’s not THAT bad, but it’s not very good either. The ball physics are largely unscripted and there are a decent variety of goals that can be scored but after a honeymoon period of a few games you’ll start to see the faults and imperfections in the game engine. There just isn’t enough depth here to keep you playing in the long term and matches soon start to become boring.

Longevity 50/100

A paucity of game modes and shallow gameplay make for an unfulfilling combination. The World Tour mode does provide some longer-term enjoyment and I may yet try to lead my rejects to victory but I can’t say that this game will take up any significant portion of my DS gaming time.

It is important to note that the game has multiplayer via both local and Wi-Fi but there are a number of other DS games I’d rather play than this.

Overall 58/100

This is the worst Winning Eleven game in recent memory.

There, I said it. Is it horrible, unplayable? No, but it’s not very good either. Konami definitely mailed this one in and are selling the game on the back of the franchise’s name. Not only does this game not stack up to Konami games that came out almost a decade ago, there is zero innovation or effort here. That the main use of the DS’ stylus is to TURN A MACHINE WHEEL to ‘buy’ players is an absolute joke, why not just tell us to use the stylus to pick our noses? The DS’ microphone is also completely ignored. Konami must be laughing all the way to the bank!

Color me very, very disappointed.

With this game and the (apparently) lame port of Pro Evo 6 to the Xbox 360, Konami are starting a dangerous trend of mediocrity. All this while EA Sports are doing a brilliant job with the FIFA series.

Seabass and co. better be working on a mind-blowing PS3 version of Winning Eleven or Konami soccer may be in trouble……