Overview
Also known as Pro Evolution Soccer 6, Winning Eleven Pro Evolution
Soccer 2007 (WE 2007) is the first Konami soccer game to appear on a
next-generation console. Unfortunately, despite what you may have heard
– it is most definitely not a next generation game but rather a mediocre
port of this current-generation’s Winning Eleven 10 for the PS2.
Graphics 60
Take Winning Eleven 10’s graphics, up the resolution to HD, change
the aspect ratio to wide-screen and you’ve got the visuals for WE 2007.
No, seriously, that’s Konami appears to have done. Next-generation
hallmarks like dynamic lighting, cloth physics, intricate player faces
and so on are all absent here.
Now that’s not to say that the graphics in WE 2007 are ‘bad’ –
they’re still decent but just very uninspiring. Take the player models
for example; they’re solid, you can recognize many players from gameplay
angles, but they pale in comparison to the player models in FIFA 07 for
the 360. FIFA’s players are made of more polygons, have tons more detail
in the faces and kits and move more fluidly.
Another disappointment in the graphics department is the lack of
stadia. While Winning Eleven 10 features 30-plus different grounds and
FIFA 07 360 features 23 stadia, WE 2007 features a paltry eight! EIGHT!
Can you believe this shit? It’s 2007, it’s the next generation of
consoles, and we get eight stadiums. Unbelievable.
Also unbelievable is the slow-down in frame-rate, most notably when
you rotate the camera angle (as I usually do) – considering that this is
just a higher-res version of a last-gen game this is particularly
inexcusable. The slow-down occurs when you’ve got a lot of players on
screen and doesn’t usually affect gameplay. Unfortunately, when you
combine the graphical slowdown with a touch of lag (in the online game)
there are several instances where it does affect the way you play
the game.
In fact, the only aspect of the visuals in which WE 2007 beats out
FIFA 07 360 is in the TV-style presentation with decent pre-match intro
sequence, instant replays (from a variety of angles) and nice end of
half highlites. Thankfully, Konami did remove the stupid grainy filter
from the replays that plagues the PS2 version.
Sound 55
I don’t know if Konami will ever bother to put in a good
effort in the audio department of it’s US/European games. WE 2007
continues the trend of no licensed musical tracks (just really bad
techno) and piss poor commentary by Trevor Brooking and Peter Brackley.
Both Brooking and Brackley sound absolutely comatose and their comments
are often inaccurate and off the mark. The 5.1 surround with the (few)
crowd chants and sounds are passable.
Options 60
I think it’s a next-gen rule that sports games appearing on the 360
and PS3 should have LESS features than their Xbox & PS2 counterparts.
Why? I dunno, perhaps developers are taking the piss. Regardless of the
reason, Konami continue the trend and Winning Eleven Pro Evolution
Soccer 2007 drops the plethora of training mini-games/challenges, the
fantastic World-Cup qualification mode and several of the editing
options present in Winning Eleven 10. Oh, and you can’t save
replays….it’s not like the 360 has a hard drive or anything like that…….
Another oddity is the fact that there are none of the
post-match player statistics that have been present in the last few
years of the series. You still get the score and basic stats like
possession, shots and fouls, but you can’t even see a list of the
goal scorers let alone player ratings and assists! That’s just
shameless. I can find soccer games from almost 20 years ago that at
least showed the goal scorers at the end of a match.
The rest of the gameplay modes are the usual suspects; the Master
League (yawn), single seasons in the EPL (not licensed), La Liga, Serie
A, Eridivisie and Ligue 1, and a bunch of cups. No traditional
Manager/Franchise Mode in sight.
Rosters
are accurate to the August 2006 transfer window but none of the January
transfers are present. Konami could conceivably release a roster update
patch but while I’m dreaming I’d also like World Peace and a Pony.
International rosters are likewise not updated with Zidane still in the
France starting XI. Unfortunately, the edit mode is crap and doesn’t
allow you to change rosters or do much of note (and the editing doesn’t
carry over to the online game).
The online interface in the Xbox 360 version not only looks like ass,
it’s riddled with problems. Firstly, unlike the PS2 version there’s no
main ‘lobby’ in which gamers can congregate – you’re limited to creating
or searching for either a ranked (statistics tracked) or unranked match.
In a ranked match you cannot decline a challenge. So, if you set
up a match and some guy who’s way above (or way below) your skill level
challenges you, you have to play him.
The biggest problem with the online interface is the cheating and
unsportsmanlike behavior that’s permitted because of poor design. If
you’ve followed (or played) the European version (Pro Evolution Soccer
6) on the 360 you’ll likely have heard of the ‘Pause Cheat’ –
unfortunately in the 6 or so months since that game’s release Konami
didn’t bother to remove it from the North American version.
What is the ‘Pause Cheat’, you ask? Your opponent pauses the game
three times and on the third time he waits till the timer runs out and
the game freezes. Now the only way out of the ‘freeze’ is to disconnect
– and of course when you do that, your cheating opponent gets a default
3-0 win, you get a 0-3 loss on your record AND a disconnect. I don’t
feel bad about ‘giving away’ this ‘secret’ as I (and many gamers I’ve
talked to) have encountered it many times – you’ll be up a goal or two,
perhaps you’ll be dominating play or time will be running out, the ball
goes out of play, your opponent hits pause, the timer runs out and the
game freezes. A few times I’ve tried to make a point and just left my
360 on until the cheating bastard gives up and disconnects first,
but really, there are better ways to spend my time than leaving my 360
idling just to prove a point.
How prevalent is this method of cheating? Just look at the Top 10
ranked players – almost half of them have ridiculous records like
125-0-0 AND, most importantly, their average goals scored is almost
always close to (or in some cases exactly) 3 and their average goals
conceded is 0……..hmmmm…….
You can eliminate this problem by just playing your friends,
unfortunately you can only invite players to a match in a non-ranked
match and of course, statistics are not tracked and you can’t get
achievements. Thank you Konami.
Finally, there’s no time limit on watching in-game goal replays – you
can figure out what some unsavory 11 year olds do to amuse themselves
and annoy opponents….pause, rewind, pause, zoom, fast forward, pause,
rewind……
Gameplay 86
As is their (frustrating) tradition, despite piss poor efforts in the
graphical, audio and options department, Konami come through with the
gameplay. Simply put, WE 2007 is the best playing soccer game on the
Xbox 360. The game plays very similar to Winning Eleven 10 and you can
check out my review of that game for more in-depth gameplay details. The
main differences between WE 2007 and WE10 are the decreased game speed,
decreased shooting ability (the shots are more ‘floaty’) and easier
heading. The CPU is also more apt to block passes and shots.
However, if you’ve never imported Winning Eleven 10 these changes are
moot and WE 2007 plays a notably better game than Winning Eleven 9. The
individual changes are subtle, but if you return to WE9 after a few
weeks of playing WE 2007 you’ll notice how much more fluid the new
version feels. You’ll also notice big differences in player interactions
and in particular the jostling between players.
As a long-time PS2 Winning Eleven player it has taken a while to get
used to the controls on the Xbox 360 pad. The main difference being the
crappy D-pad on the 360 which forces you to use the analog. I’m still
getting used to the analog (which doesn’t seem as responsive or precise
as the PS2 D-pad) but it hasn’t hindered my enjoyment of the game.
What about online? I’ve stated in the options section some of the
problems with the interface but the actual matches (when you don’t have
to encounter cheating bastards) are a
lot of fun. The matches are not always lag free and often the beginning
of matches will stutter but after a minute or two things will clear up.
However, the lag does affect set-pieces and in particular free kicks.
Free kicks are much harder to pull off online because there’s no
consistency in the correlation between how long you hold the button and
the power of the shot. For example, offline if you hold down the shoot
button so the power-bar moves to just under the half-way marker, you’ll
more than likely get the shot on goal. Doing the same online, however,
can yield drastically different results – in one match a half-full
powerbar will get the shot on goal, in another match it will sky into
the stands! Annoying to say the least.
My biggest beef with the game, however, are the ridiculously juiced
up player ratings for the world’s marquee ATTACKING players. Winning
Eleven has always been good about making the world’s best players ‘feel’
like the world’s best – they’re more responsive, better dribblers and so
on. In WE 2007 this is taken to the extreme and this is most obvious in
the online game against human opponents. Quick players like Henry, Messi,
Ronaldinho, Rooney, C.Ronaldo, Shevchenko and the like are just far too
good. Sure I’d expect them to be faster and brush off more challenges
than someone like Dean Ashton but unless you have the world’s best
defenders on your team they’re practically unstoppable. I know Messi is
good but if two 6ft+ defenders and draped over him he shouldn’t be able
to hold them off – in Winning Eleven he can do so with ease. What’s even
more annoying is that the speed of these players makes them also the
best TACKLERS in the game too! Almost every 50/50 challenge is
won by these players. This is definitely a flaw in game engine and
something that should be addressed – just because you’re fast doesn’t
mean you can tackle.
The worst offender and worthy of his own paragraph is the man-animal
that is Inter and Brazil’s Adriano. I know Seabass is an Inter
fan, I know that Adriano is on the cover of the game, and I know he’s is
really good in real life, but in this year’s game he is Superman –
faster than a speeding bullet, stronger than a locomotive and can score
from anywhere. Oh, he’s also fantastic at tracking back and winning
tackles. Just like in real life, eh?
Thierry Henry is a close second in the cheapness stakes.
Of course, this wouldn’t be such an issue online if the majority of
gamers actually picked a wide variety of teams – unfortunately, this
isn’t the case. After playing this game online for more than a hundred
matches I can see why Konami doesn’t feel the need to get extensive team
licenses as, going by popularity, they only need the following teams in
the game to make 90% of gamers happy;
