Sports Frog

It's true. It being what they say about the Winning Eleven Series of soccer video games. It's actually a bit like soccer itself. You hear people that know it talk about it glowingly, but you haven't really bought in yourself so its just a thing that those people do. You're fine , just going along, playing your Fifa series and thinking it's all cool. Then, you get the opportunity to play the Winning Eleven series and you see it. I recently played the Nintendo DS version of the newest release; a review follows.

Graphics/Presentation

I like to start with the graphics because that's the easiest way for a game to make an impression. The graphics are solid on the DS, but not outstanding. This is the debut of the game on the console and when you're dealing with a 2.4" screen you have to make some sacrifices. The run of play graphics are fine, but it is hard to make out where your teammates are in preparation for the next pass in the default settings. A simple change in the options moves the radar to the bottom screen and voila, your team is all around you. This is the best use of the bottom screen; the default tactics screen is less useful.

The game loads quickly, and on default settings an entire game takes less than ten minutes. This is a bit too quick, but the settings can be modified to extend the game time.

I was skeptical that the game would not translate well on the small DS screen. While it could be better (When a lot of the players are on the screen the game lags a bit) it is well done for a debut.

Gameplay

The Winning Eleven proponents have always said that it more closely represents what soccer it about, and that's true from the onset. You can't make bad passes, you have to be in position to win a 50/50 ball, a bad tackle will get you carded and a shot from outside the box will likely go flying over the bar instead of on target. That is more representative than 35 yard screamers on target all day long. Not everyone is Clarence Seedorf.

The gameplay is realistic, and that's what you want in a simulation, right?

Controls

The controls are difficult to master on the DS, with only six buttons, I imagine that it is tougher on a console with more options. This game is not for the button-masher. You are forced to use the combinations to get your team to play well. In the lower difficulty settings you can master a move like the 1-2 pass and have some success. On the higher levels you must use the more exotic combinations to get your players freed up for shots. As someone who has played the button mashing games, I welcomed this challenge.

Teams

Included are just ten licensed club teams, the big two from the EPL (think global, not on the table) and the SPL, four from Serie A, with Bayern Munich and FC Porto rounding out the club teams. These clubs have the player names associated with them. The national teams do not, but there are edit options included.

Game Modes

There is the basic exhibition, where you choose the teams to play. Straightforward and easy to get up and running. The Konami Cup lets you play tournaments of up to 16 teams.

There is also a World Tour option, where you use the "Original Team" to battle through the world. This is the "Career" mode of the DS version. As you play through groups made up of teams from around the world, you can gain coins to obtain new, better players from teams you have defeated. You have to build your squad up as you jet around the world because the teams get better and better, forcing you to add players to your squad.

The exhibition mode is timeless, the Cup mode can be if you randomize everything and the World Tour mode seems like it will mean defeating up to 40 teams to "beat" the game. That's re-playability to me.

Wireless Options

The DS version and the PSP version of the game have a wireless mode to play against a friend. In the case of the DS, only one game cartridge is neccesary to play a basic game using the Original Team. It takes a while to load when only one cartridge is used. I anticipate that two cartridge playw ill unlock all the teams for use, not just the generic "original" team.

Conclusion

The game is a solid soccer offering on the DS. It's a great way to kill anywhere from ten minutes to ten hours. While the graphics on the DS are not knock your socks off, they are good enough to not be an issue. The other options the game has make up for having to fit a big game onto a small console.

The game is also available on PC, XBOX 360 and Playstation 2.