New Review Posted: Winning Eleven Eight

[Daniel Weissenberger]

Andrew Fletcher reviews Winning Eleven Eight and can't say enough nice things about it:

"Walking before you can run has never been a particularly popular philosophy within the games industry, so baby-steps are generally out of the question when it comes to developing (or at least promoting) big-name sequels. "Revolution, not evolution!" is what gamers are so often promised, and we only need look back as far as Fable, Doom III and Republic to realise that this promise is never to be taken at face value.

In contrast, Winning Eleven (known as Pro Evolution Soccer outside of the U.S. and Japan) is a game series of quite singular restraint and subtlety. Consistently avoiding any Big New Features or major gameplay overhauls, Konami's press release for the latest iteration extols the virtues of its "new free kick and penalty techniques," an "indirect free kick move" and the greater "individuality [that] can now be found in the ways players run." To the average gamer that may sound like a wishy-washy, more-of-the-same statement of no intent. However, the average series devotee will appreciate just how hard it must be to try to sell a game whose most exquisite qualities are also the most innocuous and indefinable, and to explain exactly why Winning Eleven 8 is the finest sports game ever made."

The knowledge contained in the rest of the review can be yours simply by clicking just to the right of this colon: http://www.gamecritics.com/review/wi...even8/main.php

[LordFarid]

Anyone yet pick up the Xbox version? A friend of mine says this game is fantastic on Xbox Live.

[Andrew Fletcher]

Originally posted by LordFarid

Anyone yet pick up the Xbox version? A friend of mine says this game is fantastic on Xbox Live.

The Xbox version is great, but the game is much better suited to the PlaySation2's Dualshock controller. Those finding this a problem can get a hold of a joypad converter--I'm told you can find them at www.lik-sang.com

Haven't tried Xbox Live out yet, but apparently quitters don't get punished, i.e. anyone trying to keep their stats respectable can just quit a game at any time with impunity. Which sucks, obviously.

[David Stone]

I'm surprised I haven't heard anything from Thom about this one. I thought the WE series was Thom's woman! Still, great review, though. I've been meaning to dive into this series after ISS64, and this may be the one I do it with.

[Andrew Fletcher]

Originally posted by bassbeast

I've been meaning to dive into this series after ISS64, and this may be the one I do it with.

Prepare yourself for a shock.

[Mike Doolittle]

I thought this was one of the best reviews I've read in a long time. And I read a lot. The only editing challenge was changing around some of the brit-speak, but at the end of the review I just said to myself, "Wow, that was really, really good!"

[Hypatia93]

Originally Posted by littledoc

The only editing challenge was changing around some of the brit-speak[.]

LD, what a goober you are! "Brit-speak" is one of the cool things about having non-Americans do reviews on this site. (As a matter of fact, I think it would be ever-so-groovy to have a European do a review as well. I'm sure the differences might even be more evident. )

I probably wouldn't have commented about this review save for LD's comment, b/c I generally don't post about games I have little interest in (even though I read the reviews here). However, now that I'm here, I must say the only very occasionally do I kind of wish I were more versed in sports games (football and football -- that is, American and the rest of the world, primarily). Reading this review gave me one of those oh-so-rare moments. Thank you!

(But to me, you'll always be remembered as the fellow who callously reviewed a game not available in the States! -- Can you say Gregory Horror Show? Mmmhmm.. I thought you could. )

[GC_Thom]

For those who might be wondering, WE8 isn't actually out in America yet - it should be out sometime in the spring on both the PS2 and Xbox.

Technically, it'll be Winning Eleven 8 International Edition, which means that there will be slight changes from the game reviewed by Andrew. Typically Konami takes the chance with the International edition to make some bug fixes and slight tweaks--enough so that it results in a separate release in Japan.

The most extreme example of the various versions was WE6, which was released in the following versions:

Winning Eleven 6 (PS2) (Japan)
Pro Evolution Soccer 2 (PS2) (Europe)
Winning Eleven 6: International Edition (PS2) (US/Japan)
Winning Eleven 6: Final Evolution (GC) (Japan)

Anyway, enough of the rambling, that was an excellent review by Andrew and I look forward to the US release of the game.

[Andrew Fletcher]

Originally Posted by littledoc

The only editing challenge was changing around some of the brit-speak[.]

Hey, I did change "football" to "soccer". Is my accent really that strong?

Originially posted by Hypatia93

But to me, you'll always be remembered as the fellow who callously reviewed a game not available in the States! -- Can you say Gregory Horror Show?

Can you say Katamari Damacy?
(Let's call it even )