World Soccer Winning Eleven 6 International

"Not for the casual gamer or soccer fan"

First off let me say, I am not an avid soccer fan. Why then did I purchase Winning Eleven? Well Although I dont much like soccer, I really like the Fifa series of games, and pretty much all other soccer games Ive played. I enjoy hooking up with a few friends for a nice game of football with some beer and insults. I had heard that Konami's Winning Eleven series was WAAAAY better than the others and I couldnt wait to get my hands on it. I was disappointed.

Graphics 9/10
The graphics are great, easily as good as those in Fifa. If you have a strong preference for one over the other, it probably boils down to personal choice.

Sound 8/10
Really good stuff

Control 6/10
I found it a bit flighty, it didnt seem to want to break in mid animation and gave the controls an overall mushy feel to me. Also, I found them overly complex. Having 3 buttons for pass is nice but adding a couple shoulder buttons as modifiers just was too much. I know many sports games use all the buttons, but bottom line, its never NECESSARY to use these buttons in order to have fun. Here you have to have a firm handle on the controls before you play.

Gameplay 4/10
I repeat, I am not a hardcore soccer fan. This game is geared to the hardcore. If you want to spend time sizing up the subtle strategy of footy, then bump this score up to a 7 or 8. For me, the whole experience was so sim-my that I lost any incling of fun. Yes, they have elliminated the easy cross pass, bycicle kick score of fifa... but does making the game play out more like a REAl game actually make the game more fun? Not for me. In the end the one thing I was very thankful of was the inclusion of a training mode. It is absolutely necessary to go through this once (I did it twice) before really entering a game.

Replay value 7/10
If you spend the 10-20 hours it will take to become good at the game, the results will be there for you. I have no doubt that this is the most realistic soccer game available.

Rent or Buy:
In retrospect I really wish I had rented this first. Although if you like it you will definitely want to buy it (there is no way youll get everything out of it over a 1-3 day rental), I HIGHLY suggest a rental first. This game is simply not for everyone. Unless you enjoy one player sport games (good luck finding a buddy who will devote time to learning this), over all Id pass.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/03