Winning Eleven 8 Review

Winning Eleven 8 is not only the best soccer game on Xbox, it is arguably the best sports 8 game on Xbox period. It doesn’t have the zillions of official licenses that FIFA 2005 has, but it more than makes up for it with absolutely amazing gameplay. Whether you are already a big fan of the Winning Eleven games or are just a sports fan looking for something new to play on your Xbox, Winning Eleven 8 is a masterpiece that is well worth owning.

Features

At first, and probably second and third glance as well, Winning Eleven 8 seems to be light on features compared to FIFA 2005. You will find 4,500 real world players as well as 57 national teams and 136 club teams in Winning Eleven 8, but there are a ton of gaps that had to be filled with phony teams and players. The game does have official licenses from the Spanish, Italian, and Dutch leagues, but it is a far cry from the officially licensed everything that EA offers. This is hardly a deal breaker, though. There is an edit mode where you can customize teams and players in order to make everything true to life, so with a bit of work you can create pretty much anything you want. Official licenses would have been nice, but it isn’t that important.

In my opinion, soccer is a rare exception to the professional sports rule where generic players and teams can be perfectly acceptable. Soccer simply has a timeless quality that other sports lack. It doesn’t really matter what the names on the backs of the jerseys say because you know if England or Germany or France or Brazil are out on the field it is going to be a heck of an experience just because of the history and the rivalry and the purity of the sport itself.

Gameplay

Gameplay is the most important aspect of any videogame and that is where Winning Eleven 8 sets itself apart from the competition. I played a lot of soccer back in my younger days, and when I pick up the controller and play Winning Eleven 8 I feel right at home. This is the most realistic and satisfying soccer game on the market for a few reason. The first one is because you have absolute control over every aspect of the game. There are a ton of different dribbles, running speeds, passes, shots, through balls, shots, feints, and defensive options that are all easy to learn and are very effective when used in the right situations. “The right situations” is the other area where Winning Eleven 8 really shines. The opponent AI is absolutely brilliant and plays in a very realistic manner. You can’t just blindly pass and shoot and run up and down the field because you will lose. You have to plan your attacks and be intelligent to win and that makes the game extremely satisfying. Because the game is so realistic and the AI is so tough, the learning curve is pretty steep. Thankfully, there are several difficulty settings you can try out. Simply put, this game rocks for both beginners and more experienced players.

Master League Mode

The main mode in the game is the Master League. In the Master League mode, you have complete control over a team through several seasons. You have a set amount of points you have to spend on player salaries and you earn more by performing well. You are free to sign and release players and fill out your roster however you want as long as you can afford it. The goal is to maintain a strong team over several years and try to stay on top for as long as possible. Master League mode is made more interesting by the fact that your players skills change over time. Depending on how you use them, each players’ stats will increase or decrease accordingly. Young players will improve faster than veteran players and older players’ skills will start to decline no matter how well they do. Also, your players will get tired if you play them a full 90 minutes in every game so you have to be careful about making sure you have fresh legs on the field. You have to constantly evaluate your team and make adjustments which is realistic and makes for an interesting and rewarding experience.