Winning Eleven 9 Review

Features and Modes

One area where Winning Eleven 9 disappoints, however, is in the features department. We all know by now not to expect 100% accurate players and teams because Konami doesn’t want/can’t get all of the licenses that EA has, so that isn’t the problem. The problem is that there isn’t really anything new here other than online play (which we’ll get to next). Master League, quick match, training modes, cup mode, and edit mode are pretty much the same as last year. Edit mode is very useful because it allows you to manually change players and teams and uniforms to reflect their real life counterparts. For more information on these modes, check out my review of Winning Eleven 8 because not much has changed.

Online Play

There is one new feature this year and it is the ability to finally play online via Xbox Live. Multiplayer is where Winning Eleven has always shined and the ability to jump online and find a game whenever you want makes the overall value of the game shoot through the roof. You can play a quick match against a random opponent or use the lobby system to hand pick someone to play against. There is also a great league system that starts you off in the lowest division and then based on your performance in a particular (real life) week you will be promoted or demoted accordingly. The game plays fairly smooth online but just like any other online game some matches will be smoother than others. Overall, online play is just the thing Winning Eleven needed to really push it over the top.

Graphics and Sound

Graphics and sound is another area where Winning Eleven 9 is somewhat of a letdown. It looks great, no questions there, but it doesn’t look all that different from last year’s game and is noticeably lagging behind FIFA in terms of visual splendor. The animation seems to have been improved a bit and no two goals will ever be the same, but the pitch and stadiums and player models could use some extra polish.

The sound is on par with what we have heard from Winning Eleven in the past so it doesn’t really gain or lose points here. The sound on the field is quite good as is the announcing team of Peter Brackley and Trevor Brooking but the elevator music used on the menus needs to go.

Overall, Winning Eleven 9 is a great looking and sounding game but this is one area where FIFA still has an advantage.

Bottom Line

Winning Eleven 9 is hands down the best soccer game available. The gameplay has been improved and the online play is very well executed and adds a ton of replay value to a game that is already dripping with it. I would have liked to see more improvement in the presentation and features list, but the online play and refined gameplay more than made up for it. Lets just hope that Winning Eleven 10 has a few new bells and whistles. Sports fans and soccer fans specifically, Winning Eleven 9 is a great soccer game that needs to be played. Rent it if you must but between online play and the Master League mode there is a lot of gameplay here that makes a purchase worthwhile.