I just got Winning Eleven 2008 Play Maker on the Nintendo Wii.
REVIEW:
Winning Eleven 2008 has finally made its debut on the Nintendo Wii. Lets take a look at this revolutionary new edition to the franchise by starting from the beginning.
The menu is in Japanese but has the english name written above it. This is rather small but it definetly helps when navigating the menu. At the beginning of the game I believe it asks you to create a save profile. I managed to change the letters from Kanji to English and save the game. From there I went ahead to select a friendly. The usual World Map shows up with the usual list of teams. No new international or club team additions here.
I chose England vs Portugal and moved onto another screen which I dont know about and then onto the settings. 10 minute match and I chose the Winning Eleven ball which is new to me since the last Winning Eleven game I played was Winning Eleven 10.
The next presented screen was the formation. This was when the game started to differ from other versions. Players are represented as big headed versions of themeselves. You can perform all the same things such as PK takers, FK takers, Captain etc. After selecting the formation I moved on to the actual match.
The game loads quite quickly. The two usual commentators from past Winning Eleven games were here in this version also. A noticable improvement over the PS2 version is the graphics which looked more vibrant and detailed. The game was running at 60hz 480i. Controls were at first complicated since I skipped the tutorial, but I soon got the basics.
Player movement is controlled via the Wii remote with an on screen pointer which is moved to change direction. By holding down A I was able to perform some good dribble moves. This can also be performed via the nunchuk but for me resulted in slower movement.
The B button handles passes and long balls along with the assoicated direction. By holding A and then pressing B after I was able to perform some nice one-twos.
Shooting and heading is issued by a upward flick of the nunchuk attachment. This takes some getting used to and in my opinion would have been better handled via a button press along with a power bar as in the PS3 and 360 versions.
Defense is another area where the game is affected by the lack of buttons. In order to issue defensive commands the cursor must be around the player you want to pick and A button pressed. While the A button is held down you can drag the cursor into the desired direction you want the defender to run to and intercept the ball. Perhaps better use of the Wii remote/nunchuk in this area would have made the use of defense much easier.
Penalty kicks on the other hand are dealt with superbly. Goalkeepers can now run along the line ala Dudek, Grobelaar. PK takers now have far increased accuracy with the cursor option. The only thing missing is a power bar option. This moves this area of the game closer to FIFA who I personally believe have Penalties spot on.
Edit mode only allows you to change the Japanesse national side. (No mention on whether this will be different for the PAL versions). Online play is relatively easy to set up and play and is lag free.
Overall the game has a steep learning curve. At first the controls will seem rather intimidating and confusing and cause your brain to shut down. This is particularly annoying at times when quick reactions are needed.
But after time you do get used to the controls. After that the game soon opens up and reveals a Winning Eleven/PES game like nothing experienced before. Never has such freedom of movement, passing or tactics been realised in previous installments. Once mastered players will be able to open up defensive positions and create spectular run sequences and breathtaking goals.
FINAL WORD: While the controls are hard to grasp at first, Winning Eleven 2008 Play Maker introduces new ways to play football that can lead to a deeper and more immersive experience over time. Even though there are some problems, this is the first version on a console that boasts full motion controls and im sure these will be ironed out in next years game.
While the traditional next gen versions of PES 2008 on the Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 may have dissapointed many this year we can but hope that the radical improvements offered in the Wii version can be seen by Seabass and co. After all Seabass himself has stated that they are going back to the drawing board for PES 2009. Maybe he can take a few leafs out of Greyhounds book.
Overall Final Score:
81%
