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Winning Eleven 8: Liveware Evolution Review
Score: 
By: Martin Hawkins
Date: Wednesday, 06 April, 2005
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Winning Eleven 8:LE |
| Game Type: Action |
| Developer: KCTE |
| Publisher: Konami Japan |
| Platform: PS2 |
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Martin is the webmaster of Evo-Web
Reviewing a new iteration of the Winning Eleven series can be tricky especially when we're dealing with an interim "Evolution" version. Justifying spending money on something that doesn't look much different to the original release is hard at the best of times but gaming history has shown that when it comes to Konami's flagship football games you're normally a lot better off with the latest and greatest. WE8LE is no different and is the perfect example of why a lot of us play these games over the likes of arcade-based FIFA and the like.
Booting the game will show a new intro video showing the usual CGI rendered players performing tricks that you can normally reproduce in the game. The "elastico" or "flip-flap" move recently made popular again by the likes of Ronaldinho appears for the first time. The initial menu screen is similar to that of PES4 but the colours have been changed and it looks a bit smarter. There's not a lot different in the menus compared to the aforementioned game except the addition of a network mode for the first time on PS2. We can't explore that option at the moment as it's for Japan only but it bodes well for PES5.
So, you have the usual array of leagues, cups, exhibition modes and the infamous Master League, which contrary to earlier reports remains identical to PES4's. If you're wondering why you should spend money on this game when it looks the same so far, the answers lie in the gameplay, which to be fair is the reason we play these games. So enough with the frivolous pastry and on to the meat of the pie.
PES4, while mostly revered for being the best in the series so far, did suffer from a few flaws that repeated play would show up. Dribbling was far too easy at times, the ball felt lightweight and the shooting lacked control with powerful shots arriving very rarely and normally when the ball was hit first-time or the player had a run at it before striking. The second lob shot (Press R1 while the power gauge is onscreen for the shot) was over-powerful and could be used anywhere inside or for that matter outside the area with normally devastating effect.
The keepers were a bit too strong in 1-on-1 situations with users normally reduced to taking the easier lob option or dribbling around the keeper. The AI too could let you down with defenders being far too easily beaten by a straight 180?turn leaving an attacker with a clear shot on goal.
All of these issues have been addressed in WE8LE and a few more extras thrown in too.
Most users will notice straight away that players' first touches are different. They're different in a good way, though, as instead of having to touch the ball before making a turn or relying on a combination of super-cancelling and R2 to try and get a player to turn as they receive the ball you can now just hold a direction as the player is receiving it to control it on the turn. You can also add R1 or R2 to knock the ball out from the player's feet in the direction you wish. The animations have been tarted up for these moves as well so it all looks very smooth and natural.
Where FIFA introduced a gimmicky first touch system this year, Konami have integrated it into the game very well and it only adds to the enjoyment and flow of the game. Space can be created for a shot or cross instantly by touching the ball beyond a defender in one move and it's something that could cause you to not be able to go back to playing PES4.
Creating space for a shot brings us nicely onto another area that has been tweaked, the shooting. The shot power in general has been upped and players can get a real zip on the ball assuming they have the attributes. Players can also get a powerful shot without it having to be first time or after a long run-up. Some of you may be concerned that they've made the shots overly powerful but that's not the case and only players with a high shot power attribute can really make the ball fly. That's not to say that defenders won't occasionally smack the ball goalwards but accuracy plays a big part in this too.
The keepers have had their 1-on-1 effectiveness reduced so attackers now have the option of just trying to place their shot to either corner or rolling it passed the keeper as he dives as well as the other options of dribbling or chipping, both of which are now harder. The goalies also stay on their feet longer when faced with an oncoming attacker.
The R1 lob in particular is back to its original level and can now only be used as a low dink, which when timed right will be just high enough to clear a diving keeper.
Dribbling has not escaped the tweaker's spanner and now relies on the user controlling a good dribbler of the ball to really run defences ragged. The defensive AI has been upped as well meaning a simple 180 degree turn will normally result in the attacker losing the ball as a defender rarely gets taken in that easily. To me this has resulted in the most balanced version of the attacking game for a while, passing is required when you have control of a cumbersome defender and it's rare that anyone with low dribbling attributes can take it passed players. In other words players are going to need to pass as well as dribble to get success in attacking.
I mentioned the "elastico" move earlier and it is easily executed with three rapid pushes of L1 or R2. The move certainly looks funky and can be enough to beat a defender with good timing. It looks like it can only be performed by three current players, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic as well as Roberto Rivelino from the Classic Brazil squad. There also appears to be no way of adding this ability to other players in edit mode so is currently more of a novelty feature than anything else.
Another thing improved in this version is the through ball. PES4's through ball while normally ok did not have a lot of oomph behind it. WE8LE's through ball can and will be played well ahead of a player when required and really does keep defences on their toes. Quick counter-attacks are very much a possibility as a good passer of the ball can ping an excellent through ball well into space ahead of an attacking winger taking out any sluggish defenders excellently.
You'll also notice players slide to the ball a lot more if it's just outside their reach when they're trying to pass or otherwise hit the ball. There also seems to be more hurdling of challenges compared to PES4.
The ball in general also feels a bit heavier than PES4 and certainly conveys an excellent sense of realism. Deflections and bounces all cause the ball to react how you'd expect.
The tweaks made to the gameplay engine mean that you will normally see a good represenation of a football match with midfield battles now playing more of a part in the proceedings as opposed to the end-to-end stuff PES4 normally ends up as. The flow to the game is fantastic with the first touch feature, seemingly a small gameplay improvement at first, soon playing a major part in how a match pans out.
The flow of the game has also been helped with improvements to the advantage feature. The advantage icon is show for longer than previously giving the referee plenty of time to decide whether or not to haul play back. Added to this is the new feature of players being able to get carded once the ball has gone out of play if an advantage was originally played for a particularly dodgy tackle. A welcome addition and hopefully a sign of things to come in future iterations.
Elsewhere in the game not a lot has changed but the team selection screen shown should the players choose to play again with different teams now has the skills bars (teamwork, attack defence etc.). This screen can also be accessed when an exhibition match is being quit from saving you from having to return to the main menu if all you wanted to do was change the teams.
The game is not without its flaws, defences are caught by the through ball too much as they seem very sluggish to respond at times, the keepers really need an overhaul as while they've been improved there are still issues and in my opinion they're a bit too weak in 1-on-1 situations. Squads are, again, very out of date with most transfers from last summer implemented but a lot since and certainly nothing from the January transfer window.
These things should not detract from the game and rarely do but are worth mentioning. Konami still have a long way to go but are a lot closer to simulating football than their competitors.
So, should you get this game? Yes. The improvements make it an excellent addition to the series and a fine way to waste time until Winning Eleven 9 and Pro Evolution Soccer 5 make their appearances.
Score: 9/10
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