Winning Eleven 9

[Poots]

Living in Singapore, I've just gone down to the shop just now and bought WE9. For some reason the manual is huge and thick, and comes packaged outside of the game box, and it won't fit inside. In the box, there's the disc of course, and a small sheet of paper where the manual should be with an ad for Ubiquitous Edition and some safety information.
There's a new presentation in the game, which is sleek and nice, I'm definitely liking it better than WE8.

Gameplay wise, the ball seems a bit floaty, and I'm having some trouble scoring tbh. Players now seem to dribble through defenders much easier, and while many fouls are still called, the referee gives out very few cards, compared to 8. Instead of standing there and being tackled the players now seem to make an effort to move out of the way, so the foul looks less bad. Free kicks seem to be a lot easier, I never really got the hang of free kicks in 8, but I can at least get mine on target this time round. For some reason select doesn't bring the second kicker in anymore for free kicks.The onscreen indicator says L2 does, but nothing happens when I press it.

Konami managed to get the license for the Arse and Chelsea this time round, and it seems Birmingham City as well. Team selection is more organised, with national teams arranged by continent.
Interesting for me though: PSP connection option in the Options Menu. Probably does nothing at this time, but worth a note.

Well, those are my first impressions. Sorry if they're a bit ****, it's late and I've played only a few matches. Looking forward to play more tomorrow. Anyone who can read Japanese spot anything interesting in the manual?

[Bleeders]

First game. First impressions. Possibly the best Winning Eleven yet - but we always keep saying that.

The first thing I noticed was that it all seemed a lot less scripted than previous iterations especially with the crossing, which can be awkward to deal with. The "invisible" line syndrome that has plagued many a version doesn't seem evident either thus negating the constant use of Super Cancel (which still does exist).

The general tempo of the game is a slower, more deliberate pace than Pro Evo 4, although it's not as slow as Liveware Evolution. As with any Winning Eleven game it's those lovely little things you notice as time passes, on this occassion I noticed the referee actually running to an infringement and pointing in the direction the free-kick was awarded, I don't remember seeing this in Pro Evo 4.

A lot has been made of the R2 side-step function, which was removed and mapped to the digital pad - a fuss about nothing if you ask me; it blends into the control-mechanics with aplomb as does the newly added Middle-Shoot feature which trust me, will see many a spectacular goal scored. In fact, the shooting mechanic as a whole is bettered perhaps a little too generous at times, but it's certainly a welcome tweak.

The GUI is a lot friendly too - especially during a game, where you can see the stamina of your players negating the use of having to go into the settings to check who needs to be swapped out.

I'll be sure to post more as I play.

[MikeRox]

so u can't use the D-Pad to control the players on this version? pap, I can't use the PS2 analogue stick

[Bleeders]

Yeah, you can use the digital pad, the R2 side-step is on the digital pad now.

[Dazzyman]

dpad has always been more accurate to shoot with if they have taken movement away with it then that aint good

[Mayhem]

Indeed... though I'm a stick man usually myself, sometimes I switch back to pad. I use sidestep reasonably often that I am not going to like it not being on R2 anymore.

It's not just sidestep though. Pressing R2 whilst running stops you dead. Another good tactic to use when you need to manoevre through a bundle of people.

[Baseley09]

Gameplay wise, the ball seems a bit floaty

Bane of this generations WE/Pro Evo. Lost the true grit of the PSOne iterations. That said, obviously still the best of this generation.

[Bleeders]

They haven't taken any movement away from the game mechanics.

R2 still stops the player dead in his tracks, it's the side-step that's been switched over and the middle-shoot mapped to the R2 button.

[John Beaulieu]

English language patch and option files now available from the evo-web forums .....

[Mayhem]

They haven't taken any movement away from the game mechanics.

R2 still stops the player dead in his tracks, it's the side-step that's been switched over and the middle-shoot mapped to the R2 button.

Fair enough, but still don't like it

[Dazzyman]

K after a lot of messing around getting the damn thing from courrier (I went out for a bit this afternoon and typically the only time for 6weeks I leave the house and my game turns up blumming early from Japan without notice so I ended up phoning courrier up and getting my dad to go all way to York to pick it up) and then trying to figure out how to patch it to get a lot of menus to english (theres a couple of patches kicking about already) Ive managed to get about an hour on it (only exhibition as I do this to check patches are ok before I delve deeper).

Firstly this REALLY looks like its going to be the best version yet. I personally didnt think much to last years, it was too fast and too easy to score (and PES4 was even worse like Benny hill on speed!).
W11 9 is like for me the pinnacle of the series W11 6 FE. Its slower, harder to score and harder to get anywhere until u play properly (so no more L1 and O moves all over the pitch).
Theres tons of new animations all over, referee is less strict on cards but will pull people up more after doing a advantage and the fouling side retaking(people will get shoved over etc.. more now with different animations) . It seems to be very clever in doing this and the same with offsides now finally (some referees are worse as usual for spotting). There is also a nice touch with pointing and players bringing ball back to free kick spot.
There seeems to be a lot of new move animations and more fluid moves (but slower) as well. The ball seems to stick to players feet even less now and passing isnt as perfect (Another thing that w11 8 annoyed me with).
Goalies are much better than W11 7 and Ive even seen one head the ball back to his defender.
Control system is fine, they just changed the "trigger" 4 buttons to better design and it works fine. Cant see any problem using R2 for running and R1 for sprint with or L1 for slow walk (DPAD is also fine for controls).

Overall its a big leap to what the series should have been last year and easily a must purchase

[Bleeders]

You gotta love the Winning Eleven community, not even a day old and there's already a full-english translation patch.

EDIT - one thing I do not like about this game is the refereeing - it's far, far too picky bordering on the ridiculous at times and can destroy the flow of a game.

[Marmite]

I found the same problems with the refs in WE8:LE. Ive heard they arent quite so bad in this version, although i think they might still be a source of frustration.

The patching community is quick off the mark i'll give them that. Just wish i still had broadband at home as i now have no means of translating the game anymore.

Anyway, I have everything crossed for it arriving next week. In the meantime, ive been watching loads of videos from Evo-web, and the animations and little touches like the ref pointing in the direction of the free kick are really very nice.

[dcmk]

how do you patch the game by the way, im importing it but have no clue to how it actually works

[Bleeders]

Basically you need the patch, PPF-O-Matic 3 and a program able to burn and read ISO's.