| Football
games must make pots of cash for our industry.
They’re everywhere and in dozens of different
guises. But when it comes down to it football, the game itself,
is really very simple. It’s just kicking a ball and some
basic rules. Most footy games since Sensible Soccer leave me a
bit flat to be honest. I want to play a football game that makes
me feel special when I pull off something that’s a bit out
of the ordinary, when I do something that elevates the game above
those basic rules. Konami’s Japan-only Winning Eleven 7
(PlayStation2) does exactly that.
How playing Winning Eleven 7 feels
For the first time in bloody ages I played a
match that ended nil-nil, but still left me feeling like I’d
had a fantastic experience. It didn't need any goals to make it
any better. For the simulated 90mins we had non-stop end-to-end
action, near misses, one-on-ones with the keeper, shots off the
bar, hard tackles in the centre circle, and dodgy decisions by
the referee. At the final whistle we found ourselves going over
all the usual talking points that you'd be arguing over in the
pub after a real game. It was weird. It's exciting and WE7 makes
you desperate to have another go, to continue a run, or to right
a unlucky defeat.
Screenshots do the game no justice at
all and that cover really makes you want to play
One thing that raises this game well above the
bar (no pun intended, honest) is it’s Japanese commentary.
Ever since EA's FIFA came on the scene, all those years ago, the
general warblings of Big Ron and co have never really made you
think it was very natural. You knew Motty wasn’t really
in your computer and you'd hear the same things said over and
over again. In the end I’d always turn it off in frustration.
Here though is a commentary you can't understand, it's Japanese
FFS!!
What you get are two Japanese commentators doing
what they do, but all you understand is the odd player name. And
it works beautifully, the excitement as you get near the goal
or someone does a crunching tackle, or whatever, is perfect, even
though you know these guys are probably talking the usual Football
tosh you don't really listen to it; its more like you absorb it
as another part of the atmosphere. It makes everything seem more
epic; more important somehow.
If this game ever gets released in the UK there
really should be an option to switch from English to Japanese;
once you've tried Japanese you'll never want anything else. Winning
Eleven 7 simulates feel and emotion not passing and precision.
Once you've heard and played it, FIFA suddenly looks like the
cynical old cash-in that it really is.
RODENT CASH RATING -
£50
 "Lovely
as little Archie Gemmill in '78"
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