It’s tough being the best, especially when - despite your greatness - many gamers still decide to go elsewhere with their hard-earned cash. Welcome to Winning Eleven’s world, because for the past several years Konami’s prize-winning soccer simulation has had to endure this injustice. Sure, Winning Eleven has been a critical success all over the globe during this time period, but it seems that most of North America’s gaming population prefers a slick presentation and a more lenient learning curve over realism, and have seemed to flock to the competition like the swallows of Capistrano. So in order to help the less-interested see the light more clearly, Konami has added a slew of new gameplay features and options in this year’s game, and has managed to do all this while keeping the series' core elements intact.

First off, most people should know that Winning Eleven 9 now has an Online mode, which is something that the competition has always been able to dangle in its face up until now. Most every match I played was lag-free, and turned out to be just as exciting as my single-player experiences, sometimes even surpassing them. It did have a few questionable decisions implemented into it, as the infrastructure is fairly basic, and is missing voice chat of any kind. There are also a limited number of options to choose from, which includes Create match, Optimatch, and Quick match, but signs of a Tournament mode or similar options are nowhere to be found. This is a bit understandable, though, considering this is the first attempt at online play, and hopefully up-and-coming titles will be more robust.

Of course, Winning Eleven has never been about playing online, and this year is no different, as it has a multitude of ways to keep you busy when playing by yourself. Available are Quick match, Master League, Custom League, and Cup tournaments, along with the very deep Edit mode. The Training mode is especially fun, and although simple to complete, mastering each of the situations will be crucial to winning on a consistent basis. This lets you practice nearly any type of situation any time you wish, which range from the basic give-and-go technique to the complicated middle-shooting ability. You can also perfect your corner kicks, penalty shots, or just work on your all-around game by scrimmaging. There’s also the Challenge Training mode, which breaks each event into a number of levels where you must reach the targeted score in order to proceed to the next tier.  

Another notable addition is Konami’s ability to slowly secure a few more player licenses, as this year’s game now has some of the more recognizable teams like Chelsea, Rangers, Arsenal, and Galatasaray, but sadly squads like Manchester United and Liverpool are still missing. Instead they are replaced with generic abbreviations, but thankfully the Edit mode allows you to change everything from player and team names to uniforms and stadiums. If you go this route just be prepared to spend hours correcting the roster and team issues, since as you might have guessed there just isn’t a time efficient way to do this. The Edit mode isn’t all bad, however, as the ability to customize your uniforms is something that every sports game should have, and ultimately consumed hours upon hours of my time. Not only can you choose from hundreds of jersey designs, but you can also create text and symbols to display on your jersey to help give it that extra European look.

Of course, the only reason anyone would spend hours toiling in the Training or Edit modes would be to have it all pay off in the Master League mode, and this year’s version is just as addicting as the previous one. One new interesting feature is the development system, which lets you train your younger player’s right from the start of their career in hopes of crafting them into the next big star. After each match all participating players gain experience depending on how well they performed in the game, and throughout the season you will slowly see their statistics elevate, or slowly drop if they’re doing poorly. This makes for some tough decisions a lot of times, since most every team has a consistent mix of both youngsters and veterans on the roster, both which need playing time. So playing that highly-touted rookie a lot may help him develop more quickly, but just make sure that it doesn’t affect your team’s performance too much since a poor record can cost you your job. And the veterans on the bench aren’t exactly getting any younger either, and will slowly depreciate in value until they receive playing time once again. 

The on-field action has seen a few upgrades as well, most of them for the better. You will notice that things flow more nicely now thanks to some new player animations, but the smoothness that this adds is sometimes taken away by some stiff penalty calling. Simply jamming on the X button to gain a better position will result in more penalties now, which is a big departure from last year. It does seem that players fall down and get tripped up more easily, so it appears to be a fair trade-off, and will not be much of an issue if you know your physical limitations on the field. This can work to your benefit as well. If your roster is loaded with speed-demons you will find that other teams will overload the outside and box areas, and will try to lay the body on your superstars more frequently. This of course results in more penalties on your opponent’s behalf, and will ultimately make you glad that the officials are stricter this time around.

Both the visuals and audio are handled with great care as well, and while they may not have caught up to Winning Eleven’s competitor yet, they do indeed get the job done. The presentation is livelier now, and the rambunctious fans chanting and waving flags really add to the atmosphere, and honestly make you feel like you’re actually in the stadium. There were a few times during stoppages in play that the stands appeared to be empty for a few seconds, but this ceases once that particular player animation is over and the game resumes. While I’m not sure why this happens, it really only occurs a few times every game and before too long you fail to notice that it even exists.

The sound is somewhat of a mixed-bag of both near-perfection and utter strangeness. The music in the game is of the fast-paced techno variety, which may be perfect for the Japanese market, but here it just seems awkward and out of place. However, Peter Brackley and Trevor Brooking’s play-by-play is superb, but just like every other sports title in existence, they do manage to repeat themselves just a little too frequently. And as I mentioned earlier, the crowds sound fantastic and will cheer you on with chant after chant, and for the most part follow the shifts in action nicely.

Overall, Winning Eleven 9 is still the best soccer game around, even if it is only slightly better than the previous version, that’s still quite an achievement. With several new tweaks to the gameplay engine, and finally online play, there should be little reason why Konami’s football-masterpiece is overlooked this year.

Gameplay: 9.3
Winning Eleven builds upon last year’s version by adding a few key gameplay elements, especially online play. There’s no doubt that it has a steep learning curve, and will force gamers to become real soccer fans before they know it, but once you get caught in Winning Eleven’s twisted web of addictiveness there’s no turning back.

Graphics: 9.0
It’s no secret that the series has always valued realism over presentation, which may have cost them in the past, but WE9 is a nice improvement visually from the year before, and should provide enough eye candy to even satisfy the average fan. It could use a little help in the transition of player animations, especially after goals, but it’s not so bad as to ruin the experience.

Sound: 8.7
The play-by-play is stellar, but most people will find the awkward beats slightly out of place, especially when compared to the competition. 

Difficulty: Medium/Hard

Concept: 9.4
Winning Eleven has strived on realism since its debut, and this addition is no different. Any game that stays true to its roots year after year gains big points in my book, and this will hopefully be the year that it finally pays off.

Multiplayer: 8.5
The series has finally gone online for the first time in North America, and even though this is a welcomed feature for sure, the amount of options at your disposal is limited. The ability to use voice chat would’ve been nice, and the possibility to create tournaments or leagues would’ve been appreciated as well.

Overall: 9.0
I’ll be the first to admit that Winning Eleven 9 isn’t perfect, but it’s the best soccer game in existence. Anyone who is willing to give it a chance will likely find that it provides a more rewarding experience than any other sports game they’ve ever played.