Winning Eleven 9 is by far the best soccer game on the market today.
The Winning Eleven series have always been great. The animations and physics of the game are unmatched. The game has the best visuals in the soccer game department as well. Great Game overall.
Pros: Graphics are spectacular, The gameplay is very fluid, Best soccer animations, online gameplay.
Cos: Lack of lisenced teams (the game has some, but nothing compared to EA's FIFA), gameplay can take time to get used to.
GAMEPLAY: 8
The gameplay of this game is great. Controlls are very fluid, and the character animations are second to none (for sports games). If you have played any of the Winning Eleven games on the PS2, you'll feel right at home with this one. The game's fouling system is a bit toned down from the European version of the game though meaning you will bearly ever get a red card as your first serious foul but in the European version of the game committing a serious foul meant a red card right away. New players, and some veterans, might have some hard time with the passing and shooting in this game, the passing is much harder know as the game dosen't go directly to the player your passing the ball to, and shooting just takes some time master. Overall the gameplay is great.
GRAPHICS: 8
The game has great graphics, and some of the best character animations in a soccer game ever. The games character models are great, but the stadium designs won't neccesarrly WOW you. The grass on the field is also not very good. The game has some nice effects, but they fall short. Overall the games graphics are much better compared to EA's FIFA '06.
SOUND: 6
This is were the game falls a bit short. The backround music is very dissapointing, litteraly annoying at times. The commantary, while good, is somewhat short, so you will hear a lot of constant repeats. Overall the sound of the game is ok at best.
VALUE: 9
This is a great game for any fan of soccer. If you don't have any other Winning Eleven games this is the one you need to get. Owners of previous WE games such as Winning Eleven 8, might want to skip out on this one. The lack of licensed teams is a big issue (the game has some, but nothing compared to FIFA), but Konami has added a nice editing system, so you can change the team names, player names, etc.. While editing is time consuming if you want to have licensed teams thats the only way. If your a fan of soccer and don't have any other soccer game this is the one.
On a closing note, this game has online play, which is virtually lag free if you have a broadband connection. The re-play value of this game is moderate to high.