Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

Winning Eleven: Pro Evolution Soccer 2007

1. Official Site
2. Platform: PS2
3. Publisher: Konami
4. Developer: Konami
5. Release Date: 02/06/07
6. Genre: Sports

by Matt Mumma

The world's #1 soccer series is back with new modes of play and more international teams than ever before. Take the field and experience the game's realistic, fast-paced action or take the reins of your favorite team with the in-depth Master League Mode. Featuring full online support, players from around the world can go head-to-head to find out who has the best moves in the most realistic and authentic soccer game around.

I’ve taken this one for a jaunt on the pitch, and I have to say it is quite enjoyable. It looks great. It feels pretty realistic. The sound is passable, and I really got into it a few times. There are still some issues with the game, but they’re not horrific. I think that Konami is still walking down the right path. While we may not see players with fingers that move individually in a very long time, one must be impressed by how far we've come from the days of half-inch pixels.

The game looks incredible with few exceptions. The players are pretty realistic, and the soccer fields themselves are really good. I have to assume they are realistic because I’ve only seen them on TV myself. However, the ambiance is good if not a little over the top sometimes. Occasionally the textures come out a little grainy. In trying to simulate certain types of grass perhaps, the view in some stadiums can be a little pixilated. Getting the “player level” camera angle on goal kicks displayed some hasty shading akin to what I remember from the old NES days.

The cut-scenes in the game are nearly spectacular. You can tell that you’re looking at a game, but the precision of the models used are getting better and better. Players walk out of the locker rooms and wave to the screaming crowds. Cameras flash all over as we see the men lined up for the intro, adjusting their shirts and faces all the while. They bounce and jog in place to warm up before kickoff, and it is all very immersive. You can really get into it and feel your own adrenaline percolating on their behalf.

Peter Brackley and Trevor Brooking are back as your favorite soccer commentators; their quaint and knowledgeable British accents chattering away all the while. However, they aren’t as on top of the action as I remember, and they’re drowned out by the crowd quite a bit. Maybe this means I’m playing so well the fans are going wild, but I hardly believe that for a minute. Thirty, thirty-five seconds maybe, but not a minute, no. The occasional “looks like they’re planning an attack down the right side” or the incredulous “oh, it’s in!” is there amongst attempts to call out names of the player with the ball. Though he really only seems to know a player or two on each side. There might be a bit regarding the licensing being something of a hamstring. Perhaps I’m missing more of the names because of the crowd or even my intent focus to keep the drive going. Trevor is able to pipe in after the goals are scored or when the half, or game, is over. He gives his 3 or 4 varied lines about the game in such low key that he might as well be doing it by phone.

There is no real soundtrack to speak of. There are no killer tunes going off in the background and that's fine because soccer isn't like that. I would love to hear the fans chanting the team's fight song or something to give it that extra kick, no pun intended, but I am glad I am not listening to Kid Rock during introductions.

The controls in the game are pretty good. Player movement is solid with either the left analog or the D-pad. Passing, chipping, shooting, and clearing the ball are highly responsive to their respective buttons. Holding down the R1 on top for sprinting isn’t the massive chore it once was, and has a very realistic and detrimental affect on the player down on the field. You can lean on the sprint button all you like, but he’s going to be worse for wear and slow down with fatigue. Holding down the X button, while on defense, allows you to pressure the player with the ball without fretting about angle of attack or over-running the ball carrier. It does a reasonable job of getting on the opponent’s hip and trying to steal the ball without doing everything for you. The sliding tackle is available, and well-modeled after the current “triangle slide” with legs spread and slightly crooked to allow him to get up off the grass should be miss completely. In my day we stuck a leg out there as if sliding into Second Base; damn the ankles! The current slide seems detrimental to one’s family jewels, but no such injury has been witnessed yet.

I never use the goalie control because I can never get him into any better position than the AI can. I’ve known people that take over the goal-keepers controls litigiously, but I believe that to be out of Type-A personality rather than any actual effectiveness. While watching slow-motion replays of the goals scored against me I rarely think to myself “if I had only taken over and move him this way a bit.” Nah, this way I can blame the idiot that programmed the GK for the score against me. Frankly, the “idiot” that programmed the keeper’s AI was pretty good.

Trick moves are available using the right analog stick, mostly. You can do the circle motion on the stick and the player, if he has the skills, will dance around with the ball glued to his instep thus totally faking out the defensive player. The player does have to have a certain ball control score to make it work, and you have to execute as well, or the ball will fly away in a random trajectory. I rather enjoyed the player-is-fallible aspect because I rarely see that move work in real-life. It’s not so easy it is arcade-like, and yet it isn’t too hard to not try it here and there. The book describes other trick plays, and notes that very select few can pull it off. I could not pull it off. I hope that I’m just trying it with the wrong players so far.

Where the game really crashes is shooting. Maybe it is me, but the shooting in this game is insane. Never in my life have I seen a man kick a soccer ball into the 3rd floor of a building from 6 feet away, and yet that is what I’ve seen my players do on the field. After finally working my way down the field and miraculously getting a pass between the staunch defense, the one-touch shot from the top of the 2-meter box skyrockets into orbit. The goalie might as well have been brewing tea at the time. The power is adjustable by how long you hold down the button, but the difference between a tap-in and a hip-blowing crush on the ball is shorter than the time the best of secretaries can type out “hip-blowing crush.” You can convert some power into accuracy with R2, but I am at somewhat of a disadvantage on that. I’m old. Even when I remember the extra button it didn’t help. Yes I did manage to score a few times, but not by any skill on my part. I did the work, got a player in position, and mashed the square-button with a prayer to the soccer gods. Sometimes it was enough. Usually it was not.

As mentioned before, the lack of licensing may have crippled the game somewhat. While still plenty enjoyable, the lack of familiar names and faces must be counted as a demerit. I don’t have time and resistance to beer to be a full-on soccer fanatic, so I can’t say I know every player there ever was, but I’m pretty sure every single name of the American team was pulled out of a hat of names that might sort of lead you to believe who they were modeled after. The goalie might sort of look like Kasey Keller, and the last name starts with a K, but how hard is it to procure the license for the American team. It’s not like we have the prowess to demand money for our leet skills. I must either blame American-corporate greed, or a complete lack of spine on Konami’s part. Maybe both.

CPU controlled players are much smarter in this version too. They aren’t spending their efforts jumping on you, and you don’t have to mash down the R1 to sprint passed them. There are the trick moves, and also holding down R2 gives the player a ball-shield modem that helps you dribble down into the penalty area. Plus, there aren’t as many fouls which for let-‘em-play fans like myself is good. There have been some calls I would like to have had, but it adds to immersion to yell at the Ref even if your player won’t. On the other hand, I can see this being an obstacle especially if you live with someone (or) in a place with thin walls.

There are some extras in the game that just don’t really mean anything. One can adjust things such as the shoes the players wear, or even the ball itself. I have to say that a lot of time and effort appears to have gone into these items and it’s a shame because one really can’t see that fine detail on the field. I am thinking it is possible that this works very well on the new generation consoles, but it’s a minor diversion in this one. Whether your player is wearing the black Puma™ cleats with the orange pin-striping, or a pair of blue adidas™ with the stone finish you just can’t tell from the default 50-feet in the air camera angle. Maybe there is some pride involved. Then again, I’m spewing out free advertising for them so my thanks for their sponsorship of the series.

Online play was a no go for me. I hear it is wonderful and balanced and fairly problem free, but I couldn’t find any opponents. So if you’re looking to test your skills against another ‘active’ brain, as opposed to AI, – I’m not making social commentary here – then you should try the networking feature and have a ball. No pun intended.

Even with the shooting factor, the game is quite enjoyable and I play it all the time.  Especially now that my fingers won’t bleed from holding down the sprint button just to keep up. I would like to see the shooting game have a bit of direction made available so I can have my player put some spin on his shots. Maybe Konami can get some with Billiards programmers and make a suitable adjustment to the shooting model.

The efforts to make this game a coaching sim rather baffle me. If you have the need to get ulcers from watching your players not do as you have practiced all week, then the option is available. You can run practices with specific players to get them “out of the funk” or rest them to lower fatigue levels. You can tune your lineups until the statistics-maniac in you is sated. You can modify the formations and teamwork strategies, change logos to your own custom, or make the many corrections license didn’t allow. I don’t know anyone that would go through all of that, but if you have been looking to instigate a heart attack as the manager without the physical stress-relief being on the field has, then more power to you.

Currently priced at $39.99 on Konami's site, the game is very high value. With all of the excellent graphics, physics, and thinking that went into this franchise you can have fun for months to come. There are dozens of teams, leagues, and options to play with, and if you combine the potential of playing against up to 8 other people the permutations are endless. Well, at least a very large number. While you don't get all the names of the American National, or the team names/player names of most of Barclay's English Premier League, you can still have lots of fun just playing the game of soccer. I have already gone into a lot of detail regarding these points, but the fact remains, you cannot lose with this one.

Konami has extended their run as producers of the #1 soccer series. The game is looking better every year, and controls are getting sharper. Some extra effort into licensing would be a smart idea so the plethora of countries represented in the game will take more pride in what the game offers them. I know I’d like the game that much more if National Team USA had familiar names to go with haunting likenesses of such. They do report full-licensing for a great deal of South America and Scandinavia so perhaps I’m being too ethno-centric on this.

Gaming Trend Score

80

1. Graphics: 90
2. Audio: 75
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 75
5. Value/Replay: 85
6. OVERALL:80