Japan Gaming Guide

Thanks to the magic of the Wii Download Channel I was able to check out a demo of Winning Eleven: Goal x Goal. The demo lets you play a full match as Barcelona vs Real Madrid.

Apologies for the blurry video – it was pretty tricky playing the game with a camera between my head and the screen.

The graphics are functional – not beautiful, but quite impressive considering the limitations of the platform. It’s possible to recognize the more distinctive players, and the game is smooth and glitch free, unlike the earlier DS version of the game. The bottom screen is predictably used for map duty, again functional, but the way it’s positioned makes it much easier to take in what’s going on than in some other versions of the game. It really makes a difference to your play if you pay attention to the whole pitch and lets you make some defence splitting long passes. When you get a free kick the game switches to passable 3d, a nice touch – in fact all the basic gameplay features of the home versions seem to have been crammed in here. You can also use the touchscreen to change your tactics on the fly – and check which half of the pitch you’re supposed to be attacking – always good to know. There are only two shoulder buttons of course – I don’t know if the special moves made it into this version.The demo was pretty easy. I wasn’t able to tweak any settings, so I don’t know what difficulty options will be available in the full version, but I was able to score on my first game, and put 5 goals past Real Madrid on my third. Here’s hoping the final game will offer a decent challenge to series veterans.Aside from the difficulty, the gameplay seemed pretty much spot on. All the basic moves from the home versions seemed to work on this one. The game feels really fun to play and just right for the DS. It certainly doesn’t offer anything new, but it’s a really good translation of the game, and if that’s what you’re looking for, this should be a worth purchase.

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