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[DCharlie]

Okay...

the load times SUCK
the AI sucks
the physical side of the game stinks - the CPU can club you down and get away with it, so much as tap the x button near a cpu player and it's a free kick. Shielding seems to not work - the CPU just runs through you or just takes the ball off you no matter what.
there are black screen pause in game
the game slows down to hell
lack of wide view makes it harder to get the passing game going - although :
the ability to pass to two players is nerfed - even if they are right by each other, most of the time, the pass will go wayward...
Playing as Arsenal, most players can't control the ball very well, trap and turn just doesn't seem to work as usual. Passing ability is gone - yet playing Birmingham, they stroke it around like they are Brazil with far reaching passing
free kicks given for random offscreen events
CPU is able to get the ball back from you despite being a fair bit away
I had full time called as the ball was going into the net
Select a defender to stop a thru ball runner and the player RUNS FORWARD as you select meaning that that the chances of you stopping the ball are even more remote (this leads to lots of easy CPU one on one situations)

etc... etc...

In summary - it's an okay football game, it's a very poor WE.

I must admit - i noticed a few of these issues when i played the demo - but as it was set initially to Australia vs Japan, i assumed it was just accurately modelling Australia....

Disappointed total

Aki already has a large number of second hand copies too. It's only been out a day :{

 

[norinrad21]

Basically theres no point in wasting money on this, is that what you are saying oyaji?

 

[DCharlie]

well... it's still a decent soccer game... it's just a very dodgy WE.

There's a big difference.
it's still way better than Fifa , despite all the issues.

but yeah... 7/10? 6/10? something like that so far...

No Cup and no Masters league doesn't help either.

 

[king zell]

This is really bad

 

[Izzy]

Playing as Arsenal, most players can't control the ball very well, trap and turn just doesn't seem to work as usual.

Just like the real thing, then.

 

[ourumov]

Oh shit...Don't say this to me... I even skipped WE9 PS2 just to wait for this one...

 

[DCharlie]

even funnier - i played Man United.

i had to wait even longer for the loadtimes because their fans hadn't arrived from Basildon yet.

"I even skipped WE9 PS2 just to wait for this one..."

WE9 PS2 is substantially better than the PSP version.

 

[Nightbringer]

One of the reasons for the buy of a PSP in Europe was this game.

A lot of people will be disappointed.

 

[Chibbi Brady]

Oh bloody hell no. I had hoped your early impressions were off the mark a bit but this doesn't sound good. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed that PE5 fixes a lot of this, foolish I know but damn I want my portable PE to be perfect.

 

[Keyser Soze]

everything will be fine for the Euro release, have no fear, all is fine!!!!

*mumbles to self in corner"

 

[Izzy]

had to wait even longer for the loadtimes because their fans hadn't arrived from Basildon yet.

Good thing fans from Carlisle arrived on time, then.

 

[Juice]

See, I told you there were random black pauses. You didn't believe me!

I bought it today, too. And so far I'm pretty disappointed. Since it was $40, I'm going to try to get the absolute most out of it, anyway. I'll try my best to get used to it.

Thank God, I know almost NOTHING about soccer, so that'll help keeping me from getting to pissed when I get screwed over by the CPU, I'll just assume I was doing it wrong.

 

[lochnesssnowman]

There's no stopping me picking this up, but all these faults, coupled with no Master League, is a bit of a blow. It'll keep me going until the next iteration at the least.

 

[Solid]

No Cup and no Masters league doesn't help either.

what! thats really poor!

atlhough i have played WE/PES for two years and never played master league o-O

 

[DCharlie]

Carlisle and Ipswich - real football teams for REAL men
Prawn sandwiches not included.

Other note - it's still not a bad football game, but if you are used to WE, you'll be grinding your teeth for a while.

Maybe i'll get used to it?

 

[Kiriku]

I'll wait for next year's (inevitable?) version instead. That will hopefully be enough to iron out the problems.

 

[dark10x]

DC, you need to try this game on UMD Emulator or something. It was listed as working on it. Rip and play at 333 MHz. Should remove the loading and smooth out the framerate.

 

[DCharlie]

"DC, you need to try this game on UMD Emulator or something. It was listed as working on it. Rip and play at 333 MHz. Should remove the loading and smooth out the framerate."

cheers, i shall give that a try

 

[Izzy]

'Carlisle and Ipswich - real football teams for REAL men
Prawn sandwiches not included.'

No prawn sandwiches - no sale.

Carlisle have been performing really well since the promotion - I've been pleasantly surprised.

Ipswich, OTOH, are in trouble.

 

[Fowler]

I think DC summed it up best by calling it a decent football game but a poor WE.

Bottom line: If you really really love WE, if you really need portable football (I do! I do!), buy it. Just don't go in with high expectations and you should be OK.

The Wireless mode is weird. They put a lot of thought into it obviously but also screwed up a fair few areas. There are strict time limits over everything and a neat pause system (three pauses for the game), preventing people from wasting time, though stopping you from pausing until the ball is out of play in a portable game is really dumb -- portables really need the ability to instantly suspend whatever they're doing at a moment's notice, something the PSP is good about in general thanks to the sleep feature. It also doesn't allow you to use any edited option files, so everything is default and in Japanese, and I can't see any way to set a default lineup/formation (which is a pain when you have an 80 second time limit in the tactics screen). Weirdly, I see no way whatsoever to change controller settings like the auto/manual player switch. It's weird because to play Wireless you MUST create a profile that saves your multiplayer career. This is really cool, but surely there's an opportunity here for you to create a profile of your default options too? Again, don't see any place to do that, aside from choosing a default team and default player (???).

 

[DCharlie]

"Ipswich, OTOH, are in trouble."

... i think it's WAY too early in the season for any team to be in trouble - especially in a league where play off places go down to 6th!

we have a bit of an injury crisis at the moment, but hell - we're 1 point out of the playoffs, and 6 points off a promotion place with 38 games left ...

"Trouble" ? not yet.

Carlisle - yeah, they aren't doing bad at all. No Knighton this time stripping the club and pumping funds into his "UFO abduction investigation"...

... he came soooo close to getting his hands on ManUtd - a lucky escape for you guys, an opportunity missed for all us Man Utd haters!

(i should clarify - i think the team is great, it's just the (majority of their) fans who are wankers! )

 

[Vennt]

I'm just going to have to put my faith in an overhaul before it's Pro Evo incarnation, if not then that's quite a disappointment.

 

[Twix]

please guys don’t compare between the PSP and the PS2 versions, this isn’t fair. I am totally sure that WE9 is the best handheld soccer game EVER.

 

[Frankfurter]

Hmm, why the hell did famitsu give the PSP version a better score than the PS2 version?

there are black screen pause in game

What do you mean with this? When/How does this occur?

 

[Zer0]

One of the reasons for the buy of a PSP in Europe was this game.

A lot of people will be disappointed.

specially nintendo fanboys like you

 

[DCharlie]

Black screen - it's when the ball is out of play - but it's a pain.

5 seconds or so at times.

Stupidly long loadtime before each game is more disturbing and the initial load time is pretty harsh (and you are black screened then too - as someone else said , i though "oh... has it crashed?" as the UMD drive was making lots of odd scan/search noises....

"please guys don’t compare between the PSP and the PS2 versions, this isn’t fair."

why not? Is there any real reason why the PSP can't pull off a PS2 level port of this game? Seriously - what makes the game great on the PS2 is down to the AI and the way the game plays, that shouldn't have been a problem for the PSP.

The main problems with the game, imo, are down to those two factors being wrong. Load times, slowdown, even lack of cup and master league i could have lived with, but not the nerfing of what makes WE so great... no sir.

I'm sure the next version will have all the kinks ironed out, so long term i'm sure we'll get an awesome version. But yeah, 9/9/9/9 looks like the work of four very high reviewers.

 

[Snowball]

Okay...

the load times SUCK
the AI sucks
the physical side of the game stinks - the CPU can club you down and get away with it, so much as tap the x button near a cpu player and it's a free kick. Shielding seems to not work - the CPU just runs through you or just takes the ball off you no matter what.
there are black screen pause in game
the game slows down to hell

Dear DCharlie,

i think you're a little bit catastrophic.
I appreciated very much your "first impression" few weeks ago and now i bought the game. I'm a "winning eleven desperate whore". I have them all, I play them all.

When i heard the game could fit "on Memory Stick too", i preferred to test it in this way, not to have all the problems people mentioned: loading times, black screens, slowdowns, ...

I've not test at 333MHZ, but I will soon try.
Anyway, sometimes i guess you guys forget we are talkin about:

- the first installment of the WE serie on a portable (the GBA version was miles away from this one, let's say it was another still enjoyable game but not a Winning Eleven)

- we are talkin about a portable system, not a home console

Winning Eleven series took years to become what we're seeing now: a pretty perfect soccer simulation, and every time a new chapter is out, KCET amazes us with a new unbelievable killer application.
This game is not perfect, but i still consider the Famtisu score (9 9 9 9) like a correct and motivated judgement for it. "Opinions are like balls, everyone has their own!"

You have to consider that they were able to port from a PS2 to a little tiny marvellous box, quite everything. And not from WE6, but from WE9, the latest!
If you try to play WE on Xbox, just the reason that you are obliged to use a different pad, will change your perception of the game and then your judgment. You need time to get used to the new version and I guess WE9:UE is not an exception to this rule.
I was used to play using the dpad (not the analogue stick) but this time it is harder. But I'm sure I just need time to get used to the new position of my hands on the PSP. Time. We all just need time.

But it is not everything perfect: i cannot be the Devil's Advocate.
This game lacks of Master Legue and Cups and i really cannot understand why they have not included them in it. Nevermind.
I'm playing the League (2 stars to learn how to play little by little) and with firends (a few minor lags but the game still rocks).

Someone could say: "hey if Famitsu scored 36/40 for the first attemp of the serie, what will the do with the second edition? 42/40? 100/40? "
I think the score has to be consider as a good starting point for the new serie.
The first step for a great journey.

I hope PES5, in two months, will be able to solve some of the problems you mentioned, to give us a Master League, but in any case let's all try not to forget that if we want to play THE PERFECT SOCCER SIMULATION we have a PlayStation2 to do that (for many friends of mine WE is the only reason why they still use their PS2!!)

I think people's expectations want a little bit too far, this time.
What were they waiting for? A reason not to play using the PS2 pad anymore?
If you still want to judge this one like a average or not good soccer game for PSP, you you should try to rent the other two soccers out now. 100% PURE SHIT.

Respect Winning Eleven fellas! And never forget: if you want to build a tower, you cannot use the LEGO bricks! But it dosn't mean that LEGO can't be fun at all!


Snowball


P.S.
Forgive me for my english.

 

[DCharlie]

"And not from WE6, but from WE9, the latest!"

this is where i disagree - and not just for this game, but for a lot of PSP games on the whole.

I know me and Fowler are busy bitching about this off board, but basically this game LOOKS like WE9 , but it plays like a (bad version of) WE5.

There is no good reason why this game couldn't have played like the current PS2 version - and this is what has me feeling so let down.

I mean, can anyone shed any light on this? The PSP should be able to handle this surely.

 

[Juno]

Passing ability is gone - yet playing Birmingham, they stroke it around like they are Brazil with far reaching passing

SOLD

 

[jman2050]

this is where i disagree - and not just for this game, but for a lot of PSP games on the whole.

I know me and Fowler are busy bitching about this off board, but basically this game LOOKS like WE9 , but it plays like a (bad version of) WE5.

There is no good reason why this game couldn't have played like the current PS2 version - and this is what has me feeling so let down.

I mean, can anyone shed any light on this? The PSP should be able to handle this surely.

Unless the power discrepency between the PS2 and the PSP is greater than we were originally led to believe.

 

[Fowler]

Unless the power discrepency between the PS2 and the PSP is greater than we were originally led to believe.

Yet somehow, as DC pointed out, the game LOOKS like WE9 -- graphically it's really very impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if the models were the exact same as the PS2 ones.

 

[jman2050]

Yet somehow, as DC pointed out, the game LOOKS like WE9 -- graphically it's really very impressive. I wouldn't be surprised if the models were the exact same as the PS2 ones.

True, which makes this situation mroe boggling. I'm willing to say it's just lackluster development, but it's still confusing why so many PSP games end up this way.