The Winning Eleven and FIFA franchises have managed to peacefully coexist on the PS2 for a few years now, each carving its own little niche into the gaming landscape. The FIFA series has always been the flashier and more accessible of the pair, with all the gaudy presentation and bells and whistles that EA Sports is famous for. The Winning Eleven games, on the other hand, have always tried to be the most realistic simulations of the sport possible. With the latest entry in the franchise, World Soccer Winning Eleven 9 (WE), Konami seems content to build on what it does best, and leave the flash to EA. The resulting realism will please fans of the series, but the overall complexity of the game, coupled with an extremely dated and boring interface, will probably be more than enough to scare off most newcomers.

Cross Country Footie
The most notable improvement over Winning Eleven 8 is the addition, finally, of online play. Konami comes to the online plate swinging, however, with a robust network mode in which players are grouped into divisions according to the results of online games. This nicely mirrors the play of the game's centerpiece, the Master League mode, which is basically EuroSoccerSpeak for "Franchise."

Unfortunately, that language seems to have no similar term for "interface design," as the entire game is controlled off the pitch exclusively through stale, boring menus. Whenever the screen isn't displaying actual soccer being played, it looks less "video game" and more "tax software." In a time when sports games have evolved to include more immersive interfaces, mimicking the actual front office and virtual locker room, there really is no excuse for such bland presentation. Granted, the amount of control afforded over the squad (selected from 57 national teams, 138 European club teams, or make your own!) is impressive, and improving the team through negotiations and strategy is quite satisfying, but one can't help but think it would be even more fun if it were less reminiscent of a PowerPoint presentation.

I'm an Arsenal fan, meself
Come kickoff, however, things are a different story entirely. The graphics and commentary are serviceable though unremarkable, animation is fluid, and sound effects are good, but the gameplay is where this title really shines. The depth and precision of the control is extraordinary, although the accompanying learning curve can be daunting. Not content with merely "passing," WE has separate button presses for long or cross passes, through passes, and short passes. Not content with merely "dribbling," WE has separate controls for "fast," "high-speed," and "dash" dribbling, and yes, all of them are different and important. The description of in-game controls takes up six pages in the manual. Excessive? Maybe. Fun? Hell, yeah. Once mastered, techniques such as three-man weaves, one-two passes, feints, lifts, and even the "Marseilles Roulette" give players the ability to make plays that are not only effective, but damn pretty as well.

Of course, the key phrase here is "once mastered." It takes an inordinate amount of time and patience to come to grips with controls this complex, and even then, the game is still just plain hard. Soccer is a game in which goals come at a premium, and Winning Eleven reflects that. Scoreless ties are not uncommon, and conversely, a goal – any goal – can lead to celebratory dances, controller in hand, that would make Ickey Woods himself proud.

Posh and Beck would be so pleased
At the end of the day, there's a good reason why this title manages to stare FIFA in the face year after year. It is, simply put, one of the most detailed and realistic sports simulations ever made, and anyone who wants the closest thing that video games can offer to actually playing soccer owes it to themselves to at least try World Soccer Winning Eleven 9. I say "try" because there's a good chance that it will leave more than a few gamers beaten and bloodied and desperate for something more forgiving. For those that don't mind spending the first ten games sending every single shot seventeen rows back in the stands, however, the reward for sticking with it is immense and satisfying. Hopefully Konami will redesign the interface next time, because those menus are dag nasty, but until then, this is the game for anyone who refers to the sport as "football."

-Maj1013