This brings us full circle to Winning Eleven 7. The second of the U.S. incarnations is the 7th in the series. For fans that have played the FIFA series for the last few years you will quickly notice that subtle, yet significant differences in game play. This IS soccer in it’s raw and truest form. The game offers many more features, including a newly improved career mode to keep you busy for months on end. Let’s take a look at what makes Winning Eleven 7 the best soccer game on any console anywhere!

Visually WE 7 sports some nice visuals and presentation. The player models are richly detailed and show plenty of emotion and there are tons of animations to behold. Whether you’re performing a bicycle kick, or doing a header, everything flows so smoothly, with only little breaks of animation noticeable. The playing fields are booming with atmosphere, including streamers, weather effects, and more. The camera work is top notch. Plenty of useful gameplay camera angles will easily rectify even the pickiest of players. The game also captures the TV presentation well, providing timely close ups and panning. The cut scenes are also done in a filtered effect, separating real time and replays nicely. My biggest gripe with the visuals is the aforementioned menu system. Selecting game types and options seem easy enough, but the interface is too clunky when it comes to making trades, transfers, and creating players. Little to no explanation to how things come about is given. This will leave many unfamiliar gamers puzzled, lost, and frustrated when trying to perform a simple task such as creating a player and inserting them onto a team. Otherwise the game looks wonderful and easily is the best looking soccer game to date.

The audio is also splendid, providing emotion and atmosphere to get your heart pumping each and every game. The crowd is very intelligent and will “ooh” and “ahh” throughout the games’ more pivotal moments. Play by play is spot on and continuous. The sound effect volume does need to be adjusted so the commentary is not drowned out. There is even a Spanish announcing team for those who prefer that particular commentary.

Gameplay is what makes WE 7 arguably the best game out there for soccer fans. Finally we have a soccer game that doesn’t feel like the ball is tied from your foot to the ball by a string. The ball physics are alive, and it is up to you to judge precisely how strongly or lightly you must place the ball down the pitch. The controls are precise and offer many varieties of moves to allow for players to work their way out of tight situations. New tricks, turns, and step over moves show off the games extremely fluid controls. Also, toss in some of the best A.I. a sports game has to offer. While you do have a skill level selector, with the 1st being easy (if not too easy), the game presents a superb challenge for the first time player to the most experienced soccer fanatic. The challenge beyond rookie level encourages players to dwell into the training modes deeply and to perfect their techniques and strategies. The game can, will, and does get very tough but will NEVER cheat to win. That’s right, no rubber band A.I. here! If you are just that good, the computer never unfairly comes from behind, in turn if you suck, prepare to pay dearly. In short the game play for WE 7 is nearly perfect.

WE 7 not only make for a great game of soccer, but give you plenty to do as well! Many game modes are included this year; Exhibition, League Mode, Cup Mode, Training Mode, Master League Mode (Career), and Edit mode. Each mode allows for multiplayer play, including co-operative play. The meat of the game lies in the Master League Mode, where you get to take a lesser team and make them into a power dynasty if you have the managing skill and wit to do so. To succeed, you must do well throughout the season, or it’s game over. This means you must train your players well, negotiate with up and coming players, spend time setting up your teams winning strategy, and of course winning games. Included also is a deep Edit Mode that allows you to change everything about a player or a team. From the look and skill of each player, to the team uniforms colors and types, and finally to designing your own flag, WE 7 allows for adjusting anything you please to suit your needs. May I also note that Winning Eleven 7 is the only game this year to allow for this feature. The FIFA series has forgotten this open-ended option completely. Players, who find little to do in WE 7, obviously are playing the wrong sport.

So if you missed last year’s debut and have thought to yourself, “FIFA, what have you done to my game?” Then you owe yourself to play WE 7. It is the best of the best in the soccer world of video games.