Genial game
Pro Evolution Soccer 4 in Europe, Winning Eleven 8 in America. There isn't anything different between the two apart from the name. In the game there are no licenses for a lot of leagues, but there is an edit feature so that you can rename teams and players. A major licence this game has is the Liga Espanola (The Spanish league.) and the Serie A. (The Italian league.) This has helped silence some of the concerns from some gamers. This game has changed lots since the last game and it is for the best.
When you first boot up the game, you will want to dive into the training mode, which explains the main controls of the game, along with the actual rules of football. This explanation is in-depth so you won't be confused while you are playing. The training mode consists of lots of drills that show the new and old skills, you will be surprised by exactly how many controls there are and the controls are easy to access and control.
If you can complete most of the challenge training you will gain some points that you can spend in the shop. You can purchase items such as teams, stadiums, players and ball types. Some of the options actually influence some of the modes. This we will come to this next.
There is a revamped master league this time, (Basically a career mode.) In this mode you can now choose your team and raise funds to pay their wages and buy more players. The spending is controlled and you will need to play through a lot of seasons before you get to have a "dream team." This master league will be the bulk of your gameplay and while it doesn't sound like much, it is very engaging and deep.
There is also a multiplayer feature that works as well as before, making the game great for tournaments, parties or even a quick game. The players also gain stats over time if they are young or lose stats if they are old. This is a great concept as you can either pick to train a young team or have an excellent old team.
As you progress you will have to plan for each game. The game has a stamina level now and the more you play your players the more tired they get and they are more venerable to injury. This makes you spend a lot more time on the formation screen, which can take a lot of time but is very good at boosting your game.
The main gameplay in the game is great, the game keeps you from blowing out all of your opponents and you never score the same goal twice. The AI is good and they mark well, they attack well and the keepers are very good. The game keeps an emphasis on reality and it is almost impossible to score from miles out. You will need to play tactically and plan your moves and runs. The referees in the game are also very realistic as they make bad calls, this can be frustrating but adds to the realism.
All in all this game blows out any of the Fifa series as it has actually changed during the development period. You should buy this regardless of your views on football.