Konami tweaks Winning Eleven Wii to point and click soccer

By Spencer . February 4, 2008 . 2:27pm

Some simple shakes replaced button presses in Mario Strikers Charged, but the control scheme didn’t deviate from what Next Level Games established with their Gamecube title. Comparably, Konami is throwing the World Soccer Winning Eleven formula out the window with Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008. This is the first game in the Winning Eleven series for the Wii and it doesn’t play like an traditional soccer game where you snake through defenders with the analog stick.

If you want to make a player move you click on him with the A button and point to where you want to go with the remote. Passing uses a similar system where you point on who to receive the ball and press the B button. Interestingly, when you want to shoot the ball you shake the nunchuck. I suppose, pointing at the goal and pressing B wouldn’t be visceral enough. Where Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 gets really interesting is how you control the other players. Usually in sports games the AI handles teammates until you specifically cycle to a player to control him. In Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 you can drag and drop teammates into position the same way you would control the player running with the ball.

When the Wii was first announced plenty of discussion sparked about how the control scheme would revolutionize games. Many established franchises skirted evolution and tacked motion control on an established system. Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 is an exception to the rule. It puts the play in more of a coach position while the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 versions give gamers a perspective from a soccer player.

I know we don’t discuss sports games often on Siliconera, but Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008 brings an important question. Should Wii versions of multiplatform games attempt to adapt the PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 counterpart or should they go in an entirely different direction like Winning Eleven Play Maker 2008?

TAGS: Konami, Wii, Winning Eleven

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3 Responses to “Konami tweaks Winning Eleven Wii to point and click soccer”

Gringo 2K8 Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Being for the Wii-volution, I do believe goin in their own direction is the way Wii version of “muti-platform” games should handle it.

I, for one, do not intend to use my Wiimote, as I would with a PS2-3, or Xbox 360 Controller.

Can’t wait to get this title, as a ISS fan since the SNES days, passin by the PS1-2 era… the formula is gettin old. And Fifa is gettin too much alike,

Somethin’ new to the table… Can’t wait.

seiya19 Says:
February 4th, 2008 at 5:03 pm

I think that most multiplatform games on Wii should include new ways of playing with the Wii-mote while still including an option for traditional gameplay through the classic controller or the Gamecube one. But making completely new versions of the games for Wii is not a bad choice either…I guess it depends on the game. Maybe even making 2 different iterations of the same series in some cases itÂ´s not out of the question…(a port with optional Wii-mote features and a new different game in the same series).

badfish Says:
February 5th, 2008 at 10:22 am

Not too crazy about this set up at all.