Genre: Sports
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

Take the PS2 Winning Eleven engine, increase the quality of the textures, make more detailed player faces, and you've got Winning Eleven on the 360. The game doesn't touch the more advanced features of the video chip (HDR, shader model 3.0), but it does at least look crisp, colorful, and fluid.

I watch a lot of football. A lot. And seldom do I hear crowds as subdued and lifeless as those heard in the Winning Eleven games, this year included. I played last year's edition on PSP, and could more easily look past this fact. But with a console and Dolby 5.1, the lousy crowd noises, the really bizarre techno soundtrack, and the lackluster commentary all could use a complete overhaul.

The superlative Winning Eleven engine is the best sports game engine ever conceived, and it continues to get even better; this year Konami tweaked with the through balls, made some subtle alterations to the passing game, and made the ball feel even more like an independent entity than ever. The result? The most playable and true to life sports game of all time.

Despite the gameplay engine and its annual tweaks, which are perenially one of the industry's bright spots each year, the game's prized RPG-esque franchise mode, the Master League, is beginning to feel a bit aged. It has gone virtually unchanged for years now, it is time for Takatsuka to reinvent it. But despite this shortcoming nipping at the score a bit, if you want Winning Eleven on your 360, this package will not disappoint.