One thing I need to note before I get started. This is a soccer game, but since the game originated in Japan; it uses the correct term which is "football" and that's how I'm going to address for the entirety of this review and probably my life. Okay? Don't get confused now. Anyway, today we have perhaps one of the most unique and underrated games I have ever played. Normally I despise sports games, but being the person who loves gaming and is willing to give things a try; I've decided to give this game a chance. A friend of mine lend me his copy of Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow, and his British DS and I went ahead and played it for the first time. I was surprised how much I loved the game despite how absurd the premise might seem. Everything from the story, characters, and game play is nothing but fun. With that being said. Let's get this review started!
The story follows a young boy by the name of Arion Sherwind who moves in with his aunt and enrolls in the school of his dreams. The famous Raimon, a school that was host the legendary football team, the Raimon Eleven: A famous football team that won countless tournaments and football games. One of them being the famous world cup. Arion has wanted to be part of the Raimon football club ever since he was a young boy. However, things aren't all rainbows and sunshine. On Arion's first day, he was met with a gruesome sight. On the schools Front Pitch: The Raimon reserves laid down on the grass injured and wounded. This was the fault of one person, a young boy by the name of Victor Dark. Apparently, he was sent by Fifth Sector: an organization that are in charge of all the football matches and teams in Japan. Victor was sent to destroy the Raimon football club. Arion wasn't about to let that happen, so he voiced his opinion to Victor. Annoyed, Victor challenged Arion to a game. Simply steal the ball from. Arion reluctantly accepts, and was met with a difficult challenge.
This was only just one hurdle Arion has to face. As the story progresses, Arion learns that Fifth Sector fixes the football games and decides who wins and loses. They force all the football teams to abide to the results determined by Fifth Sector or face the dire consequences. Arion of course hates this, and decides to rebel against Fifth Sector and free football from their clutches once and for all. He isn't alone in this. Arion is joined by this generations Raimon football club that's captained by Riccardo Di Rigo; who is also known as "The Virtuoso" of football. Arion is even joined by past legends, as famous figures from Raimon's history make an appearance to help Arion and his team. Together, they'll face any challenge Fifth Sector throws at them. Football is on the line, and they'll risk everything if they have too!
The story sounds like it came out of a Saturday morning cartoon. This isn't a bad thing. The story is full of light heart good fun. It even has some inspiring moments that are usually expected in these types of stories. There's something unique about those moments in this game. It's just a lot more engaging and interesting to watch, To help illustrate what I mean. Here's a clip from ProZD.
(Before and After watching a sports anime: this video is owned by ProZD. Here's a link to his channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6MFZAOHXlKK1FI7V0XQVeA)
The characters all ave unique designs, and some characters (namely Victor) have some of the best charter development I've seen in a while. It does fall flat in some areas as not every member of the football teams gets a chance to shine. Only a few ever get development while everyone else sits on the back burner. I understand since there are so many characters to recruit in this game. It's a shame to see characters with such unique designs only five minutes of dialogue. It's even worse if they aren't part of the main cast. Any character that aren't involved in the main story get one or two sentences of backstory at most. Even if you like some of these characters; you're better off sticking to the main team. I'll get more into this in the game play section of the review.
(Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow and Light trailer by Nintendo 3dsuk. Here's a link to there channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwU4_YJ6Pj5x0T20Y5PDUVw)
There are Forwards/Strikers: These guys are excellent at scoring goals, but aren't really good for anything else. Main Fielders are all around types that have a good balance of moves and skills that are a good help in any situation. Defenders are excellent at blocking shots and stealing the ball from any attackers that come near them, but are not very good at keeping the ball or kicking. Lastly are Goal Keepers which are perhaps the most important of the roles; they protect the goal and keep the enemy team from. Once you decide who will be participating. You pick your formation, place your team accordingly, and start the match. Each character has a set of moves that help with the game. These moves are divided into five categories, and you use these moves spending on the situation your in. Kicks are for scoring goals, Dribbles are used to keep he ball from attackers, Blocks are used to block shots and stealing the balls from attackers, Catch moves are used by goal keepers to...catch the ball, and passive skills are used to boost stats and other game-play factors. That's the gist of it. The game has other mechanics I could get into, but this review would take too long to explain it all so I won't get into them. The most important thing to know is that matches are intense as you and the opposing teams trade moves into each other to try and score a goal. It's a lot of fun once you get use to the somewhat clunky touch screen controls.
One of the most craziest mechanics however are perhaps the fighting spirits. You'll face a bunch of these while your playing the game, and your team will eventually be equipped them. Fighting spirits are the physical manifestation of a players literal fighting spirit (no I am not making this up) and are used to greatly boost the stats of your players. Spirits are also divided into four classes like blocking, kicking, catching, and dribbling and each even have unique moves only the spirits can use. You can only have three of them on the field at any given time, and when the enemy uses them; oh boy! Expect some awesome battles as spirits can only really be defeated by other spirits .
( Avatar Inazuma Eleven GO: Majin Pegasus (Arion Sherwind) by inazumaelevenextrem, here's a link to there channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBAVNiZ_iuhy1yo8jaDGqWw)
While you aren't playing in any important story matches. You can spend your free time shopping for new moves and gear for your team, and battle other teams in small football battles or participate in small tourneys against teams you've played against in the past. There are even training areas you can use to train your team if they are lacking in a particular stat. One of the biggest selling points in the game is the fact that you can recruit over a 1000 characters to join your team (this is a lot like Pokemon now that I think about it). I didn't spend much time with this as each character have specific requirements to join and are kind of pointless. There are no unique story to explore with them other than the two sentence backstory I mentioned before. The worst part, the story forces you to play with certain characters so our better of just sticking with the main story line team. If you into collecting, more power to you, but I highly don't recommend it.
(Inazuma Eleven Go OST Fukutsu no Toushi by Official Original Soundtrack. Here's a link to there channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwFQT9bq9eJeAjDud4y1TIA)
Art and Visuals: Art look familiar? Should be. I can't find the name of the artist, but this company helped make Yokai Watch so the art looks very similar to that game. Every character has memorable and unique designs (900 of the them had interesting stories to go with it). The places in this game are a but uninspired however. I can only think of three places that are interesting to look at. I think it's because the game only goes to like five locations in Japan. Animations are really good though (for main game-play at least. It looks kind of funny outside of playing in matches). Fighting spirits and football moves are always fun to watch. I never want to skip them. This experience is only heightened by the music of the game which have a mix of fun tracks for strolling through the city and inspiring beats for those your football matches.
DLC and Additional content: Luckily there are no dlc to speak of in this game outside of players you can download on the internet. I don't think they are available anymore but I'm not sure, I wasn't able to connect to the online service. There is a post game which is based off the movie and helps resolve certain plot points that were explained in the story. If you somehow have a friend with the other version of the game; you'll have access to additional content such as version exclusive characters, tactics, moves, and even spirits. I however have no idea what these version exclusives are like as I never got a chance to obtain them. Oh well. From what I hear from others. The content is pretty awesome.
Conclusion: Inazuma Eleven was a fun surprise that I didn't expect to enjoy so much. The game has so much going for it despite it's clunky moments. The story sounds absurd and ridiculous but it's suppose to be. Simply put, I feel like a young kid when I watch the story in action. The game-play is also a lot of fun. I'll never get tired of seeing fighting spirits clash with one another and amazing football moves come into play. There's a fair mix of challenge didn't expect either. Some moments are a pushover, but other times I'm seconds away from losing only to find a way to clutch a score and claim victory! It's moments like that why I enjoy this game so much. If only I was able to play the multiplayer portion of the game. Sadly the online community is dead so not much luck there. Anyway, if you get your hands on a British 3DS, I highly recommended giving this game a try if your in the market for something light, fun, but also exciting. Stay tune for my review on the sequel, and let me know what I should review next. Thanks for reading and happy gaming!
(Inazuma Eleven are owned by Nintendo and Level-5. I don't any of the art or videos shown in the review and all rights go to there respective owners. Material was only used under fair use)
