Inazuma 11 is a soccer game, but it’s pretty different from FIFA
When I was in Japan, I was pleased to see more portable gaming devices being played everywhere, especially on the subway. I hate to admit it, but whenever people were playing on the subway, sometimes I’d try to sneak a peak at what they were playing. It’s like DS stalking. On one particular subway ride, I managed to catch a peek of a kid playing some game that looked like a RPG, but there was something different about it – the protagonist was kicking around a soccer ball. Intriguing… Turns out the kid was playing the third installment of the Inazuma 11 series, a wildly popular soccer RPG series in Japan (and a very popular kids anime). I decided to pick up the first game in the series (in Japanese of course) and ended up playing that for the rest of my trip. What is a soccer RPG? Is the game only for kids? Is it weird to stalk people’s portable gaming choices? (Probably). Hit the jump for answers to all these questions and more!
What is a soccer RPG?
As I mentioned in my gaming in Japan article, the soccer RPG has been a pretty strong genre in Asia for awhile. It all started with Captain Tsubasa, which was a unique take on the traditional sports game. Based on a Japanese manga, Captain Tsubasa had you playing different matches, but it was different from an ordinary soccer game. Whenever you were approached by another player with the ball, the game paused and you were given a list of options – slide tackle, press, hold position, etc. (it was all in Japanese). You could choose one of these options just like you could choose Attack, Magic, or Item in a traditional RPG – hence the term soccer RPG. There were also special moves – special slide tackles, ridiculous shots, goalies propelling themselves off goalposts to make a save, so those kind of served as magic spells. It was an awesome game and there were tons in the series, including a release on DS last year.
These games were and are a lot of fun because they combine a strong storyline with persistent features, your players level up as you continue to play. Thus they learn new techniques, get stronger and faster, and you face more difficult opponents as the game progresses too. The soccer RPG is really a lot of fun, and I loved the Tsubasa games as a kid and am interested in checking out the newest version now.
Inazuma 11 has taken the soccer RPG to a whole new level – adding in the overworld of a regular RPG to the RPG elements of the sports game side of it. You are the talented goalkeeper Endou Mamoru, captain of your junior high school’s soccer side that only has seven members. You start the game by recruiting players to join your team, including Goenji, a star striker who has just transferred to your school, and the story continues from there.
Even if you can’t read the case, there are only three letters you need to understand
So how do you actually play the game?
The overworld will be familiar to anyone who has played a RPG. You walk around the school (and eventually the entire city), talking to people, finding treasure chests, and buying equipment for your players. In addition to the team you start with, there are over 1000 players in the game who you can recruit to play on your team (mind boggling, it’s like Pokemon I guess. No wonder kids like it). You don’t have to recruit players though, since the story helps you build a big enough team to play the matches your team plays.
There are two types of battles in the game – random battles and matches. Random battles occur as they do in any RPG, you walk around and then there is a CRACK and bam you are fighting. You can choose to fight or flee – shocker. The random battles consist of four of your players playing a quick 15 second soccer game with four random enemies. You either have to score a goal, steal the ball from the enemy, or not let them score for the 15 seconds.
Gameplay is pretty straightforward – you can draw lines with your stylus moving players around the map. If a player has the ball, you tap the stylus where you want him to pass the ball, if he is close enough to goal and you tap the goal, your player can shoot. Whenever you shoot or get shot upon, you can choose between different actions (strong shot, chip shot, etc.), or if your players have special techniques you can use those as well. The same thing happens when two players are fighting for the ball. Even though the gameplay is straightforward and can be a little repetitive, it can get pretty addicting, and it is definitely possible to lose these random battles. They don’t result in a game over, you just lose some experience points and money.
The matches are full 11 on 11 soccer matches – you play 30 minute halves and the team with the most goals at the end wins. These matches can get pretty intense, if you haven’t leveled up the players on your team enough, the computer has a distinct advantage, and most of my games have come down to one or two goals. In fact, the team ends up playing in a tournament, and I advanced twice only on penalty kicks. Maybe I’m just not that good at kids’ sports games…
The gameplay is quite strong, and it has to be for me to keep playing the game. I check an FAQ online to keep track of the story, but really, not being able to read a lick of Japanese besides yes or no means the story isn’t really what’s keeping me playing. It’s just a lot of fun to learn new techniques and to use them against harder and harder opponents.
Lost in translation?
The biggest bummer for me is the fact that I generally have no idea what’s going on. I go from battle to battle, and I follow the huge purple arrow telling me where to go in order to figure out who I have to talk to next. Of course, I never have much idea why I’m talking to them, and I’m usually just playing to get to the next match. That being said, I’m really enjoying my time with the game, and would highly recommend it to anyone willing to take a flier on a different type of game. It’s refreshing to play a totally different type of game than what I am used to. It’s tough to find in the US, though you can Ebay it for more than its worth. I got it for less than $20 US in Japan, so if you ever happen to be flying across the Pacific, definitely keep an eye out! I also hear that it’ll be released in Europe soon, that means I might be able to get my hands on an English version! Here’s hoping.
