Inazuma Eleven Go: Light / Shadow (Nintendo 3DS) Review

The world has gone crazy - no longer is football a mere sport where players show off their skills, now it has become so abundantly popular that it has pretty much taken over the world, with people only joining schools that have strong teams. The world really has gone football mad, and this game is launching just in time for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil! How about that for good timing, Nintendo?

Players are no longer in charge of Mark Evans. Instead, the new lead is a chipper young chap by the name of Arion Sherwind (complete with what sounds like a girl's voice). A few familiar faces make an appearance for those that dislike complete change - such as Coach Travis and Celia, plus some secrets best left uncovered - but this is ten years after the events of Inazuma Eleven 3, so the fact that changes are afoot should have been expected. For those that extensively played Inazuma Eleven 3: Team Ogre Attacks!, Arion actually made a cameo appearance, tying in with his back-story for this game - whilst trying to save a puppy, Arion trips, but is saved from being hit by the toppling planks of wood ready to knock him into a coma by a cool-as-you-like Raimon Eleven member (again, no spoilers here!), blasting the boards away with a fiery shot. Ever since that day, Arion has kept that ball as a keepsake and sworn to always play football. However, corruption has been creeping into the good game and there are those that wish to crush football forever. Thus, Arion is spurred on to rouse his new team-mates and overcome…evil…

As soon as Inazuma Eleven GO gets underway, it is apparent the boost in hardware has been used to considerably lift the series from its DS origins. In come plenty more animated video sequences and a large dose of extra voice acting (albeit more corny accents galore to listen to - one of the best being a really broad Geordie kid, totally out of place in Japan! Although why there are no Mancunians or Liverpudlians is a complete mystery…). Gone are the tiny 2D character sprites in the isometric world, being replaced by chunky 3D models for all characters, all set against somewhat simplistic 3D locales. The old DS games had a Dragon Quest IX feel to them, whereas now the game has more of a Dragon Quest VIII appearance, with Level-5's PlayStation 2 RPG for Square Enix looking to be the visual inspiration, which is a positive factor indeed!

The range of new characters take a while to gel, but they all have their own charm and grow on the gamer as the adventure continues, each having their own weird and wacky personas, as well as random accents. Something that is always odd in movies, TV shows, and in this very videogame, is when a foreign character randomly spouts lines in their native tongue, and the viewer/player is expected to simply know what it means. Sure, things like 'moi, aussi' (literally 'me, also' - or just 'me, too!') are basic, but actually if there are people with no knowledge of French, then it will likely prove to be extremely annoying, just how several US programmes throw Spanish in, expecting everyone to have a basic understanding. With the character in question in this case, JP, muttering increasingly complicated lines of dialogue as the game goes on, it almost becomes like an educational test - French-English dictionaries at the ready! A minor annoyance and one that some non-UK gamers may think the same of the text used for local British accents, which is admittedly tough to read at times for a native Englishman as well!

Another bugbear, sadly, and it is something hanging over from every other game in the series, is the new objective indicator, with it seemingly even more frequent than before in Go, which as those that played past games will know, is really tiresome after a short time. The level of hand-holding is beyond a joke, removing any necessity for exploring the surroundings. It actually starts off as it means to go on, with new tasks cropping up very regularly. What is useful, though, is the Chat Lock feature that shows people with different coloured speech bubbles above their heads - yellow for extras that can be spoken to and red for the main character that allows for the trigger that makes the story progress once spoken to. Want to skip unnecessary chat? Head straight for the red marker and start that conversation quickly!

 Football and RPGs mixed together. It seems like the dream of some mad man, right? Well, the football side of events is the baseline story and a good excuse to throw an intriguing battle mechanic into a pretty standard RPG fare. Working extremely well since Day One, what is both frustrating and extremely disappointing is the way matches are now played in this newest edition. Whilst in essence the same as before, sadly due to the graphical update, characters on the top-down viewed pitch are nowhere near as clear to see, and it is harder than ever before to distinguish who is on what team. This means passing to the opposition and not being able to make vital tackles has become tougher and threatens to spoil what was a very solid tactical battle layout in the past - at least to start with. Do not misunderstand - the whole approach is still mightily impressive, but merely tarnished compared to its predecessors, which is such a shame; changes for the moderately worse, but not ones that cannot be adapted to, however.

For those that have not played an Inazuma Eleven title before and are unsure what the above is referring to, the idea is that each member of the team can be moved around the pitch by dragging the stylus in whatever direction is desired and watching as they follow the player's designated path - rather like the process of piloting Fox McCloud's Arwing in Star Fox Command on Nintendo DS or controlling team-mates in the Wii iterations of Pro Evolution Soccer that made use of the Wii Remote's infrared point-and-drag feature for closer interaction with each player. The core concept is still as gripping as before and works like an intriguing take on the real-time strategy approach seen in series like Command & Conquer, constantly moving members in all manner of directions to avoid pitfalls - like colliding with oncoming defenders, midfielders and attackers. Should encounters occur, though, the current statistical levels are compared and the winner of that one-on-one scenario is declared by who is deemed most 'powerful' at that time. The same goes for when bringing in the special moves, with various behind-the-scenes numbers being crunched to determine whether an over-the-top attack will blast by the goalkeeper with ease or if defenders can make that imperative block to prevent progress into the penalty area.

Other than the special moves of old (of which there are over 200 found in this game), the game reveals that in this world when a player's energy reaches its peak it takes the form of what is called a Fighting Spirit. Up to three of these Fighting Spirits can be summoned at any one time on the pitch at the mere touch of a specific on-screen icon and then let the battle commence between these beastly creatures! It simply makes for an even more over-the-top approach to what was already a bizarre spin on the football theme, but will appeal to the Pokémon and Dragon Quest Monsters crowd, no doubt.

Players themselves, and the accompanying special moves that they can learn as experience levels build up, fall into one of four types - Air, Fire, Earth or Wood. Element types play an important role in command duels (when both players try to use a special move at the same time) and when using special moves against opponents (the face-offs during matches), with Air beating Earth, Wood beating Air, Earth over Fire, and Fire above Wood. Naturally, this means that a player based around the Wood element, for instance, will be stronger when learning and unleashing Wood manoeuvres. As it says in the game itself, 'Master the elements to master football!', and it is definitely true to get that cutting edge and ensure victory is claimed every time.

Battles in previous Inazuma Eleven releases were sometime criticised for being rather laboured, so thankfully battles are of a faster pace in Inazuma Eleven GO: Light / Shadow, and once accustomed to the character sprites matter mentioned before, the fun commences very quickly. Encounters have been touched up in a few areas, with missing the ball being more of a frequent occurrence to add a touch of realism in this update, and random tapping on the screen now does not always result in swift passing as it did in the past; GO encourages more skill and care to be taken. Making life easier on the defensive side, tapping on someone else with the ball automatically draws the nearest ally to charge in his direction and try to block, dodge, charge him or do a slide tackle to retrieve the ball. Drawing lines to move defenders around works just as well, but this nifty addition adds dynamism to the action, freeing up the stylus to position other players ready for a counterattack when the time is right. Keeping an eye on a player's condition is vital throughout, though, as when little beads of sweat start flying from them it means their Fitness Points (FP) are starting to run low, at which point use of an item or an eventual substitution is required, or else they become clumsier on the ball and gradually get slower and slower when running.

Anyone finding it hard to pass and move closer to within range of an opponent's goal, Long Shots can be triggered using the 'S' icon found on the right side of the Touch Screen, which activates shots that can be done from anywhere, dependent on the amount of Technical Points (TP) remaining and moves available for a particular team member. There are even team manoeuvres that can get the ball from defence to right up front in mere seconds, but again, the right amount of high level players and remaining TP are required to do so. Other than that, the make-up of a team for standard battles or the key event matches can be amended with ease through the menu screen, touching and dragging squad members into the appropriate places, and the same goes for equipping them with stat-boosting pieces of equipment and accessories. Most of the game is highly intuitive on the controls front, although some of the menu navigation is still a little clunky with too many options hidden deep within sub-menus.

Battle Scouting makes a return from Inazuma Eleven 3, whereby upon winning a football battle, a player from an opposing team sometimes will ask to join the squad, making for a far simpler recruitment process than in earlier DS entries. Sometimes it will be a case of turning them down due to ridiculously low stats, but the odd gem of a player will indeed rear his head from time-to-time to bolster squad depth. With over 1,000 characters in total to hunt down (one interestingly called Ballzack - perhaps meaning to sound similar to Ballack, but unfortunately sounding rather like something else entirely…), a lack of choice is not something the game has to ever worry about!

Speaking of battles, they are no longer random encounters, with the choice of whether to take part in matches now possible, and an option to replay them again in order to boost levels and potentially recruit new team-mates. Enlisting more troops can also be done using PalPack cards, though - data cards that state exactly what is required to entice certain folk to join. These are organised into bundles and managed by a PalPack dealer, and using Friendship Points gained during general play means some can be purchased. Requirements for getting these special players can be accruing special items, taking important photos (yes, a special camera allows for images to be captured in certain locations), or even having other players in the squad already to entice newcomers. This makes for a very intriguing process of building the team up to be as strong as possible, and whilst the hand-holding parts of the game drag the exploration elements down, this lifts it back up with the feature almost becoming like a side-quest marathon, especially when trying to find the correct photo spots!

 Also outside of the on-pitch football shenanigans, another extra to lengthen the main adventure comes in the form of the Extra Competition Routes, where meeting various people opens up new routes in a battle competition to score rare items. Victory Ranks are determined by how many goals are scored, such as a Bronze for just winning, Silver for winning by three goals, or Gold for winning by at least 5-0. Additionally, for those wanting to keep up-to-date with the latest happenings in the world around, there is a nifty little social media tool included call 'iNattr' - clearly a fun play on the word 'natter' - where lots of new posts appear from characters and bits of gossip to check out. The whole game has an interactive side to it to make the gamer feel as much a part of the world as possible and, as in the past couple of games, the story is laid out in the form of a TV show of sorts, with the conclusion of a chapter providing a brief overview of what just happened, followed by a hint towards what can be expected in the next 'episode.'

Level-5 has tried to cover all areas thoroughly, even throwing in StreetPass and SpotPass updates, codes to unlock extra features, and plenty of multiplayer options for those not satisfied with the meaty solo adventure alone. This is a great leap onto the Nintendo 3DS, and although not quite as good as Inazuma Eleven 2, it has laid a very strong foundation for future games on 3DS.