INAZUMA ELEVEN: Victory Road Review

It’s been over a decade since developer Level-5 released the last fully-fledged INAZUMA ELEVEN videogame. In fact, it’s almost been a decade since this game was first announced! Originally titled INAZUMA ELEVEN: Ares, the now-released INAZUMA ELEVEN: Victory Road is finally here!

Constant delays and pushbacks mean it’s been a long, long road for fans of the franchise, but was it worth the wait? Well, it’s time to lace up your football boots and get ready to dive inside the penalty box, as we take a look at INAZUMA ELEVEN: Victory Road.

The main story mode sees you take on the role of Unmei Sasanami (or Destin Billows if you opt for the English names), a fresh face at Nagumohara Junior High School. After a rough few years, Sasanami has had to turn his back on the sport he once loved, making this high school a perfect fit for him after learning it doesn’t have its own football team. It doesn’t take long for his spark to reignite, however, and what follows is a fairly light-hearted adventure that never takes itself too seriously, whilst still being engaging to play through.

Victory Road features plenty of modes, with the other prominent one being Chronicle Mode. This sees you travelling through time to experience the stories of past INAZUMA ELEVEN games through static scenes. It feels like a celebration of the past titles, yet is still enjoyable if this is your first time with the franchise.

You’ll face a series of key matches from prior titles with a set team, with each game having set objectives that need fulfilling in order to progress. Except, you won’t simply move on to the next match. Instead, you’re forced to replay it with your own custom-built team, which then unlocks the next story section. Whilst this can make it feel repetitive, the blend of objective-based and Ultimate Team–esque football is a combination that works surprisingly well.

If you don’t fancy getting into a story-heavy RPG, there are still plenty of options that mainly focus just on football. Competition mode lets you play both online and CPU matches, as well as BB Stadium acting as a sort of arcade-style ladder, pitting you against a series of different teams.

Practically everything you do rewards you with new items, unlockables, and currencies used to spend across each game type. However, if you want to take a break from the pitch, there’s the mode perhaps no one expected: Kizuna Town. Here, you create your very own customisable town and wander around it with friends. Using the previously mentioned unlockables, building up your town is somewhat redundant and doesn’t add much to the game, but I have to admit it was enjoyable nonetheless.

The presentation in Victory Road is absolutely gorgeous and incredibly charming. There’s obviously a heavy anime aesthetic throughout, from unique character models (with some truly insane hairstyles that make Ronaldo’s shaved head with a fringe look normal in comparison) to startlingly flashy moves on the pitch. The cutscenes are perhaps the highlight of the whole package, as these are of such high quality that they would rival some of the best animations out there today.

As for the audio, it is mostly great. The impressive soundtrack delivers during every moment of gameplay, alongside plenty of over-the-top sound effects. Voice acting, especially in the English dub, is pretty underwhelming, unfortunately. Several characters just come across as flat and monotonous, so it’s definitely one where the original Japanese audio and subtitles are the way to go!

When it comes to performance, I only experienced a few hiccups, mainly with frame drops. These were infrequent and weren’t prevalent enough to distract me from the match, but they were there. Thankfully, that was about as bad as it got, with no crashes or obvious glitches to report on. Hurray!

Victory Road’s matches play much more like an action RPG than a typical football sim. Controlling the ball is simple: you can move, pass to a teammate, or shoot. Getting the ball down the pitch is all about a series of one-on-one focus battles with the opposition. Whether you’re attacking or defending, these encounters see you try to manoeuvre past a defender or tackle someone to gain possession. This is done either by moving your player left and right or by using special skills (with some incredible animations) to get the advantage.

Trying to score works in a relatively similar way, but this time it’s you versus the keeper. You’ll be able to aim the shot or use a skill to perform a more powerful strike, whereas the goalkeeper can also utilise skills as well as position defenders in a last-ditch attempt to stop the ball. If a save is made, then the goalie will lose some KP (Keeper Points), making it that little bit easier to score the next time around. Of course, if a teammate is in the box with you, then passing to them is always an option. Much like real-life football, it’s all about gauging the situation and taking the best opportunity.

For the most part, it’s quite basic, and a far cry from the mechanics of something like EA Sports FC. Though, it does have a bit of a steep learning curve as numerous mechanics are thrust on you quite quickly. Like I said, it’s much more of an RPG, with skill gauges, health meters, and numbers flashing up on screen as you chip away KP or other such stats. You’ll still take free kicks, take and receive fouls, and potentially be offside, but that’s about as in-depth as it gets when it comes to football rules. That isn’t to say it isn’t fun to play, because I had an absolute blast! Just don’t go into this expecting a complex control scheme and fast-paced gameplay.

As a package, INAZUMA ELEVEN: Victory Road is absolutely packed with content. With an engaging story mode, a separate story that retells the previous titles, and so many other game modes, it can feel a little overwhelming!

It seems like an obvious thing to say, but if you’re an RPG fan who also likes football, then this is absolutely a must-buy! Even if you’re not that interested in the beautiful game, I’d still recommend giving it a go. A lot less VAR and drunken mobs, at the very least!