TGS 2008: Inazuma Eleven 2 Hands-On

TOKYO--One of the two playable Level 5 games at this year's Tokyo Game Show is Inazuma Eleven 2. It seems to be another soccer role-playing game that takes place at a school. The last game must have done well because it was just released this past summer and they're already working on the next. Level 5 seems to be fairly random with its games, but Inazuma Eleven 2 appears to be a fun RPG aimed at kids and those who liked the first game. We started a game from the beginning and were introduced to a fresh-faced young boy who was itching to play some soccer.

The opening anime cutscene gave us a good look at what some young boys do in their spare time: play on the Nintendo DS, play cards, and avoid getting enough exercise. We see another boy walk into the room with a soccer ball and try to convince his friends to play with him. The others didn't seem to want to move a muscle, so he leaves the room, looking a little rejected. Given that our young athlete didn't want to join in on the more laid-back hobbies, we took him outside to check out the surroundings.

The top screen of the DS had a map of the area. We talked to everyone we met on the way to the parking lot and to the entrance of the school. Classrooms were empty, so we weren't sure what to do next. We decided to boot up a save file that already had a soccer team so we could check out the soccer-playing mechanics. We jumped into a game in which there were three boys following you around in single file. We walked down a grassy area and suddenly jumped into a soccer match. It's like random battles but without the monsters.

We switched to an overhead view of a soccer field on which you're playing against an opponent. Like in real soccer, you run around the field trying to get the ball. Once we got it, we used the stylus to draw the direction in which we wanted the ball to go. At the bottom of the touch screen there were a few options. We were able to get our team member to jump and dodge the opponent once, but usually we just tried to kick the ball toward the goal. These were short matches on a timer, but whenever you have the ball, the game will pause to let you plan out your strategy. Once you execute it, it goes into a brief cutscene, kind of like a special-move sequence you might see from an anime fighting game. It looks cool, even if you don't manage to get your ball in the net or end up passing to the other team.

It was difficult to get the details on how this RPG evolves, but from what we've played, it looked as if there was a lot of exploring, treasure chests to open up (on campus, no less), and soccer games to play. It's a different take on the usual RPG formula, which is good to see. Inazuma Eleven 2 is set to be released sometime in 2009.