Legendary Eleven Review

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It’s been a while since I played a footy game that wasn’t FIFA or Pro Evo related. Back in the 80’s and 90’s there were lots of options, whether that was something as scintillating as Sensible Soccer, something with novelty value like Libero Grande or the arcade classics like Virtual Soccer. So imagine my intrigue when Legendary Eleven appeared. Supposedly inspired by the golden age of arcade football from the 80’s/90’s, Legendary Eleven definitely had me interested.

Legendary Eleven opens up with a very simple but nostalgia stirring menu. You’ll spend most your time playing Championship mode where you can choose from 36 teams across different cups such as the Asia Cup, America Cup, Europe Cup, Africa Cup and World Cup. They all begin with a group stage where the top two qualify for the knockout rounds. Strangely extra time takes the Golden Goal route where the first team to score wins the game, if it’s still drawn then it’s a penalty shootout. There’s a Legendary mode where you have to achieve a certain aim within a game, such as scoring twice in the last 10 minutes to win a game.

If you like the multitude of skill moves, variables in passing & range of shooting you can perform in a game like FIFA then you’ll be disappointed with what’s on offer in Legendary Eleven. However the simplicity of Legendary Eleven is what makes it fun. You can do a slide tackle or a block tackle, you can do a skill move and your passing ranges from short, long to through ball. Crossing the ball is the same button as the shoot button, if you cross the ball often your player will do a bicycle kick which is very easy on the eye. Have I mentioned the Supershot yet? Well if you do a skill move that works or make lots of passes a meter fills up, when it is full you are able to perform a Supershot which for the most part will result in a goal (there are rare occurrences where the keeper saves it). There’s very little in tactics besides picking a formation whilst your players are giving an overall value of quality with limited attributes on view. There are also 32 cards to collect, these cards give you morale boosting powers such as extra endurance or having your best defenders statistics increased. In Legendary Eleven you can’t just keep on doing skills or constantly press the sprint button because your players stamina will run down quickly, this is most noticeable in poorer teams. Your players will literally stop if they run for too long. The referees are very hit and miss which adds some charm to Legendary Eleven, funnily enough there is a Permissive Referee card which means the ref will let most of your challenges go.

The range of teams is based on old 80’s geography, for instance USSR is still a thing. Even on the easiest setting winning the World Cup with Denmark or Peru will be difficult because a team like Brazil will have much better statistics for their players. It’s against the better teams you may want to turn the Supershot off. This is because your goals are more likely to come from crosses or running through the opposition defense, it’s quite annoying when you’ve dominated and the opposing teams first shot is the usually unsaveable Supershot. There is a distinct retro feel to Legendary Eleven, it wouldn’t look out-of-place at an arcade. The graphics are decidedly retro and fits in with the 80’s announcer vibe. All the players are big and bold although there is an issue with shirt clashes which can make some games hard to see which players are which.

There are a few bugs in Legendary Eleven, whether that’s their keeper throwing the ball to you or players not doing what they are supposed to. The worse bug happened when I made some subs during a goal kick. The half ended but the viewpoint remained as the keepers perspective when taking a goal kick, unfortunately the next half was Golden Goal, I couldn’t select any players so the other team just ran through and scored. There is a limited local player that is invite only at the moment.

Legendary Eleven is a fun but limited game. There is some entertainment to be had but there are far too many rough edges that need ironing out. If you want to experience something like arcade classic Virtual Striker then Legendary Eleven is probably the closest you’ll get to it. Legendary Eleven isn’t trying to be Ronaldo or Messi but it does a very good job at trying to be Carlos Valderrama.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.

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Legendary Eleven Review
  • Gameplay - 6/10
    6/10
  • Graphics - 6/10
    6/10
  • Sound - 6/10
    6/10
  • Replay Value - 6/10
    6/10
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User Review
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Comments Rating 0/10 (0 reviews)
Overall
6/10

Summary

Legendary Eleven is a fun but limited game. There is some entertainment to be had but there are far too many rough edges that need ironing out.


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