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Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow Review

by Daan Koopman - June 5, 2014, 2:14 pm EDT
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Hold on... I think this is moving back to the right direction!

I have had a lot of ups and downs with the Inazuma Eleven franchise. However, the GO series made way for a serious second introduction to the universe and it blew me away much more so than the three Inazuma Eleven 3 entries. It is not the absolute highlight of the series, but it does quite a bit to make me want to keep playing.

What I like about Inazuma Eleven GO is the focus on a brand new set of characters. Mark Evans and the others had their time in the spotlight, but Arion Sherwind and his new associates give the series a creative punch. The new crew seeks to stop the evil doings of Fifth Sector, who are trying to remove the fun from football. They want to regulate all teams and let their players take over every club. The threat is wacky, but a bit more believable as well. Fifth Sector's influence is clearly shown through the various cut scenes and dialogue, but luckily the new players at Raimon Jr. High are here to save the day.

What kind of destroys these good vibes is the voice acting in the game, which is, at moments, downright weird and borderline offensive. The main character’s voice is high pitched and quite childish that doesn’t fit the tone of the story. There are also goofy accents all over the place, with phony-sounding Italian, Russian, and French accents. Outside of the British voices, the voices just don’t sound natural.

Inazuma Eleven GO features improved navigation that is more engaging, focusing more on the top screen than the touch, that is all about guiding your team around to talk to NPCs and prepping for big matches. It’s fun to explore, and you have an arrow present to guide you if you get off course. While exploring, you can buy equipment, grow the stats of your characters by entering random street matches, and scout for new players to aid you by defeating them in battle or acquiring special PalPack Cards. With these, you can find new players, though they will always require something before they join. It makes stepping away from the regular norm less linear than in past games. There’s tons of content to eventually uncover, but Inazuma Eleven GO is surprisingly closed off in the opening moments, taking a lot of time to develop. Although, it’s not much more than a slight irritation, bettered by the fact that the opening moments are paired with fun action.

The football matches are always what I enjoyed the most in Inazuma Eleven and now, they are even better. By drawing paths on the touch screen and tapping to shoot with the stylus, you try to set your team up to win. You don't have direct control over them, but that doesn't make plotting their movies any less fun. Your keys to victory, though, are the Command Duels, in which players perform special attacks of five different varieties to overcome or destroy the opponent. There is never a guarantee that you will win with a bigger block, for example, but the build up to the reveal of the outcome is tense. Fighting Spirits are another major part of the gameplay. Players can have three of these on the pitch at the same time, greatly improving their chances to win Command Duels. The Spirits have all sorts of other bonuses, too, and they evolve over time as you use them, though there is some risk since they eat away your special meter.

Next to the story, Inazuma Eleven GO offers an array of communication options. You can download additional content, such as more characters and items, to enrich your experience. For active StreetPass users, you can play against other people by getting challenges from their side and duking it out. The best options are available to local players who can trade characters with one another or see how their team fairs in matches of up to four people. In particular, the latter is great fun with the right crowd and works without a hitch. You can also play together in Competition Routes, which allows you to battle teams that you have previously played against. The more matches you play, the more treasure chests filled with nifty gear you collect.

Inazuma Eleven GO looks quite good on the Nintendo 3DS and surprisingly so for an early Nintendo 3DS title (it originally came out in Japan in 2011). The visuals have a crisp and clear look to them and every scene is filled with color. In typical Level-5 fashion, the cut scenes are what shine the most in 3D, doing a great job layering the scene. Additionally, the soundtrack is wonderful with very atmospheric tunes when you are on school grounds, and nice battle music to guide you to victory.

I was genuinely surprised by Inazuma Eleven GO in the most positive sense of the word. While the voice acting can be terrible and the game is too linear in the opening moments, there is more than enough to enjoy. The solid gameplay and novel presentation make it one game that fans and newcomers alike should check out, especially if they can make use of the multiplayer. The world of Raimon is still weird, but the world is more believable in this entry. This is one Nintendo 3DS game that deserves to be owned.

Summary

Pros
  • Crisp and clear visual upgrade
  • Interesting story
  • Quite a lot of content
  • Solid mechanics
Cons
  • A bit closed off in opening moments
  • Voice acting is not great at all

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Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow Box Art

Genre RPG
Developer Level-5
Players1 - 4

Worldwide Releases

jpn: Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow
Release Dec 15, 2011
PublisherLevel-5
RatingAll Ages
eu: Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow
Release Jun 13, 2014
PublisherLevel-5
aus: Inazuma Eleven GO: Shadow
Release Jul 18, 2015
PublisherNintendo
RatingParental Guidance
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