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The MLS has made major strides since its creation. It is no longer where you play when you can’t
play anywhere else. Now they are putting out quality football, in stadiums specifically
designed to host football matches. Sure it still has long way to go until it is anywhere
near the level of the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, and the rest of the power leagues. Nowadays,
the league is very competitive and the fans have responded. But isn’t it fun to go back
in time, to the year 2000, when the league was providing entertainment but for the wrong
reasons. You can do that with ESPN MLS Gamenight.
This game is made by Konami and runs off a modified version of Winning Eleven 4, only
now totally focused on the MLS. So this is a quality football game, with a well developed
system behind it. If you come from playing Fifa or any other football series, this is
going to take a couple matches to become acquainted with the system. But after you do, it will
feel quite good and you will be pulling off great crosses, through passes, re-centering
headers, and of course scoring goal, after goal, after goal.
This was back when the league only had 12 teams. Big franchises like the New York Red
Bulls, and the Houston Dynamos had yet to be created but you can relive your great memories
of defunct teams like the Tampa Bay Mutiny and the Miami Fusion FC. And all of this is
presented by ESPN which means you get award winning commentating from Bob Ley, who puts
in a less than best quality performance, or you have spanish commentating from Luis Tapia,
for our Latin American friends.
The real meat of the game comes from taking your favorite team through an entire 32 game
season. You will have to manage your team, maintaining your players’ fitness, dealing
with injuries and making trades to lead your team to the MLS Cup. But there is also Cup
Mode, which plays like tournament mode and even Custom League mode, where you can decide
which teams make it into the league. The game doesn’t have just MLS teams but also the
national teams of countries like Italy, United States, England, France and many others. Do
you want to stay in the MLS or see how the Kansas City Wizards do in a league of national
teams? The choice is yours.
ESPN MLS Gamenight is a quality football game, running with great game mechanics and showing
a league still in its infancy. The quality of football of the MLS has gone up considerably,
and the quality of this game has remained timeless.