is a 2011

role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...

and

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

for the

Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...

by Level-5. It was released on December 15, 2011 in Japan and Europe on June 13, 2014 and released on July 18, 2015 in Australia and New Zealand. There are two versions of the game, ''Shine'' and ''Dark'', which was released in Europe as ''Light'' and ''Shadow''. An ''Inazuma Eleven GO'' manga based on the game began serialization in ''

CoroCoro Comic is a Japanese children's manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It was established in 1977 and several of its properties, like ''Doraemon'' and the ''Pokémon'' series of games, have gone on to be cultural phenomena in Japan. The name comes fr ...

'', while an anime TV season based on the game produced by

OLM The olm () or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander which is the only species in the genus ''Proteus'' of the family Proteidae and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe; the family's other extant g ...

started airing on May 4, 2011. The game takes place in a world where an organization called Fifth Sector rules over the world of soccer and manipulates matches as an

authoritarian Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...

dictatorship A dictatorship is an autocratic form of government which is characterized by a leader, or a group of leaders, who hold governmental powers with few to no Limited government, limitations. Politics in a dictatorship are controlled by a dictator, ...

based on broad-communistic values of distributing soccer and the joy of victory equally among everyone. Arion Sherwind (Tenma Matsukaze in Japan), and his soccer club, Raimon Jr. High, attempt to lead a

revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

against Fifth Sector, by going against Fifth Sector's laws and winning the Holy Road soccer tournament. A sequel, '' Inazuma Eleven GO: Chrono Stones'', was released in 2012.

Gameplay

The gameplay is the same previous entries. The core gameplay involves a

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

adventure in which the player controls Arion Sherwind to explore the map, recruit new players, advance the story, and engage in soccer battles. Likewise, soccer Matches and soccer battles are controlled using the touch screen, and play in the same way as all prior games. New to ''GO'' are "Fighting Spirits". Fighting Spirits are mythical beings which players can summon during soccer matches/battles. A player's Fighting Spirit gives them an offensive and defensive advantage, and often allow the summoner to perform unique hissatsu techniques which involve their Fighting Spirit.

Plot

10 years after the FFI, an unnoticed darkness lurks behind the country; Japan and what used to be soccer has changed over the decade. Because of the victory of Inazuma National, soccer has become greatly popular and influential in the country, to the point that a school's worth is directly proportional to the skill of their soccer team. The weak schools are forgotten and forced to close down due to lack of public interest and applicants. Soccer in Japan is now controlled by an organization called Fifth Sector and is led by the one known as the "Holy Emperor" Alex Zabel. Soccer in its current state is controlled and relies on the commands of the Holy Emperor on whether a team wins or loses based on set scores. This saved schools all over the nation from closing down by balancing tournaments—but a price had to be paid: "real soccer" didn't exist. The protagonist, Arion Sherwind, tries out for the Raimon soccer team and passes. But he soon realizes that soccer is not how he imagined it to be. Arion stirs a revolutionary wind among with the members of the Raimon team, and they soon aim to free soccer from Fifth Sector so that middle school students all over Japan can finally play without Fifth Sector's orders. And the Raimon team is not alone; they discover the Resistance that aims to replace the Holy Emperor, and are also assisted by the previous main characters of the series. With every match they win in the Holy Road, Raimon wins over more schools to their cause.

Development

Reception

The game received mixed or favorable reviews on MetaCritic.

References

Notes

External links

Official site
{{Level-5 2011 video games Association football video games Inazuma Eleven video games Level-5 (company) games Nintendo 3DS games Nintendo 3DS eShop games Nintendo 3DS-only games Nintendo games Role-playing video games Video games developed in Japan Communism in fiction Multiplayer and single-player video games