"A football game with substance...."

The ISS series, once hailed as the best series of football games during its stint on the Nintendo 64, has slipped in popularity over recent years, and has been overtaken in popularity by its sister title Pro Evolution Soccer (Winning Eleven). With ISS 2 being a major let down to most fans of previous titles, lets take a look at how the new release goes some way to repairing the damage.

The introductory video gives a good idea of what’s to follow, showing some decent animation of in game action and a few tricks and skills. A nice addition is that the manager of the team is animated too, something that does occur in game, and I shall explain more about this later. This pre cursory video does well to get you excited about what’s to come.

When you get to the main menu, you are greeted with a plethora of options, some of which are new to the series. You get the usual options of Friendly mode, International Cup, World League and Training, yet there are also the inclusion of Mission Mode and the bizarrely misspelled Catalog mode (Misspelled if you’re English anyway). A penalty kick mode has been left out though, a terrible decision in my opinion, since many people enjoy a simple penalty kick competition with their buddies.

Mission Mode is a replacement of the famous Scenario mode. Many people were at the very least furious about the omission of the scenario mode from ISS 2, and Konami have included this feature to more than make up for it. Rather than placing you in a match up where you have a goal deficit to make up, it gives you one half of a match to simply win under preset conditions. An example of one such precondition is that you have to win by scoring from a free kick. The problem is that you have to actually gain the free kick yourself, as it doesn’t simply place you in a game ready to take a kick. This mode pits you against incorrectly named club teams, a first for an ISS game. These club teams are fairly easy to recognise, with many of the leading European clubs included. Obviously you aren’t expected to do these missions for nothing, and points are awarded for successfully completing them. These points can then be used in the Catalog section.

Points are also awarded for winning matches in the International Cup and World League mode, with additional points being awarded if you successfully complete the competition.

Catalog is a new element, and gives the game an element of longevity not seen in previous incarnations of the game. The points you gain in the course of the game can be spent here to buy new tricks, custom kits, and also stadium parts. There are 343 different items available to buy, so you’ll have to win a lot of matches to get them all.

“Stadium parts?” you may ask. You buy these because there is a small stadium editor that allows you to create a custom stadium to play in. A nice inclusion, yet fairly small and is easily forgotten, yet getting all the parts of the stadium is something to aim for.

Now, lets actually get down the most important part of the game, the gameplay. ISS 2 failed its fans since it simply wasn’t too much fun to play, yet this one certainly makes up for it. Although it doesn’t reach the standards set by PE2 for simulation of the beautiful game, it does offer a fast paced, skill-oriented style of game. There is a wide array of tricks available, and you can select different control options to enable you select the trick you want using a combination of buttons, or you can choose to press only one button and allow the computer to select an appropriate step over or dummy for you. More elaborate skills can be purchased in the Catalog, and they are fairly well animated and implemented. The ability to curve the ball has also been re introduced, a major omission from ISS2, although it has been made more difficult to achieve and more realistic in its severity compared to its Nintendo 64 grandfather.

Shooting is similar to all the other ISS titles, the longer you press the button, the more powerful, and the more you tilt the control stick, the higher the ball goes. A simplistic system that has worked well for many years, yet at times it does feel that you don’t have quite enough control over the direction of the shot, especially when close to goal. At times it feels frustrating when you see the ball go over the bar when you have hardly pressed the shoot button when you first pick up the game, yet in time the controls do become easier to use once you get used to them.

Tackling has been vastly improved, with conservative tackle being much more realistic. In previous games, a conservative tackle would almost always end up with you having the ball no matter where you tackled the opposition. People who play and watch football know that if for example, you tackle from behind, conservatively nor not, its likely you will trip the opponent and will result in a foul. This has been well deployed into the game, with a fair balance of conservative tackles resulting in a positive outcome and a foul in the appropriate situation. You are able to pull the opponents shirt and try to out muscle them if you do end up on the wrong side of them, and this is where individual statistics for defending and strength come into play. Slide tackles and more vicious offences are also included if you’d rather defend more recklessly.

A key element of a football game is the passing, and while it’s an improvement of that found in ISS2, there are times that you end up feeling the AI used to choose the most ‘appropriate’ team mate to pass to is far below adequate. Many times there is a player who you would feel it were more obvious to pass to, yet the AI chooses a person either too far away, marked by another player, or dangerously close to goal. You have to use the onscreen radar carefully so you know whom you will be passing to, else you can be left in all sorts of trouble. Saviour from the automated selection can be found from the ‘no search’ pass, which simply kicks the ball in the direction you’re facing; yet using this is more recommended for advanced and experienced players of this game.

Dribbling of the ball has been overhauled, with the player being able to shield the ball and keep control of it much better than before. This doesn’t mean that you can run up the field in the style of the FIFA series, since the CPU intelligently tackles and blocks your runs. A new feature included is the close up one on one mode. A nice inclusion, allowing you to beat the defender in close up glory, leaving them wrong footed if you do get past them. It only usually occurs when you are down the flanks and are close to the goal, so when you beat them you’re usually in space to put a cross into the box. Crossing of the ball is fairly standard and is comparable to most current games, although you do have more control over the situation that for example in FIFA 2003. It is also possible to dive, and while this usually ends up with you being booked, occasionally, very rarely, you can get away with it and win a free kick.
Set pieces are well implemented, with free kicks and corners kicks being easy to perform, yet difficult to master. A simple arrow and power bar method is used, with curl being applied using the c stick. Sometimes it is difficult to judge where the kick will go with weaker players, yet this just adds to the realism of the game.

Often when a contentious moment has occurred it will cut to an image of the team manager, who may be celebrating a goal or be furious at a refereeing decision. This gives the game a nice element of completeness, and really adds to the atmosphere of the match.

This takes me on the graphics found in the game. The player models are well constructed, and they have been animated carefully to make the various interactions seem realistic and authentic. Famous players mannerisms seem to have been included also, with Beckham and Zidane having their own presence on the field. The player likenesses are also very good, with the stars of each team being instantly recognisable. Stadiums have been well designed and the pitch is well proportioned compared to the player size, a problem highlighted in some recent games.

The in game sound is superb, with all the sound of the crowed being well incorporated to raise the atmosphere. Professionals Jon Champion and Mark Lawrenson supply commentary, as they did in ISS2, and many of the samples used in that game have found their way into this game. The commentary keeps up well with the gameplay, and many more player name samples are included, yet the analysis does get repetitive after a while. Stadium announcements are also included to add to the completeness of this title.

The modes available are pretty standard, with International Cup being the World Cup, and World league offering either a European or American competition. Multiplayer support is included for up to 4 players, playing competitively or cooperatively. A new feature called point battle is included, allowing players to bet points that they have been awarded for beating the computer on the outcome of the game.

Additional features of the game include the now standard create a player feature, and also a create a team mode, allowing you to customise many elements of a team, including the name, kits and also the flag. You can make your own designs using the flag editor, or use some of the pre made examples.

Overall this game is fairly well polished, fun and easy to control game, although it isn’t particularly revolutionary. It gets the ISS series back on track and makes it a decent alternative to PE2, and certainly a better option that FIFA 2003. Certain modes offer great replay value, and the inclusion of club teams and many officially licensed national teams give a good authenticity to the game. The game is bursting with addition features, many of which that haven’t really been advertised or used to their full potential.

I believe this is a good stepping stone for Konami to really produce a great ISS game next time around, since this has many redeeming qualities, and with a bit more polish could have been a truly superb, must have title in its own right.

This game is certainly not without it’s faults, yet does go far to restore consumer confidence in the ISS brand, being a very playable and enjoyable game allround.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/05/03, Updated 06/05/03