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GAME REVIEWED: ISS '98

RELEASED BY: Konami

PRICE: £44.99

REVIEWED BY: Kelly

REVIEW: -

For the sequel to the ever popular ISS Pro, Konami didn't feel that they needed a license to compete with EA or Gremlin with their latest releases FIFA 99 ad Actua Soccer 3 respectively. Without a license, Konami couldn't or weren't allowed to put the proper player names into the game but they found a way that by allowing the gameplayer the opportunity to place the correct names into the game by adding a player edit option. The only main downer to the game is that only international teams are included.

The In-game commentary comes from someone well known this time, Tony Gubba. Despite Tony Gubba's addition to the game the commentary is still a bit dodgy but it's a great on the commentary from the first game.

ISS 98's predecessor, ISS Pro was the best of it's time, but during the summer EA produced the awesome World Cup '98 which brought about Konami's decision to do something about improving the game so that it was top of the class again. Even with just the international tams in the game, ISS '98's gameplay is much easier to understand and a lot better looking and to play than FIFA '99 or Actua Soccer 3.

You can still only invite one friend round to show them how to play the beautiful game but hopefully you'll be able to invite more friends for ISS '99. If you want to touch up on your penalty taking there is a penalty mode where you can take on the computer or humiliate a friend. There is now a training mode which is a useful facility for practicing corners or freekicks if you can't get the hang of them in the real game. Also, you can alter formations to find one that suits your style of play the best. There is one downer to the training mode which is that there is no team to play against. In this game there are more cups to play in than the first game, where there was only one cup competition. You can also now play a full (or half) 15 team league season.If you are only playing the half season, then you play each team once, although if you play a full season, then you get to play home and away.There is now 5 difficulty levels to help the beginner familiarise themself to the controls, and provide a real challenge for the expert.

The improvement of the details is incrediable. You can pick out all the stripes and badges that are on the real kits. You can even know who some of the players are without reading their name of the sceen, as they look just like they do in real life. For example, Ronaldo (bald), Ravenelli (white hair) and Roberto Baggio (with his famous ponytail) are all very easy to pick out. As well as all this, the stadiums are more lifelike, and the crowd noise is much better.

The AI is absoloutly suberb. When you control the player with the ball, your team-mates run into space themselves, ready to recieve the pass from you. It is also a lot harder to score in this game, because the keeper runs out and dives at you as soon as you get into a dangerous position inside the box. There is also no set area, where you can always score from, unlike so many footy games. The computer even changes its formation to suit the one you are playing.

Teams are rated in five different categories, which are, power, speed, technique, attack and defence. You have the chance to train with any of the teams in the game to develop your ability, and to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of certain teams. Players are now rated in six categories, which makes it easier to decide who is the best, and where everybodys ideal position is.

ISS '98 still has the best feature of ISS Pro, which is the through ball mechanism, and its still the best in the business. The players in ISS '98 are considerably rounder than players in other games, this is by Konami's brilliant use of angular polygons. There is an option for changing the game speed for slow tactical matches, or end to end action. You now get to change the game lenght for leahue and cup matches, instead of having to play twenty minutes for each game, whihc got boring unless you planned to play the game for a few hours. You now have the choice of playing 5, 10 and 15 minute matches.

Without a doubt, this is still the best footy game for the playstation. FIFA '99 may look more realistic than ISS '98, but it certainly doesn't play as well. ISS '98 has the smoothest running gameplay on the playstation. This is the number one football game out at the moment. Outstanding effort from Konami. Every footbal fan who owns a playstation should have a copy of this game.

 

SCORE:

94%

LINKS: www.konami.com


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Last updated: March 13, 1999.