Players : 1
ISS Pro 98, for short,
is one of Konami's flagship titles on the Nintendo 64 and now is
available for the Sony Playstation. Endorsed by Carlos Valderrama,
international superstar and captain of Colombia's national soccer team, it
includes the following features :
- Extensive motion-capture, with over 17,000 animations
- Live, realistic commentary by UK sportscaster, Tony Gubba
- Intuitive, adjustable artificial intelligence
- 40 international teams with 16 players per team
- Five unique soccer venues
- Ability to create your own players and trade existing ones
- 16 pre-set formation types with an infinite number selectable
- Five pre-set camera angles
When released on the N64 it received the Interactive Achievement Award of the
sports game category in 1997-98. The award was announced at the opening night
of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 28th,
1998. This award is given to honor the highest quality in video games by the
Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences each year, and it beat five other
games in the final round to win the award.
Playing the Game
There are a number of different game modes available when you load up the game :
1. Exhibition: A one-off game between yourself and a friend or the CPU.
2. League: Enter the ISS Pro 98 International League.
3. Cup: Several different Cup Challenges available including
International, Konami, European and African Cup.
4. All Star Match: You can play or watch as the All Star teams.
5. Penalty Kick: Get some practice in.
6. Training: More practicing, but this time for shooting, passing
and kicking.
NB.: Modes 1, 3 and 4 allow you to either compete against a friend or
the CPU (ie. the Playstation). Alternatively you can team up with a friend, or
the CPU itself, to play against the CPU, or simply watch the CPU play with
itself... if you see what I mean.
Options
The options available are :
1. Memory Card utility: Revise the difficulty setting and match time
of League and Cup mode.
2. Controller Configuration: Default settings :
OFFENCE DEFENCE
Circle Long pass/centering Sliding
Cross Short Pass -None-
Square Shoot -None-
Triangle Through Pass Keeper Button
L1 Cursor Change Cursor Change
R1 Dash Dash
3. Screen adjust/align: Sort out that wonky screen!
4. Player Edit Mode: Edit player modes
5. Sound: Adjust volume of sound effects, music, commentary,
audio mode and spoken language (English, French, German and Spanish).
6. Screen Text Language: Choose from English, French, German
and Spanish.
NB.: There are also a number of in-game options which can be changed
including the team formation.
Graphics, Sound and Playability
The graphics are very well done, and colourful too, in this game. The viewing
angle changes when going to a corner kick, throw in, or when you've fouled
someone. Also, you get close-ups when a goal-scorer runs around the pitch in
celebration, plus the goal replays and penalty shoot-outs. That's not to mention
that during static shots there's some other nice touches including flag-waving
by the crowd!
The sound comes across very clearly in all forms here. Nothing too extravagant,
but for a football game what else do you need apart from the roar of the crowd,
the usual football sound effects and the expert commentary?
The game plays along at a cracking pace. I could mark it down for the fact
that I've yet to score against an opposing team, but then that might be because
I'm not very good. Tackling is good fun though. It's a nice touch to see the
opposing side's players moving out of the way when I go in for the kill.
However, when I tackle someone, if it gets called by the ref as a foul, I
still find myself shouting insults at him (!)
Overall
Overall, I'm not particularly a fan of sport in general, and I certainly don't
make a point of watching it on television, but I do find it very enjoyable
playing a good football game like this one ... even if I'm not very good at it.
Sure enough, there may not be too much in the way of originality here but
that's not really as important in a football game as long as it looks good
and plays well. Those who are football crazy, football mad, are sure to get a
real kick out of it, if not a few fouls too.
GRAPHICS : ****
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC : ****
PLAYABILITY : ****
ORIGINALITY : **
ENJOYMENT : ****
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OVERALL : ***½
If you're after some more info on Konami's games, check out their Website at
www.konami.com
Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 1998.
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DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
