Acquired: 27 October 2000
First Impressions
It has been a long wait for this game original planned for early this year.   In fact, it is so late it should have been retitled ISS 2001 to avoid any out-of-date misconceptions.  While the ISS Realm has not been playing it, much of the rest of the world has.  Several emails received had expressed slight disappointment in the game because nothing had really changed much.  And what had, had made it inferior to ISS 98.  The speed, feel and over sensitive shooting were among the rumblings questioning whether a purchase was necessary.  Well, after putting in a mini-tournament against the other two ISS Mentors, plus a handful of CPU games, I can safely say the game is definitely better than ISS 98.  The distinction is not as great as ISS 98 was to ISS 64, but the small changes have improved the game and made it more realistic.

Yes, the feel is different and seems slightly slower, but in the context of the game itself, it felt right.  Not sure if it is genuine speed factor or slightly tighter controls, but a comparison back to ISS 98 will verify this.  Yes, the shooting is more sensitive, like the Pro games on the PSX, which I think is good.   It is easy to blast over the net by pressing too long, and now some composure is required - again, realism.  Of the goal keepers, they seem to rebound shots better now - often closer to their bodies making it easy for them to re-gather.

But the area where the PSX was way ahead of the N64 games - the tackling - has thankfully been given the treatment, almost exactly what I asked for here in the ISS Realm.  The frustration of dispossessing a player with a slide tackle, only for him to steal it back from you because you are still on the ground, has been addressed.  Now, and as it should be, most tackles will see the ball rebound away, and only the well executed tackles win possession.  These possession wins thankfully see your opponent fall most of the time meaning you can get up and play the ball.  The step-in tackle seems to have more rebound tendencies too.  And with your teammates' AI improved to chase the rebounds, it makes more for a realistic game that has less shots and more onus on the defence.  I am certainly glad Konami recognised this area of need, but unfortunately, they forgot another major PSX feature that Nintendo don't have.  The tournaments

Sadly, other than a basic league option in the pre-season mode, there are none of those wonderful, fully customable multi-player tournaments that ISS Evolution had.   Putting in these tournaments must be one of the simplest thing you could add to a game, yet they have gone missing, again.   I know you can keep tabs yourself, but really, you should not have to.

There are two other more publicised features: the hi-res mode and the career mode.  Firstly, the hi-res mode is too jerky to be played leaving you missing that traditional ISS smoothness.  And of the career mode, a quick go shows that it has some novelty value at the very least.  You basically pick a player, choose his looks, club and colours.  Train him, read all sorts of dialogue between him, his manager, teammates and officials.  See how he performs in pre-season matches and then see if he gets selected.  Eventually you get to use him in one of the national teams which has to be achieved within 3 years.  As usual, the Konami instruction manual is far less than comprehensive, so it really is a case of play and see.

That's it for now.  Whether you buy it depends on whether you had any problem with ISS 98.  It is worth noting too that the player's names bear much less a resemblance now than for ISS 98, but countering that, there are far more teams to use, all the way down to Fiji and Liechtenstein.  For those that were unhappy with the things I was, then ISS 2000 is a worthy purchase and all the ISS Mentors are grateful they made the purchase too.  For others, facts are it is - on first impressions - the least improved, or changed, gameplay-wise, ISS game ever.

First Impressions 1/10/2000
G'day..warrior im from canberra, and i got iss2000 about a week an a half ago... just like to give you some of my views on the game in comparison to iss98.. but ill do it in a nice simple point form way.. also it must be noted that the improvements took some time to notice... meaning that there are probably more to find as i play it...

Positives(p):much better ball physics, ie deflections and roll...also when trapping from a high ball the ball is much harder to trap, ie it doesnt got straight to feet as in 98 (unless play has special skill - TRAP) and bounces away slightly... this is realistic.. and a great feature...

p: tighter control and new moves, ie. one-two move that is passed in air, and headed back..... kick an run (z + c(bottom))... and jump in air (double z)... and in particular the new types of kicks... ie. the new forward lean kick (if you know what i mean... usually happens when kicking low for the corner of goal)...

also when crossing a low ball close to the goal mouth ive managed a few nice side taps into the goal... i wish there was more of this.. cause alot of goals are scored with placement side taps at goal in real soccer.

.. there is also a nice new kanu style volley using the outside foot.. nice.. ... i agree with you about the defence system is much improved...and just the other day i noticed (by accident this new move - maybe its not, but its not in the manual) when a high ball comes your way, by pressing together B + A....you do this defencive leap where you dont trap the ball, but just seem to get in the way of the opposing team player... sometimes you do end up with the ball though...

...another great feature is the fact that now you can (by pressing and holding c-up + c-right) contol the keeper, making him come off the line..

p: took me some time to see the better new celebrations, but they are awesome.. the best being the one where you step up and stand on the advertisment sign... i did this while playing holland... also there is this cool celebration i did as david beckham... arragantly hoping around in front of the crowd.. there is also this nice arrogant celebration done by none other than the french side... cant believe i actually chose them..ehehhe I dont know if you noticed in 98 version, but i love the japanese side, and 3 of the top players in that side had their own personalised celebrations.. ie. nakata just walks a few paces forward then runs back... but this happened every single time i scored with him... unfortunately its not the same in this version... japanese team has ordinary celebrations... ;(

p:career mode.. not bad.. i also like many thought that there was not enought practical game play.. but.. ive got a feeling it depends on how successful you go with manager trust and condition etc.. cause to begin with i was limited to a couple of 1 min practice games, and a couple of cool free kick drills.. but finally.. a got a 5 min second half stint... with my team 1 - 0 down.. ill let you know how i go with that...

p: something i forgot to mention.. if you noticed the sound of passing and shooting at goal is much improved..ie. the thud sound of kicking the ball... also the stadiums look awesome

Negatives/ or recommendations (n):Firstly, konami's instructions are pathetic.. hope konami would open an english sight based on faq's like alot of pc games...

n: ball physics could still be better, ie ball could be in a higher resolution like fifa on the pc - only good feature of fifa i might add... :)

n: Although i love the great idea of the kick and run feature... the kick should be further in front of you.. ie. 5m - 7m ahead of you rather than what looks like about 2-3 done in the game...

n: love the idea of how certain players have certain SPECIAL SKILLs , but all players should be able to volley in the air and not just in the ground... those without the skill should just be more likely to kick it over th bar... thats another negative... in iss2000 ball doesnt go over the bar via a volley or header.. which is unrealistic... more volleys go over the bar than non-volley shots..

n: more side-footer placement shots at goal.. please..

n: Resolution of players need to be improved.. too blury.. my eyes get sore.. maybe cause i play too much..

n: ref should give cards in game.. ie from original game view you are using rather than the zoomed in cinematic sequence.

n: Cant believe there isnt a team edit feature, ie tops, colours etc... it sort of exists in the career mode... but that would be an awesome ingame feature...

n: need real players names.. i know konami got the rights.. so im stolked about it.. pity it wasnt in time for this game.

n: players faces in create a player are crap in this game.. better in the animation style they used in 98 verison, ie the same faces as those found in game play.

Now to get really picky...

n: why why why cant they have the small player numbers on the front of shirts as well as bottom of shorts.. now that would be realistic... even if it was a blury dot.. it'd look cool

n: Need a better higher veiw.. correct me if im wrong.. but it seems that the far, high veiw (which i use) is getting more side on.. its sorta like watching a game at arsenals home ground ( okay not so bad as aresonals home view) which is a shit view.. if yourve watched a game on tele from barcelona... or last night's asian cup final between japan and s.arabia the veiw is higher.. its some much more playable and enjoyable to watch.. cause you can see alot more.. ON replays, i alway make it the highest view... and pull the camera back abit..(further.. but not too far).. wish they had this view..

n: Replays should be longer.. ie last 10-15 seconds of play so you can see build up to goal... also should be savable.. for those absolute screamers.. that would be awesome.. a best goals comp...

n: now finally.. after possibley crapping on too much... celebrations should be individual with some of the top players.. or even better.. CONTROLABLE... it would be awesome if the camera zoomed out a bit.. and you could do a areoplane - sort of top veiw (like the end of game in the original iss 64 - remember) and run down the line past the coach etc... or even jump over advertisment and go on the running track.. or even better.. a creat a celebration feature (similar to the create a taunt in wwf2000).. i know this may sound silly.. but how awesome would that be.. particularly if the goal meant so much...

Now i know know this may sound all far fetched.. but the gamecube would definately make this all possible... now let me know if you agree with the positives and negatives/recommendations... or if you have anything else to add... jeez sorry about the length of this.. i was initially thinking of a few points.. got carried away i guess..

finally.. i wish there was some way we could get in contact with the developers.. and have our say.. im sure they'd appreciate what the iss fans really want... ive heard of other developers doing surveys etc.. in regard to improving sequels etc...

look forward to your views on what ive written.. also.. i dont own a psx.. and ive heard pro evolution is better than the iss2000 n64.. is this true.. a few reviewers have said this... in that case id maybe get a cheat sony from cd relolution or papers.. anyways gotta run, love your site, cheers, Steve

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