Reviewed  27/5/2001
Well, it has taken a while to get this review done. In fact, the release of Evo2 has forced a revisit to the game for comparison reasons.  There was no intention to leave it so long, but facts are, the game was never played enough to warrant a full review that would provide any thing more than the kind of superficial reviews you would find anywhere on the web.   Quite simply, I found the game frustrating to score in and frustrating to defend it.  In fact, defeating it on Normal was hard.  While I could appreciate the simulation aspects of the game, to me, it removed the fun-factor to such a degree than I preferred playing other games.  Well, since Evo2 has come out, and a few little Evolution idiosyncrasies were realised in that game, that going back to this game has revealed it to be much more fun than previously realised.

Gameplay
This single biggest factor that marks this game as a true evolution from ISS 98 is what is called the "Press 2" move.  This is assigned to the shoot button and acts the same as the standard "Press" or standing-tackle when the button was held down in Pro 98. Except, there is one key difference: one of your team-mates instead is summoned to do the pressing while the player currently controlled does what he is being controlled to do.  Essentially, it means you are commanding two players at once, and in defensive situations, it adds to the real team feel of the game.  Sure, like in ISS Pro, it takes away much of the individual's obligation to do the work himself, but facts are, manually trying to out manoeuvre attackers is difficult and this feature is a true blessing in disguise.  Now, there is no excuse for conceding goals other than your own bad play or simply being out-played. 

But wait, there is more.  The key area that this Press2 move comes in handy is with interceptions.  Personally, I am a total dictator on the pitch and will take control of any player way up-field and try and make an interception myself, most often just using the radar as a guide for positioning.  Often, I come out done, but when succeeding, it is so satisfying.  Now while this game "cheats" so to speak, in getting a teammate to do it - very accurately too - the fact is it significantly reduces the frustration factor in the game and adds to the fun factor of Evo.  Now I can here many purists (including myself in the past) as labelling it as cheap, but facts are, if your opponents are silly enough to pass near an opposition player, they can't complain about having the ball intercepted.

Of course, with a plus side, there has to be a negative. And the negative is that with two accomplished players, scoring is very difficult indeed.  Especially so in that the general player marking is quite close making the Press2 move an even more effective counter-measure.  In fact, 1-0, 0-0, and 1-1 results are most common now, which is in contrast to the end to end stuff of Pro 98.  In scoring, the game asks you to perfect the short-passing game using short through-balls, one-twos and lob-through-balls, and to shoot first-time.  Of course, recommendations on purchasing this game are too late now, but facts are, if you are after more high-speed thrills and goal-mouth frenzies, then stick to ISS Pro 98.

There are a couple of other slight annoyances, some, a long time trait of PS ISS games.  One is the relatively poor AI in going forward.  Quite often, you'd make short through-balls to players out-wide, and they'd just ignore them.  Often they'd already have made a run and stopped, but that is still no reason to not make another run, or chase after the ball.  Also, some of the directions the CPU decides your through-passes go are very strange.  Occasionally, you aim out wide, but they would go straight - towards a player making a run up the centre.  It seems the destination of the ball is somewhat geared to where players are making runs and not the direction you are actually pressing.  Like the Press2 move, suppose it is one of those "helping hands" that the game gives, but thankfully, its occurrence is infrequent enough to be a significant issue anymone.  Suppose previously, this issue became somewhat frustrating because it came on top of the defensive frustration, which is now gone. 

Compounding the AI and direction peculiarities, is the inertia of the ball and the players in general.  The ball simply rolls forever, even greater than seemingly most billiard tables.  So missing your target is made even worse because it means a loss of possession and a throw-in for the opposition.   Speaking of throw-ins, the game re-freshes the screen before a throw-in which re-positions every player on the field according to formation.  Why?  The throw-in should take place at the current status of player positioning so any advantage can be taken, just like the real thing.  The refresh occurs for goal kicks too.  Anyway, just another minor quibble, just like the player inertia.  Basically, if a player is leading out or chasing down a ball and gains possession, it is quite difficult to stop him running.  Often he runs out of bounds chasing those errant wide balls! 

Other things to note, compared to Pro 98, the passes are less meaty or punchy - they travel more slowly to their destination.  Not really a problem, but just something that is different.  And low crosses are done differently compared to the repeated-lob press of Pro 98.  Amazingly it is defined in the manual too, and is performed by passing whilst facing the end-line.  Don't turn 90 degrees and face the goal-mouth, because that forces a pass, which often gets sent to a poor place, or gets picked off.

The ability to call on the GK to rush out of the box by holding the "L1" button is still there, and like with the Press2, adds to the team-concept of the game.   A word of warning, though.  If you are one to change the button configuration like I am (which again sadly can only be done via the start menu, and not pre-game as it should be), the Press2 and GK-rush buttons are sometimes interchanged.

Other things noted are from the first impressions which are still relevant:
* takedowns. With passes quite often bounced to you, players have to trap the ball before passing. This is done automatically and looks great and is realistic.
* there are now 4 strategies that can be set, and for the first time, all can be set at once.  Although, I don't know how you can attack down the centre and out wide simultaneously. 
* the mentality gauge is back, but now with 5 notches.
* the marking, attack inclination and defensive options have been ported over from the N64 versions, finally, but still none of the handicapping options
* corners and free kicks - still no arrows, and somewhat random.  Maybe that is realism?
* replays come on automatically in more instances, like offside, corners and shots. They can also be saved but the length recorded is not really long enough
* still can't change button configuration whilst playing a tournament.  It is has to be saved then exit to the main menu to change the config. And, there is still no full-manual control that lets you pick any player on the pitch that has existed in the Nintendo versions right back since then SNES days.
* many more camera angles, with a Fifa-style TV view.  However, the default is best, and is lower than Pro 98's.
* referees not strict enough, and there is still no setting to adjust this either
* only 3 difficulty levels instead of 5 from Pro 98.  Still, the game seems hard enough anyhow.
* a great feature is you can determine which match is to be next played in tournaments instead of the random selection
* no random team selection in versus mode still.  Suppose you can just close your eyes and pretend. (WRONG. There actually is a button that does - it be "select" or "triangle" or something.  Can't remember, and it is not in the manual.)
* there is an extra Master League, which is based on clubs and goes for 15 seasons!   Manchester, London (Arsenal), Amsterdam (Ajax), plus about 15 others from around Europe are there.   At present they can't be used in versus mode friendlies but a code or winning the tournament may unlock them.  There seems to be a vacant room on the team selection to add to the current 53 teams.
* training mode - just select it and your team and watch for a few minutes.  Would make a great screen saver!

Visuals
Basically, an evolution on Pro 98, which sees more sharpness and superior animation, both in terms of fluidity and antics.  With the design limitations of any game console, there is never going to be significant improvement in quality, but the most important area of realistic kicks, traps, touches, celebrations, seems all there.

Sound
Chants, roars and music are slightly improved, but the commentary, is still pretty ordinary.  And the whole thing sounds quite flat compared to other top PS games and even the N64 ISS games.  Having said that, there is the option of having the commentator call out player names.  Whilst that seems dumb since they are not exact replicas, they are phonetically close enough to warrant the inclusion.   Tony Gubba from Pro 98 is out, but this new guy's repertoire is just as limited and his clarity not that much better.  Just listen to the voice on the start-up screen - it's pathetic.  Like with the visuals, there is not much that can be done with the system's limitations, but in comparison to other PS games, the overall presentation - other than the sound, which is definitately the weakest area of the game - is of the highest quality.

Compared to N64 ISS 98?
ISS 98 is a six-month old game at the release of Evo, and it was quite a bit better than its direct PS counterpart, ISS Pro 98.  The fluidity, comprehensiveness and more evolutionary, so to speak, gameplay and options, were too great to ignore.  So the question is, has Evo caught up?  At the time of the preliminary review, ISS 98 still felt the better game, even though there were a few causes for complaint.  But now, with the full complement of Evo features realised, it is probably too hard to call and again comes down to that increasingly common line of "what you prefer in your game".  ISS 98 is still the far more action packed, more flowing, and more accessible game, but the realism of Evo seems to make it more satisfying. 

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