Reviewed 21/9/2000

Paulo Tavare (The Portugese Cyber Mentor) writes:

I've been playing it for a couple of days now, and I'm loving every bit of it. I'm not able to scan the cover for now (I'm nowhere near a scanner, and I'm not counting on being near one in the next weeks :( It's o repairing :)) ), so, if I run over the net for some cover scans, I'll promptly send them to you... Now, for the main dish:

When I first loaded the game disk on my playstation, I was wondering what could have dramatically changed in this release... Since the first ISS Pro on the PSX, the leaps from game to game have been so noticeable and drastical, that nowadays I think twice before saying to myself "Ah... Konami just brought me the same game with a different cover...". Someone who has thoroughly played ISS pro evolution and was still playing it after all this time, just like me, will have a hard time just imagining what Konami has done this time, without playing this game...

The first reaction was deception. The graphics were quite similar, but not the same; the option were exactly the same as the last version of the game; the gameplay was so similar that I didn't have a hard time beating the Czech Republic with Portugal, on the normal difficulty setting, by 3 - 0. I was feeling ripped off by Konami.

My second reaction, after a few games, was that the game itself plays EVEN MORE like real football... I know, it is a bit hard to imagine, especially for all of you guys who are still playing ISS Pro Evolution. The animations are so more fluid, and the game's flow is just perfect. The keepers are so well animated, that you are led to believe they are really intelligent.

Now, asides from this review-style talk, and directly to the list of main changes I noticed for now in the game, in comparison to ISS Pro Evolution:

AI: - Keepers are great; if you press the button for them to come out of the goal, they do it appropriately, according to the movement and position of the ball, i.e. it goes equally fine if you press it in order to make the keeper face a one-on-one situation with a striker, or if it is just to punch the ball out of the area in a cross (the latter one never had worked for me in the last version). - The keepers almost never get down every time you make the Fake Shot move. - The field players play as a team, and their movements SEEM intelligent and instinctive, and not following a script (i.e. doing pattern-styled plays).

Game Options: - Master League now has 2 Divisions, and there are some new teams. They are Leeds United, West Ham, Valencia, Marsiglia, Fiorentina, Roma, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, Vasco da Gama, River Plate. (I'm sorry if any of these was already on the previous game; I don't quite recall all of them).

- Olympic Under-23 Tournament with the teams that qualified for the Games (i.e. Portugal isn't there :(( ).

Other cute details, just for fans: - Centering works far better; - Acrobatic and first-time shots come out as easily as they should, but of course they hit the ball correctly as rarely as in reality :) - The fake shot feint now goes to the direction opposite of the one it had in ISS Pro Evolution; - Lob shots no longer work with a two time square-button press; only with L1 + square; - Finally, injuries in ISS on the PSX!!! - You can select short and long sleeve shirts for the players! - This game is the first one I EVER saw the ball rebounding on the corner kick flag!!! Everyone thought it was going out of the field, but it hit the flag and bounced back into the field. Plain marvelous!!! - Control is more accurate (I know this sentence is just to vague, but you have to play ISS Pro Evolution and this one in order to understand the differences). - The game is a bit slower, I believe, majorly because of the graphical improvements. - The game is slow as hell if you play 3 players versus the computer, but I didn't notice any slowdown if the computer didn't have to control any of the teams (yet...).

Finally, do I recommend buying it? ... It's though to say... If you are growing tired of ISS Pro Evolution -i.e. if you have all the cups, and have been playing the Master League in Hard setting for the last 2 or 3 months, just because you say "sure there must be an end for it, maybe I'll play some more 10 seasons just to check...", then I definitively reccomend getting it. If you still are filling your trophy cabinet, and aren't tired of the game, then don't. This game is not that much of an improvement, they have just perfected even more the beautiful game, and I think that there's no need to spoil the fun you still can get from the great ISS Pro Evolution, because once you get this game, you just won't be able to stand a full afternoon of the older version...

Well, this is it for now. Sorry for the long letter, I got carried away, but it's just so perfect, that game... <sigh> :))

Paulo Tavares - pjft@mega.ist.utl.pt

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