| International Superstar Pro Oh my god what have Konami done? The king of football finally steps down from his throne. If you asked me what my favourite football game of all time was, my answer would be ISS Pro Evolution, the reason? Well I�m not a big football fan you see, so obviously I don�t play them at all for real player names and all the teams, instead I simply play for fast, fluid and smooth gameplay and Evolution certainly offered all that, but Konami�s first class footie action comes to an end for now. Something I do love about this installment though are those wonderful graphics, which do have similarities with the N64 version but are much smoother and sharper to it�s less powerful rival, the grass of the pitches looks like well grass, well ok but it isn�t just a blanket of green anymore like most PSONE football game playing surfaces resemble. The player models are all very human like and all move around the pitch smoothly, but there is some problems with the keeper animations as they resemble a flight rather then a dive, but not too much trouble here really (as you would expect) Evolution had fantastic Artificial Intelligence which was one of the highlights of the already superb gameplay, but on this version the players seem to have forgot all those skills, and instead of sprinting up alongside you into the box as you run along the wing they seem to just stand around, making crosses to strikers very awkward indeed not to mention incredibly frustrating as well. Even taking a shot brings with it a small problem, as the shot meter that measured the strength of the shots seems to have been dumped for a more FIFA like shooting system, but FIFA handled it well while this doesn�t as a lot of close distance shots will sail into the crowd making it very hard to be BANG ON TARGET as Chris James (haven�t heard of him) the commentator shouts when you get round to hitting the target. Chris James is joined by a co-commentator (Terry Butcher) who talks a load of nonsense a lot of the time, but thankfully the commentary is an improvement from earlier ISS and Chris James is excitable unlike Tony Gubba of ISS98 fame, and he seems very hyped up when the ball eventually finds the net. It even begins in a bad way, with almost impossible menu screens to get around, also bringing a substitute on the pitch or making tactical changes is tough too and really shouldn�t be, all this ends up, as is a chore. ISSPRO is neither excellent or bad, it�s a bit of both but I did look forward to this but was disappointed in the end thanks to those minor but gameplay affecting flaws, anyway THE KING HAS FALLEN.Simon Wigham 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 |