Thats a not at all bad effort
Written: Jul 01 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great multiplayer game
Cons: poor single player
The Bottom Line: Any footy fans with a 64 and some friends, this is a must have. Apart from possibly the sequels, you wont find a better genre title on the console.
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: International Superstar Soccer for Nintendo 64 |
This was one of my earliest memories of my N64, being given a loan of this and Mario Kart by a relative. Years after playing it constantly with my friends and giving it back to said relative, I found it going for a few quid and decided to see how it had held up over the years.
As you can quite easily guess from the title, this is a football/soccer game, for the Nintendo 64 that focuses on International teams.
The game offers all of the usual types of play, such as cups, leagues and friendlies and the ISS trademark that is scenario mode, this involves taking on a challenge, such as brining France from 1-0 down against Spain to being in front within a limited amount of time.
The graphics, for a game that is a good few years old, on the N64 no less, are pretty impressive with all the players looking good, if a bit similar, but all animated well. The stadiums are all well rendered and you get a good feel for the game from the appearance. It does of course, feature this strange fuzzy haze that the majority of 64 games that I have played have had. It isn’t anything major, but noteworthy none the less.
The aural aspects of the game are a bit different. The crowds sound great, but the nameless commentator flirts between hilarious and irritating on a regular basis. Examples of his moments include getting really excited about saying GREECE! but remaining ever calm when talking about the Czech Republic.
The game controls fairly simply, with on the ball looking like this:
A: Pass
B: Shoot
Down-C: Run
Up-C: Through ball
Left-C: Lob
Right-C: 1-2
And off the ball:
A: Step in Tackle
Left-C:Slide Tackle
R: Change Player
These all respond to an excellent degree, and all come out perfectly.
Where the game really comes to life is in the gameplay department however. Possibly because it was the first time any of me or my friends had the opportunity to have a 4-Player game of football, this used to be a staple of my evenings playing 2v2 on ISS64.
The teams, despite not having real player names or correct kits, play like their, at the time, real life counterparts very closely. Scotland are crap, but can give a decent game (as opposed to now when they are just crap) and France are just a pretty good team instead of the World Class outfit they would become.
As some hilarious gesture to try and get good sales, England are actually good in the game.
ISS 64 does not go out to be a realistic football title, and instead concentrates on arcade, fast style football. Tactics aren’t really the key here, its all about flashy runs and great strikes. The keepers catching the ball is a bit of a rarity, so all sorts of fun goal-mouth scrambles ensue during matches.
ISS 64 is just plain fun. I really doubt it even matters if you are a fan of the beautiful game to enjoy this, because it’s just a great fun game to play when you have some friends round, and a great time multiplayer game is needed. To be honest, between this, Goldeneye, Mario Kart and WWF No Mercy my N64 was only ever really used for multiplayer gaming, and it has to be said that this received the most play out of all of them.
At the end of the day, if you want to give an arcade football game a chance, with ISS 64 you won’t be disappointed. While the Goalkeeper AI could come in for some heavy criticism, it actually seems to add to the fast, furious and goal filled nature of the game rather than detract from it.
ISS64, while falling slightly shorter than making it into the running for my favourite football game ever, definitely makes it into my top five for the best N64 games. Its just so simple to pick up, play, enjoy and get your friends round to repeat the process that you can help but enjoy yourself.
The game really doesn’t have any variety of 1 player game to keep you going, seeing as the Scenario’s are far easier than the Snes entry. But the fact is, that even if only for playing with friends, ISS 64 is a worthy addition to any N64 gamer’s collection.
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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