Valderrama's Pose On the Cover is Enough to Own the Game
Written: Aug 01 '00 (Updated Jan 08 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Realistic gameplay, scenario mode, responsive control
Cons: No real players, only international teams, commentary, decent graphics
The Bottom Line: Internation Superstar Soccer Pro '98 is one helluva football game. It's a nice distraction from Fifa, and an awesome sports game in general.
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| Horhay's Full Review: International SuperStar Soccer '98 for Nintendo 64 |
Intro:
FIFA or ISS? That was pretty much the choices that most N64 owners faced when they had to decide on which soccer title to buy. Both have their pros and cons, but which one comes on top? If you’re into flashy presentation and fast paced World Cup drama then FIFA is your sure pick, but if you’re into fictitious players and realistic soccer gameplay then International Superstar Soccer is for you.
Gameplay:
Since EA Sports has snagged the FIFA license, it’s pretty hard for other companies to use real life players in their soccer games. So Konami has done something that is quite funny. Instead of just making up a bunch of fake names and personas Konami has used real names of famous players and has given them a twist of sort. For example take the last name Wynalda (Eric Wynalda’s the all-time leading goal scorer for the USA national team), well subtract a letter and add a new one and you got Dynalda. If you’re a soccer fan you’ll recognize the names and laugh a couple times, but if you don’t know that much you won’t care. I just wanted to add this in because I thought it was pretty funny.
Anyway enough about fake superstars and on with the games. There are 6 modes that offer plenty of footie action. The Open Game is basically an exhibition match, the International Cup is just another name for the World Cup, and the World League is a huge season that involves 94 matches! The other three modes are just for fun or for practice. The Training Mode lets you get comfortable with the controls, the Scenario Mode allows you to play in numerous games where you must win a match and the Penalty Shootout.
The Scenario mode is a cool feature that adds some nice replay value. There are 16 scenario novels and each one contains a situation in which you must make a memorable comeback or play super defense. To give you a taste of what it’s like, here’s a sample: ׀nd half 4:23 Australia’s corner kick, AUS totally lost control of the game. Use AUS’s power play to widen the gap again.” So what’s this mean? Well obviously you take charge with Australia, and desperately try to knock in a goal with the time you have remaining. Again this is just for fun and it really helps you gain skill by trying to give you a situation in which you are losing.
A majority of the time I spent with ISS '98 was in the International Cup mode; I always like modes that offer prestigious trophies. You select a national team, and try to qualify by playing against other regional teams in order to go to the finals. Before each match you can change your starting line-up, formation, and tactics. As I always say the game never begins until the ref blows the whistle.
I wasn’t expecting this game to be so balanced, in terms of defense and offensive. Scores and results usually depend on your skill level, which is great. The game plays at a steady pace and the action always seems to be happening on both sides of the fields (well on the advanced setting). Passing is very responsive and moving the ball perfectly around the field is not unlikely. Shooting has its moments; shots can be manually curved, while up close shots lack power. An extra note would be that balls appear to float when they are shot, they just don’t look as if they’re traveling at a high rate of speed. There are other features in your offensive arsenal that include lobs, dashes, one-twos, step overs, heel lifts, and through passes.
Defensively the game revolves around headers, slide tackles, and leg pokes. Goalie AI is great, they’ll charge at on coming strikers, and make death defying saves when a hard shot is approaching. There are some weak spots like to many punch away balls and dives or movements that are not necessary, like falling down with a ball when they catch it standing up.
The control layout is very good, all the face buttons are used throughout the game, and little touches like the ability to curve a ball while it’s in air adds a great amount of depth. Passing is as a mentioned before responsive, the same can be said about one-twos and through passes. The analog control feels awkward at first but give it some time (you can use the directional pad if you want).
Graphics:
I just don’t know what happened, is it me or are my N64 games visually aging by the second. When I first played this game a year ago I was very impressed. Players were large, the fields seemed vibrant, and everything looked nice. I recently starting playing ISS a couple days ago and frankly my eyes couldn’t bear what was one screen. Everything seemed blurry, and players lacked facial details while crowds look like thousands of oversized colored pixels.
Sound:
Sound effects are pretty much your run of the mill soccer noises, with the exception of those loud drums that are repeatedly played during a certain moment in the game i.e. free kicks, etc. The commentary is done by a U.K. sportscaster named Tony Gubba. There’s no color commentary and I found most of the regular comments to be repetitive, but then again this version drastically improves over the original. The crowd screams after a goal is made sound unnatural; it sounds more like thunder than people cheering. And lastly there’s the up beat cheery menu music, which I didn’t care much for.
Overall:
ISS 㥪 is one of those games where it could have been king of the hill, if it had gotten an official license and more polish in certain areas. Yeah I know that the gameplay is the most important aspect in any game, but sometimes other properties of that game can truly spoil the party. Aside from the average graphics and poor sound ISS 㥪 is a great playing soccer simulation.
Recommended:
Yes
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Horhay
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Member: Jorge Vazquez
Location: San Francisco, CA
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