Football simulations are ten-a-penny these days. There are so many but nobody seems to be able to take the best bits from each one and create the ultimate soccer game. ISS Pro comes very close to the ultimate soccer game but just misses that elusive title by a whisker. In comparison with a lot of other footy games it actually plays like a real match. You can pass the ball around with ease and accuracy slowly building up and then inject a bit of pace as you skin a defender down the by-line. It utilises the 3D persective view for the games as most do nowadays and it looks good. It also plays very well. Once you have mastered the controls it is good fun and quite easy to play. The players move along smoothly and at a glance you could almost be watching a real match. Only international teams are available which is a shame but there are different types of competitions available. The controls on the pad make use of the short pass, long pass, shoot and through ball options while combining these with the shoulder buttons will add tricks and flicks. The "through ball" pass is an excellent move as once the ball has left the foot of one player, his counterpart will automatically start running in between defenders to latch on to his pass which adds that touch more realism.
ISS Pro doesn't have licensed rights to use "real" player names but certain players in certain teams look remarkably like the real players. For instance the England Goalkeeper has a floppy center parting and a 'tache a'la David Seaman and so on. The only major downfall is the commentary which is dreadful and best turned off. As with most football games the two player game really brings out the competitive side in you, or you can team up and try to beat the computer on the hardest setting which is fun too.
The best use of polygons on a soccer game I had seen when first playing it (most games are of this standard now) and the motion capture is excellent. The pitch and crowd are...well as most pitches and crowds look on these sort of games. Altogether the graphics match the gameplay....Excellent.
This is where ISS Pro falls flat on it's face. Compared with the smooth tones of Des Lynam, detailed description of John Motson and trademark comments of Andy Gray on Fifa '98 the equivalent on ISS Pro is diabolical. I don't know who the guy is that was used but there is only a library of a handful of phrases and most of the time they do not correspond with what is going on. About five seconds after the game has kicked off he'll come out with something like "They'd better hurry up if they're going to get anything out of this game". The crowd noises are also quite average. I hear the whole audio side is to be brought up to scratch for this summers sequel though.
ISS Pro is probably the nearest to the ultimate soccer game that I have played gameplay wise but it could do with a lot of work on the presentation and audio side which is where Fifa '98 excels. I will continue in my quest for the ultimate soccer game though. One day maybe.....who knows, ISS Pro 2 is due out soon. Could this be it?
