Installation, Settings and Loading Speeds

ISS 2 is a quick loading game which starts with an introduction sequence which can be skipped through by hitting the start button. You can change the settings in the game for the Game Level, Match time, Player Condition, Starting Time, Extra Time Format, Weather and Stadium.

Gameplay

International Superstar Soccer 2 has a lot of competition out there for good soccer games with FIFA World Cup 2002 out there and a few more soccer games on the way. So is ISS 2 any good? I think it is. There are a lot of great things in there, but there is also a lot of frustrating things in the game as well.

There are a number of different game setting that you can play. They include Friendly match (1 - 4 players, VS and Cooperative), International Cup (1 Player Mode), Custom League (1 Player Mode, Max of 4 Players can participate), World League (1 Player Mode), training, Edit and Options. The most common used ones will be Friendly match and International Cup.

The controls are easy to get use to, but it takes a long time to get use to how long you have to hold the shoot button down for. You will find the first few games you play that a lot of the time you will find while you are trying to shoot the power bar will shoot up very quickly and you will end up having your shot go flying into the stands.

The rest of the controls are pretty well laid out with a few exceptions. The R button is my main annoyance. The general use of the R button is for sprinting. The annoyance is the fact that it also doubles up for the function of letting the ball run past you to another player. This is all well and good, but unless you are paying very good attention, the perfect pass you just made will be missed by the player you want to take it and someone else (normally the opposing team) will get the ball. The only buttons you will use a lot is the Control Stick, A, B, X, Z, L and R buttons.

It is a very good game, fast flowing good playing and hours of fun, but there are a lot of little annoyances I have with the game. Things like if you get the ball with your back to the net and you spin around and shoot, most of the time the shot goes flying towards the corner flag because you are not facing the net. Also things like when you are being defensive and have control of someone and you are almost at the opponent and the game decides to change the player you control (This can be changed in the options if need be, but as default it is set to auto change). The keepers also need some working on for free kicks and shots on goal. Many a time I have seen the ball go flying over the wall and the goalie stand there staring at it, or a shot in general coming in and it going in the net without the goalie moving, or moving very late.

In the game it has all the big names that you expect and has very good stats for the players. It can be difficult to see though when you go to substitute players what position they play. The position of player is shown be a line underneath the players name which has different colours. Purple for Goalkeeper, Green for Defender, Yellow for Midfielder and Red for Forward. This is all well and good, but it isn't that easy seeing what colour is actually under a players name. There is also a series of arrows that tells you the condition of the player. If the arrow is pointing up then they are in the best condition. If the arrow is pointing down then the player is in bad condition. Any position in-between means they are in-between best and bad condition.

After all the bad points I have to say that the good points outweigh it. I do love this game almost as much as FIFA. Yes it isn't graphically as good as FIFA World Cup, but it has very good game play.

Graphics & Sound

The games graphics are very good, although the camera angle at default makes the game seem a bit far away. It feels like the camera had to get a discount ticket and is stuck at those so so seats. Because of this it does make the players look a bit small, but it does depend what TV it is running on. On my 14" TV the players are small, but on Byron's larger widescreen TV it looks a lot better.

Only graphical niggle I have is that the names are not on the back of the players shirts. If it is say England playing, it says ENG on the back. It would of been a nice touch to have the name of the team/player in full on the back of the shirt, but you can't have everything.

The crowd sound is good. As you expect if your team is doing well it will chant your name.

Final Comments

Although a lot of the review mentions the bad points, I have to admit they are just personal annoyances and the game play more than makes up for it. You can get good shots in, great passing and last ditch tackling in the game which adds a sense of excitement to the game and especially if you have more than one player will offer hours of enjoyment. If you are a fan of the FIFA series, this game will grow on you. It might take a while to get use to the slightly different controls and the little differences between the games, but you will learn to love the game a lot.

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