| Product: |
International Superstar Soccer (GBA) |
| Date: |
15/03/07 (125 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Graphics,Commentary, Lots of correct player names
Disadvantages: Lack of modes,Controls are terrible
Based on the 16-Bit incarnations of the long running series, International Superstar Soccer for the Gameboy Advance was released just in time for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea, and would be the first, and to date only, outing for one of Konami's flagship footballing titles on the handheld. The series main detractor for many is the lack of real player names and authentic kits, and while the latter doesn't matter on the GBA where the kits can't be seen in detail, ISS, in this incarnation, actually has the majority of player's names 100% correct and official, which is a nice touch.
The game is, as you may have gathered, a football/soccer game, which means there is no story or anything, the idea is simply to play and win matches, preferably in a tournament of some sort.ISS shoots itself in the foot right away with it's sparse selection of modes of play. While I am aware there are limitations as to what a GBA cartridge can hold, judging from what other companies were doing with it, it evidently holds more than a Super NES or Megadrive cartridge, yet this game has a lot less options than any series entry on those consoles had, and considerably less than any rival game of the sport for the GBA. We have the paltry choice of Exhibition, which is a one-off game, International Cup, which is basically the World Cup, and Penalty Shoot-Out, which is fairly self explanatory. As I mentioned in my review of FIFA 2004 for the GBA, the entire concept of a football game on a handheld is fairly flawed, given that their main lifespan is dictated by the multiplayer, which isn't something that I can say I have taken part in very often on handhelds, so that is the game's main purpose gone, so it can only really attain any sort of value for money via some sort of good single player experience, which is something that ISS greatly lacks. After a few hours play I had done everything there was to be done in the game, and had no interest in playing it again.
The actual basic mechanics of the gameplay are great. They use the engine from the aforementioned 16-Bit ISS titles, which were in my eyes Konami's crowning hour in their football games, including current PS2 and XBox releases. The game is fast,furious, and generally one of the best football titles of all time. Sadly, most of the essence of this has been lost in the transition to GBA, mostly due to the controls, which are terrible. The basic, 'reliable' controls are L being sprint, B being Shoot and A Pass. The instruction manual declares that R is a sort of modifier button, and when pressed with B it should provide a Long Pass(Read:Lob/Cross) and with A a Through Ball. Neither of these work very well at all, and personally I wish they had just set cross onto one of the shoulder buttons and had to do without a through ball. I suppose this is half Nintendo's fault for the lack of buttons on the GBA. When off the ball, B is a step in tackle,A a slide and R changes player. These are also a pain, mostly due to the fact that occasionally you win the ball without pressing a tackle button, but not aware of this you try to win the ball(which you already have) by pressing a tackle button, and end up hoofing the ball away. Changing player is also rather comical, as it seems to change you to every player apart from the one you want it to, and does so in whatever amount of time it sees fit.
The control layout isn't very good either. Given that all major console footy titles now use Their R/R1 trigger to sprint, why in the name of god did Konami decide to try and implement L for it here? it feels unnatural, and stupid. I don't have any complaints about the pass and shoot allocation, but putting Slide tackle on the same button as Pass is ludicrous. When you try to pull off a passing header, by pressing A when the ball is in the air, you often perform a slide tackle instead and scythe down the closest opposition player and get sent off. Marvellous.
While I dislike comparing the two, due to the masses of fan wars between the two, it's a simple fact that EA got their controls as close to perfect on the GBA as possible in their football titles, and Konami pulled off a major balls up with this. The fact that there is such a good engine to play with actually makes it worse when your controls do everything in their power to hinder you.
Actually,come to think of it, the engine isn't even as good as the 16-Bit games. When you press pass, even with the direction you want it to go, the computer decides where to pass it to, usually to nobody, or the opposition goalkeeper, superb work. Shooting is also hilarious, given that I have won the International Cup 4 times and every goal bar one has been via a rebound, because it's the only plausible way to score, due to the terrible shots the players hit, and how hard it is to get one in. Even then it's a struggle, due to the fact that you never have any players anywhere near where the balls falls. Im not even going to waste my time talking about trying to score from Free Kicks, because Konami were clearly taking the p**s, so I refuse to even talk about them.
Graphically, the game is actually good. It uses the same rough look as those MD/SNES ISS games, except the sprites have lost their cartoon feel, and are now more realistic, as if the makers were aiming for pseudo-3D looking players, although they still move the same as their 16-Bit counterparts, which isn't a complaint, because the animation in those games was wonderful. While the players aren't very distinct from one another, it doesn't matter because they all look pretty cool. The pitch also looks top notch, and the game is generally a nice experience graphically.
The sound is also impressive, with commentary(!) provided by real life commentator John Champion. I was mighty impressed by this, and while it isn't exactly of the standard of the commentaries on the major system's football games, this is a handheld, and I was taken aback by it. The sounds of the crowd are fairly mediocre though, and they rarely rouse any sort of emotion, even for goals or near misses. Boo.
On the whole, there really isn't any need to own ISS for the GBA. While it had the potential to be one of the best games on the console, Konami screwed it up grandly by forgetting to put in most of the gameplay options, there isn't even a league, and the game's diabolical controls. If you must own a football game for the GBA, check out one of EA's FIFAs, or any other you see going cheap, because ISS is a waste of your time and money. The sad fact is that the game does have a lot going for it, but when a major aspect of it's enjoyment such as the controls are garbage, this doesn't just hinder the game, it almost destroys it. It's due to facts like the commentary,graphics and the fact I know it does have a decent engine that the game manages to score 2 instead of 1, but I still advise strongly on skipping this.
Review also posted on Epinions.com
Summary: Potentially one of the best GBA titles ever, ISS squandered all it's sitters
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