GENRE
	Sports
	DEVELOPER
	Konami
	PUBLISHER
	Konami
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1-4
	CONTROLLER PAK
	yes
	RUMBLE PAK
	yes
	RAM PAK
	yes
	BUY NOW AT

This game probably means nothing to Americans. You probably didn't know that Holland and Belgium recently held the greatest football competition in 30 years. You probably didn't that it was won by world champions France. Hell, you probably don't even understand the offside rule.

But you will understand that International Superstar Soccer 2000 is the finest interpretation of The Beautiful Game to date. It has World Cups. It has European Championships. It even has an RPG-style career mode. What more could you ask for? Well, unless you're a British hooligan, in which case some cheap lager, a crowbar and a distinct lack of tickets might be nice...

ISS 2000 is the third incarnation on the N64 of the Konami's football series, which began life on the SNES back in 1994. Though overshadowed by EA's relentlessly-marketed but hopelessly derivative FIFA series, ISS has consistently been the football (or "soccer" depending on your geographical location) connoisseur's game of choice. And while updates are becoming more regular and less radical, ISS 2000 proves that Konami their France's from their USA's.

Using the same-- admittedly stunning-- engine that has been used since ISS 64, ISS 2000 is no longer quite at the cutting edge of the market. Though this version has been tinkered with, it still suffers from the slight fuzziness that has been a feature of the series.

Konami has thoughtfully tried to rectify this by including a hi-res, Expansion Pak-enabled mode-- though unfortunately while this mode is super-crisp, the framerate drops to near-unplayable levels, something which is hardly ideal when trying for that last elusive goal against a Brazilian defence.

Yet as always the case for ISS games, the animation is top-notch. A whole host of new ones are included, notably the "referee taking the name of a naughty player" and "player rolling around in agony following broken leg." The number of stadia is greatly improved, and they don't half look bad, either. The crowd seems a good deal more active, and now drapes national flags all over the stadia.

Yet while ISS' visuals were mind-blowing four years ago, they are less so now. Still, we look forward to seeing what Konami will come up with on Gamecube.

Tony Gubba, part-time commentator for the BBC and voice of ISS 98 has been sacked, and replaced by the commentary team of Terry Butcher and Chris James who, while not revolutionising the rather dubious field of gaming commentators, don't disgrace themselves.

Unlike previous commentators who cry for penalties for fouls committed in the middle of the pitch, or call a 30 yard cracker of a goal a "lucky shot," ISS 2000's commentators are usually accurate in their rantings. They give mid-game reports, exchange pointless banter, everything normal football commentators should do.

The biggest improvement in the sound field is the crowd-- in ISS 2000, they actually sound like a genuine crowd. They cheer, they boo, they quiet down when nothing's happening, and they even burst into a chant from time to time. It's something that really increases the atmosphere of the game and adds to the feel of a real football game.

The biggest gameplay change since the last update is the much-hyped career mode. Starting off, you create a young, talentless footballer-- choosing his appearance, position and country of origin-- and take him up through the ranks of youth club football with the ultimate goal of becoming captain of the national side. Along the way he'll have to deal with injuries, enemies, pornography (yes), finding a nice girl for himself, and being caught masturbating in his dormroom. We're not making this up, folks.

While the Career Mode is a great idea, and one which we want to see expanded in further ISS updates, it just doesn't cut the mustard for two reasons. Firstly, it's repetitive. After a couple of plays, you'll begin to wonder how often your club captain is going to suffer a "life threatening injury" that'll afford you "your big break." Secondly, there's precious little actual football in it. In our first go, we got to play the injury time of a reserves games. And that was it. So, as you can imagine, it was back to the World League for us.

Aside from the new mode, there's been a little on-pitch tinkering. The game doesn't move at the blistering pace of ISS 98, and the roles of players have been made more specific: a defender will rarely be able to make a 40-yard volley, and a forward will never be able to make a perfect sliding tackle. It's a clever feature that adds that bit more realism to the game.

Other than that, there's the addition of new teams: Fiji, Turkey, and several Eastern European nations you've probably never heard of; some new moves, including the ability to step over the ball; and the new European Cup mode-- basically a World Cup with only European teams. Still no FIFA licence, and still no real player names-- though the next update will finally banish the curse of names like "Deckham."

Multiplayer is still the same as always: that is to say, fantastic fun. ISS has always been just about the best game to play with two players, and with the addition of easier-to-separate icons for the second, third and fourth players, it's even easier than ever to take on the computer with four players. The game's still missing the ability to create your own mini-leagues, something which is blindingly obvious and would take about 30 seconds of programming to accomplish, but other than that, this is multiplayer heaven.

It was never going to be a question of ISS 2000 being any good. Of course it's going to be good-- it's ISS. The only question was, is it enough of an update to warrant trading in the old version and splashing out the extra cash? And the answer is... "maybe."

As the last update on the N64, ISS was never destined to undergo a radical overhaul. Nonetheless, there have been enough changes-- the career mode, the number of teams, the speed and general flow of the game-- to make it clear that this is a different game. Whether it's different enough to warrant the exchange is debatable, and really depends on how much of an ISS fan you are-- this will rekindle your interest in the game, but will also set you back a few bucks.

The bottom line is, if you haven't yet bought an ISS game for the N64-- where the hell have you been?-- this is easily the best one available, and is approximately 200 billion times better than any version of FIFA. But then ISS 98 is now available for a pittance, and at the end of the day there isn't that much of a difference..

9.0/10