ISS 2

ISS 2 Description

Konami football fans are a spoilt bunch and no mistake. Just a matter of months on from the release of the mighty Pro Evolution Soccer, they deign to treat us to another slice of savoury football heaven. "Bellissimo!" as they are wont to say in Italy. ISS 2 brings the beautiful game to the Xbox in no little style. Players of Konami's recent football titles will have no trouble getting to grips with the in-game controls: getting a handle on the comparatively huge Xbox controller is a different matter altogether. Maybe a pair of goalkeeper's gloves will do the trick! What you really want to know, dear reader, is how well it plays and how good it looks on the Xbox, right? Right. Firstly, it looks fantastic, as one would have hoped from a machine as powerful as the Xbox. It looks slightly different too, to the last Konami outing, Pro Evolution Soccer, most noticeably on the grass textures and the areas on the periphery of the pitch. It's not as easy on the eye as Pro Evolution Soccer is, which is not a criticism, by the way. It just looks a little different, that's all. ISS 2 sounds different too, with a much livelier commentary track supplied by ITV's Jon Champion. Menu-wise, things are pretty much the same beneath the cosmetic changes. The ISS series' selection of game modes is unchanged: friendlies, league and knockout cup competitions, customisable or otherwise, are all included. The number of teams (national only this time around) to choose to play as is fairly small, but does it really matter when the gameplay is this good? Pick a talented team to play as, choose the right formation and strategy, and Konami kicks the bottom of every other football game on the system. Admittedly there's not much competition so soon after launch, but ISS2 is going to take some beating.