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Developer: KCEE
Publisher: Konami
Genre: Sports
Region: PAL
Format:
Release Date: 20 Jul 08
User Rating
9.9 (153 votes) -
Overview
Gameplay
This is definitely where FIFA strongly loses out to Evo 2. This is not 11 men getting out on the pitch when all you need is one to run down the wing a shot home from 40 yards, this is about real, football. Whatever is possible in real life footie is possible here and whatever is not possible isn't. It's as simple as that. Players don't seem to ice skate down the pitch and play chase the ball like some others (FIFA! Once again) this is playing a well paced well constructed game of football where every goal is extremely rewarding and goalmouth action is tense.
The power bars return and make for effective shooting where you yourself decide how hard to hit the ball and where it is going to be place. The longer you hold down the button the greater the power on the shot and the greater the height. At first shooting can be a hard thing to get to grips with but it offers a very stable learning curve where you can become a master within a week yet still not reach a score line in 3 figures. The keepers are now less reliable and tend to drop the ball a lot but this is because opposition AI has been increased, this allows for a more balanced game of football than the previous Evo.
A two-player game with two persons at near enough the same level can be great fun. Infact it holds the most fun that can be gained from any game on the market. You can be trying to get those shots in from every angle whilst your opponent keeps making sterling saves and tackles. There's a great agony when watching a ball role across the goal line and not go in having just missing sliding into it by an inch. That's what makes it so fun, the sheer ferocity of trying to get those shots in. That's also a thing that makes this game so rewarding, when a goal does finally come it is so rewarding.
One player games in football titles seem to be somewhat short lived and it did so in Evo but for Evo 2 there's a new improved master league which remains the most involving sports experience of any title on any console. You pick one of 26 of the worlds best club teams, whichever one you pick though you'll always start off with the same useless bunch of players. You'll start off in division two and your aim is to reach the top of division one having created the best team ever. So how do you go about gaining new players? It's all done on a points based system. In division two you'll get 4 points for a win plus bonus points which is the equivalent to the number of goals you win by and you'll get 2 points for a draw. In division one you'll get 8 points for a win and 4 for a draw. Once you have enough points you can go out and buy any player in the world. Obviously the better players cost more points. You can pick up Figo for 24 points but Ronnaldo will set you back a massive 50. On completion of the international league you'll unlock some legends to buy in the master league, including Pele and Maradonna.
Graphics
The graphics were always a strong point in ISS with the player animation being some of the best and moist varied ever seen and now they have actually improved this! There's an even greater variation in animation and all the players look a lot more solid if a little square. The problem lies with the presentation and this is where FIFA always excelled. It had great looking real life stadia all the sponsors and all the names. Well thankfully ISS has returned with real player names (nearly all of them) but yet it still lacks the big lights and all those fancy advertising boards. Well does this really matter? I think not yet the public seem to love it. Well this doesn't matter at all because this isn't about fancy sponsors, it's about recreating the best football game ever and making it better. Making the in game action look so real that if you squint your eyes it looks like your watching football on the tele. This does.
All of your favourite players can be spotted because they actually look like who they are supposed to look like. You can spot Zindane from a mile off with that bald patch as you can Ronnaldo with his great shinny head and flashy blue boots. This does look like real football and no matter how many sponsors FIFA have that never will.
Animation is striking with players realistically stumbling over other players, jumping over the ball, crashing to the ground and blasting home those shoots from 20 yards.
Fun Factor
The greatest thing about this game is the tense moments in two-player mode. You'll both be fighting for that one goal over you opponent in the dying minutes and when it does come it is all so rewarding. You can still have this much fun in the one player mode as well, being able to afford that great player you have always wanted is also very rewarding.
Forget the rest, this is the most fun, satisfying game you'll ever play.
Overall
KCEE have done the impossible to improve upon ISS Evo and bring you Evo 2 the greatest football game ever created and the best sports game aswell. Forget FIFA forget everything this is the only game to buy and it shows that the PS one can still compete over the Dreamcast and Playstation 2. Sure it doesn't have the big names or maybe not even some of the real team names, but this is the closest thing to perfection you are ever going to find.
- Gameplay
9.0 - Graphics
9.0 - Fun Factor
10.0 - Overall
10.0
