When it comes to soccer sims, I have always preferred the strategic make-up of Konami’s ISS Pro Evolution Soccer series to EA’s FIFA ‘football for all’ approach. Who says the Japanese know less about soccer than Sumo? They certainly know more about ‘the beautiful game’ than the American software design team at EA.
While the FIFA series encourages kick and rush, ‘Phoenix Park-style’ football and a series of world-class tricks that anyone could execute with a series of synchronised joypad movements, Pro Evolution Soccer makes you work a lot harder to execute world-class movements. Execute a one-two that leads to a goal in ISS and you’re ecstatic. Do it in FIFA and well, it what’s you expected anyway at the very least – too busy dishing out overhead kicks from the halfway line.
As for this particular edition of Pro Evolution Soccer 3 on the PC, well the graphics are much better than in previous editions – with realistic face renderings of world stars such as Ronaldo and Ronaldinho. Our own little bundle of joy, Damian Duff, also gets a faithful reproduction right down to his trademark celebration (remember that goal at Lansdowne against the Russians in September?).
Konami still haven’t purchased the rights to use all of the players names in the game, so while Raul and Valeron turned out for the Spanish in an international friendly, the ‘Northern Ireland XI’ squad field a team of unrecognisable debutants including Lomans (I think that’s Stevie Lomas from West Ham Utd) and Gileskie (I’m sure that’s Keith Gillespie from Blackburn Rovers). The jerseys are also cheap rip-offs probably manufactured by Admiral. The only thing that is authentic in terms of looks is the Adidas Champions League football; the game is sponsored by the German sportswear manufacturer.
As for the stadiums, I’ve never heard of the Trad Brick Stadium, yet it looks strangely similar to the San Siro in Milan. But with a name like Trad Brick, you’d think it was Barnsley’s home stadium and yet why is there a billboard for Sports Bild in either the home of the Tykes, or indeed in the fashion capital of Northern Italy? I don’t know.
Maybe the Japanese know little of the culture of European football, but to go back to my first point, they do understand cultured football and the kind of football simulation it takes to engage a real football fan. Being an avid fan myself, I really get off on the advanced formation settings that Pro Evolution includes. A little tweaking produces a 3-4-3 set-up for Spain against Northern Ireland, with a comfortable six-nil home win as a result. Whereas, it took me just one evening sitting to win the World Cup in FIFA World Cup 2002, this certainly won’t happen with Pro Evolution. The learning curve is much steeper and there’s a real sense of satisfaction when you emerge victorious from a match.
For me, the greatest value of Pro Evolution, or ISS as it was originally known, is a sense of deep nostalgia – long evenings spent as a student engaged in ISS 98 multiplayer internationals with friends on the PS One. Subjectively, I love this series and the science of football it celebrates. Objectively, putting the shortfalls in aesthetic authenticity aside, it’s the best soccer sim series available. Sorry EA.
Specs
Pro Evolution Soccer 3
Requirements: Windows Me/9x/2000, Pentium III, 128Mbyte of RAM, 200Mbyte of free hard disk space, 3D graphics accelerator, DVD ROM drive, Direct X 9.0 or later, sound card and speakers.
Rating: 90%
Price: EUR29.99
Contact: Gamestop 01-8724305
19/01/04
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