With the advent of a new year and soccer season now in full swing, it seems appropriate to review the most recent release in Konami's International Superstar Soccer series. Last year's edition of the ISS series was hailed by many as the best sports game ever. Even more lauded it as the best soccer game ever. I was one of those many. Does this new edition stack up?

Once again, the game focuses on the national soccer team race. The main object is to guide your team to the World Cup. The game provides the same play modes as last year's edition, and adds a few new features. The scenario mode has been upgraded, and presents some new challenges. As with all sports games, options are king.

ISS 98 was given a minor graphical overhaul. Last year's edition had pretty good graphics and incredible animations. This year's edition has that and a lot of other stuff was added. Probably the biggest difference graphically is the size of each player. All players have their heights and weights represented graphically now. Defenders and goalies, who are usually the largest players on the field, now tower above the smaller mid-fielders and forwards. Facial texture maps and modeling are now rich and detailed. Players look exactly like their real life counter parts. For example, Taribo West has his trademark green hair and braids, Alan Shearer sports his silver hair, and Alexi Lalas still displays his trademark goatee. Team uniforms are much more like their real life examples, and socks, shin-guards, and shoes look much better. On the whole, graphics are improved in every area, not enough to make it flashy, but just enough to make it look (and play) a lot better.

Animation in ISS 98 even manages to surpass last year's. Slide tackles are much more realistic, as is head tracking. Major A also made the new player models much more interactive than last years. The big players can really do some damage when tackling smaller players, and the small guys can maneuver better and are much more skilled than the larger defenders. Player size also factors in heavily with corner, free, and penalty kicks. The larger players are at an immediate advantage when it comes to headers, and defending a goal. The goalies can cover quite a large amount of space when sprawled in mid-flight.

Audio is improved in 1998's edition as well. Kicks sound like kicks, post shots sound like post shots, and the back of the net sounds like trouble for the goalie. Especially nice are the new sounds made by particularly gruesome tackles or cheap hits. The play-by-play is once again the best in gaming, and the announcer gets all the calls right and on time. This year, Konami added the BBC's official Football play-by-play man and, while he is much more accurate than last year's, he isn't nearly as exciting. He has a somewhat subdued style of announcing, and may not suit your tastes. It has nothing to do with his quality -- which is spot on -- just a personal value of taste. One nice thing Konami fixed was the inflection problem. Last year's excitable play by play man was apt to scream out a team's name in situations in which it would be better to simply say the team's name. This year, you won't hear any more of "WALES!...passes the ball well."

The biggest and best changes for ISS 98 are in the AI and strategy aspects. While last year's AI was the best in any sports game, this year's AI is much better. Not only is the AI better, it's more realistic as well. This year, defenses are much tighter, marking is much closer, and goalies are smarter. Teams play their proper style, and players maintain their individual skills. Aggression is tracked as well. Aggressive players and teams play that way. Teams also react much more realistically to game situations. A team being blown out is much more apt to start playing "dirty" and begin taking bad or cheap fouls. Goalies who have been stung for several goals are less likely to challenge the strikers as well. Harsh fouls generate action from officials, paramedics, and teammates. AI extends to the player's team in the form of more intelligent teammates. Teammates are much less likely to be caught in offsides traps, and more likely to find themselves a hole in the opponents defense and set up better plays, both offensively and defensively.

The game's options have been expanded since last year. The create-a-player option is more flexible and you can now create players with specific abilities, heights, weights, and appearance. You can create multiple players, or teams. Team control is much better this year as well. Prospective managers can assign captains, delineate lines, setup strategies (on the fly no less) and make substitutions.

As with last year's edition play control is fantastic. Lobs, headers, through passes, tackles and strikes are all at the touch of a button. The N64 controller is perfect for this game and, with practice, a gamer can go from shoot and ground pass to cross-field air lobs, chest traps, and scissor kicks. Strategies can be executed mid-game, and the pause screen offers even more options for the club manager.

ISS 98 surpasses ISS 64 in every way: Better graphics, AI, more options, and better play control. Is it worth a purchase if you own ISS64? It's hard to say. If you are a huge soccer fan, and lust for more, then the answer is "yes." But, if you are a casual gamer, it's probably not worth owning both games. If you don't own a soccer game for your N64, this is a must have.