ISS Advance

There are over 40 international teams available to play each with its own strengths and weaknesses. Players have their own individual attributes and this affects their performance on the field and this is the start of the tactical fun. During the game you can set up your teams formation, playing style (attack, defend, offside trap and so on) and also set players to mark certain members of the opposition. Due to the limited screen size of the portable Nintendo, the camera is too close to the field meaning you can't see very far around you. This makes it very hard to play i.e. with long lobs across field without knowing a player on your team will be there to collect. The same problem happens when shooting from long distance as you cannot see the goal or the edge of the penalty area in your screen. There is a player-radar at the lower half of the screen, but this doesn't really makes the things better. Other than that, if you'll get used to it, it's fine. Fouls and penalties are given too, but what I really enjoyed (or not) is the fact that the referee does not throw easily a yellow or a red card. The usual defensive and attacking system is employed, with A providing a weak pass/marking, B for a strong pass/sliding tackle, L for sprint, R for selecting players, with combinations of the buttons providing opportunities to show off with overhead kicks, headers, aftertouch and the obligatory through pass.
ISS Advance is playable as long as you'll get used to the small screen size, offering some intense gameplay and pretty good visuals and sound.

Sprites are nicely drawn and beautifully animated. Colors are a bit replenished though, especially with the pitch coloring. The fields are reasonably clear but again the camera really holds the game back from being something special.
Sound is great, offering several sampled SFX (crowd cheering, referee whistles) along with commentator's speech and a few main menu tunes.