I have persevered more with 2011 than the previous 2 incarnations which is probably why I am enjoying it more.
However - just for nostalgia sake (and to see if it was purely rose tinted glasses) I went back and played ISS Pro Evolution 2 on the playstation for the first time in over 10 years. (My first experience was ISS Pro and then many many hours were put into Pro 98, ISS Pro Evo and Pro Evo 2)
My god! The gameplay is so much more fluid and above everything else.. Fun.
The game in those days seemed to be about generating that bit of space and engineering good spots to thread a through ball or lob one over the top. And when you did work hard to engineer that bit of space and send your speedy striker through on goal - he stayed through on goal and even, god forbid, pulled away from his 6ft4 stocky defender.
The basics in ISS also seem so much better. Full backs over lap when you want them to, player select AI was far better, player AI was far better - AI players dont seem oblivious to where the ball is, shooting feels so much more natural (and the buzz of scoring higher), far lower sense of being on rails and passing so much smoother. Oh and no offside replays every 10 seconds).
Seabass really need to go back and spend some hours just playing this game and figure out for themselves what made it so good.