JANUARY
STAR..-TECH JOURNAL
SEGA VIRTUA STRIKER 2 VERSION
2000
2000.1
continued from page 5 ...
• Bill Changers •
• PowerSupplies •
CD-ROMs FREE!
Fixes, mods, troubleshoot-
ing tips, symptoms/solu-
tions. Procedures and pre-
cautions for most coin-op
changers/acceptors and
power supplies. See back
cover for more information.
SERVICING VIDEOGAME
MONITORS V.2
Newest CD-ROM release
from Star Tech Journal.
Past 20 years ('79 - '98) all
on optical CD-ROM disc
for fast data retrieval. Ev-
ery tip and shortcut. Key-
word search, zoom and
print. v.2 Same price!
See back cover for more
information.
STJ
ON
CD-ROM v.4
48 issues (Volumes 1 7, 18,
19 & 20/ '95-'99). Every
page published in the last
four years at your finger-
tips for fast information re-
trieval. Keyword search,
jump between pages,
screen resizing, zoom for
close-ups & print out
pages in laser quality.
See back cover for more
information.
dime. They've added a lot of
character to the game, and
made for an enjoyable learn-
ing curve as well.
As features go, you have an
"arcade" mode, which is just
as it sounds-it's exactly like
the arcade game. You pick a
team and battle it out in a
shortened World Cup tourna-
ment format (no first-round
play). Or select the "Interna-
tional Cup" (full~on World
Cup mode), with all rounds
of play (you can also opt for
offsides and carding, or cus-
tom halftimes). "Tourna-
ment" mode features single-
elimination play, and allows
you to select how many teams
will participate and what
teams they will be. "League"
mode also allows you to se-
lect what/how many teams
will play-but this time, you'll
play a league schedule.
"Ranking" mode plays much
like the "arcade" game, ex-
cept you don't get any con-
tinues. At the end of your run,
you'll be graded on your per-
formance, and you can see
how you stack up to the
game's standard of play. Fi-
nally, you have "Match Play,"
which allows you to set up a
custom two-player game-or
go for a Penalty-Kick Shoot-
Out. The final Dreamcast-
exclusive feature of Virtua
Striker 2 Version 2000.1 gives
you the ability to save goal
replays (to the VMU) to
watch again later. Goals are
rated on a point system, so
the more difficult the score,
the more pride you can take.
Graphically, Virtua Striker 2
Version 2 000 .1 is the best soc-
cer game out there-bar none.
The level of player, jersey,
stadium and crowd detail is
amazing. To see it all run at
60 FPS, with amazing anima-
tion, is just that much more
stunning. After playing
Virtua Striker, it's going to be
hard to go back to less graphi-
cally-impressive titles on PC,
PlayStation, N64, and even
Dreamcast (ahem, Striker
Pro, ahem, Worldwide Soccer
2000). I doubt we'll see a bet-
ter-looking soccer title than
this, at least until a top-notch
developer
releases
a
PlayStation 2 soccer game ...
Even then-it had better be
good.
The beauty of Virtua Striker
is that plays so well, and looks
so hot-even non-soccer fans
can enjoy themselves with it.
I'm going to hold my com-
plete thoughts at bay until we
review the American version,
but if you've read this pre-
view, you know what to do:
pre-book this game at your
local shop and count the days
'til its release! - Lagi