Star Tech Journal

JANUARY
STAR..-TECH JOURNAL
SEGA VIRTUA STRIKER 2 VERSION
2000
2000.1
continued from page 5 ...
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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