Virtua Striker 2

"The soccer game of your dreams!"

Introduction:
Virtua Striker 2 Ver.2000.1 is the Dreamcast port of the Naomi title that was released early last year. The original Virtua Striker was released in 1994 and like most of SEGA's arcade games it revolutionised the way in which games of this genre would be made. Sega has once again set the standard. Just like Virtua Fighter and Virtua Racing, Virtua Striker turned into the game that all other soccer games tried to emulate but failed both in graphics and in gameplay.

Graphics:
The best graphics in a soccer game ever. The fact that Virtua Striker 2 was first made on Model 3 a couple of years ago shows that it was way ahead of its time as it has yet to be surpassed. Then player models look as good as the renders on the front cover. They are of different height and body size to make them look like their real life counterparts. Who says you need a FIFA license. They even have adidas soccer boots. The uniforms aren't the same as in real life (except for the Japanese team) but they look close enough and in some cases better. Maybe adidas designed them themselves. The ball is the adidas tricolore that was used in France '98. The level of detail in this game is amazing and only becomes apparent after spending a lot of time playing it. The stadiums are the most spectacular stadiums ever to be created for a game. The designers of Stadium Australia could learn something just from watching this game. Everything from the segregated fans, flood lights, colored seats, fences, electronic scoreboards to different grass designs and 3d corner posts. The fans also deserve a mention. Each one is made up of a flat polygon, which allows them to move independently and create various crowd effects such as Mexican hand waves, and rows of people jumping up and down in unison. They are perfectly segregated into each half of the stadium but this is a Virtua City remember, so I guess it's OK. The motion capture in this game really stands out (especially at 60 fps which 98% of the game runs at). The players in this game do just about anything that has been done by a soccer player in real life and then some. Here are some of the more obscure things the players can be seen doing. Having a drink after scoring a goal. Hitting the unfortunate team member who happened to score an own goal. Doing some funky celebration dance after scoring a goal (FC SEGA in particular has some celebrations that make Michael Jackson look normal). Another visual treat that is worth mentioning is the VMU animations. There's just so many. Sure, they're all of the same gradient but how many other games have VMU pictures to mimic everything that's going on in the game as it happens? Very cool!

Audio:
It is obvious that SEGA has put a lot of research behind making this game as each country has one or two exclusive chants to go with the other common chants, boos and wolf whistles. Some people will tell you that the sliding sound is scratchy and gets repetitive but would you have preferred no sound at all? Keep in mind that this is a game. You just have to give it time, it will grow on you. These 'reviewers' also fail to mention all of the sounds that are present. For example the crowd chants, cheers, whistles and boos according to what's going on in the game, when the ball is kicked or passed their are distinct sounds, when the ball hits the back of the net you can hear it too. When you run onto the pieces of paper thrown onto the field by the fans that makes a noise too. When the ball hits the wire fence it sounds exactly as it should. The music only appears during the beaks in the game and adequately captures the feeling of a spectacular goal or an own goal. If you take too long to take your goal kick the crowd will boo and jeer at the keeper. If you shimmy around an opponent the crowd will 'aww' in amazement at your fancy footwork. There are two sound effects that seem to be a bit dramatic but not enough to ruin the game. These are the sliding sound, which sounds like someone stopping suddenly on ice-skates, and the sound when the keeper dives on the ball, which sounds like someone being slammed on the floor of a wrestling ring. There is no in-game commentary, which can be either a pro or a con depending on you're tolerance for repetitive and obvious comments (and English accents).

Playability:
Three buttons. Long Pass, Short Pass and Shoot. You can also slide when you don't have the ball by pressing short pass. There is also a fourth button but its only use is to select your formation and whether your team plays in defensive, offensive or normal mode. The 3 button layout might seem simple but there is a plethora of moves that will take you a while to master just like another Virtua game that you might have heard of. Some people might take a while to get used to controls and try pressing hardly on the controls to try and override the computer so if you're a bit of a spaz an arcade stick might be a worthy investment to save your thumbs and your control pad. The gameplay is great though. It really makes you learn how to pass the ball around and find new ways of scoring. I find this game to have lot of depth for a sports game.

Replayability:
There are various modes of play that will surely keep you busy for a while if you take the time to play through them. The two-player mode will ensure that you keep coming back to this one.
Arcade -self explanatory.
International Cup -Choose your team and take part in a World Cup style tournament. There are some cool pre match introductions and the traditional cheesy sport's game ending.
Variations:
Tournament -Have a tournament between friends or by yourself. Good for laughs.
League -Same as above but in league format.
Ranking -My favourite mode. It's like arcade mode except you get ranked at the end of it, there's better stadiums, and you can unlock the secret teams.
Match Play:
- VS Match -VS mode. The two-player mode gives you the option of choosing the stadium.
- PK Match -Penalty shootouts. How exciting (well its more exciting than the FIFA games).
Replay -Replay your best goals. You can choose between 11 different replay cameras.
Options -Stuff around with the game, sound, and memory options.
I've had this game since it's Japanese release and I'm still playing it a lot.

Final Word:
Fans of the arcade game will jump at the chance of having the $10,000 arcade game in there homes for a measly US$50 but others will take more convincing. Some people can't get past the tiny bit of lag when passing, shooting etc that seems to be a result of Genki's conversion so if you want to know exactly how it compares to its arcade counterpart, make sure you play Ver.2000. Most people tend to agree that this is the pick of the litter out of the soccer games on the Dreamcast and personally its one of my favourite games of all time. My final word for this game: GOLD!

Review By: Enrique Vargas (enrique@kmail.com.au)

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 03/14/00, Updated 03/14/00