Virtua Striker 2

Hmm, what's the best way to say this? Erm, I know, "this game sucks." Quite what planet the development team were on when working on it is beyond me, but it certainly wasn't planet "playable soccer game." The graphics may be lovely, but it suffers dramatically from its arcade heritage. Most apparent is the ludicrous control system it employs. Whereas most soccer games let you move each player around freely, VS2 employs a weird 'tap the controls and watch what happens' system that makes you feel like you're not in charge of what your team is actually doing. It's horribly frustrating...and if you're used to the delights of PlayStation soccer like FIFA 2000, you'll soon feel a rage building up inside as you watch your stupid, stupid, stupid player P things up every time. Player Al hardly compensates for bad controls either. For the most part the players act particularly dumb, and there seems to be no due consideration for the rankings of the international teams that are represented. Time and time again I watched my boys on the England team make stupid mistakes...like making a throw in that bounces off a player forcing a corner kick. Duh-uh? Hello? The commentary sucks too. Since when did an announcer signify the end of a game with the words "game, set"? What is this, tennis?

Some sports are sparsely represented on video game consoles - soccer is NOT one of them. Virtua Striker 2 is a pretty true port of the wildly popular (in Japan, anyway) arcade game, but I don't see the appeal. It has average visuals, frustrating controls and some really annoying sounds. If I'm going to play "arcade"-style sports games, I want them to be over-the-top (a la Blitz, Showtime, etc). This just seems watered down and dull.

Apparently VS2 is a huge hit in Japanese arcades. What do they see in it? It looks great and moves fast but the gameplay is too limited to give it any lasting appeal. There's no analog support, four-player capability, or the ability to switch players manually. Oh yeah, there's only one camera angle. These Haws alone are enough to turn me away. I realize it's meant to be an arcade game but still, a little more control and depth would go a long way here.

Virtua Striker 2 has as much depth as a puddle If you're desperately wanting a soccer game for the DC, then wait, because this isn't it. There's only one camera view, which isn't so bad since you don't have to bother anticipating your opponent's next move since, frustratingly, the players switch automatically. Why no analog control? And if you're going to go with major sports, you need some kind of player licensing, which VS2 painfully lacks.