Description:

Virtua Striker 2 is as simple as a soccer game can get, and it's a soccer game that, against all reason, is incredibly popular in Japanese arcades. Practically as popular as Virtua Fighter and Virtual On in its country of origin, Virtua Striker has somehow managed to forge itself a devoted following, making this one of the more highly anticipated titles to come to the Dreamcast. While Sega would probably like to think of Virtua Striker 2 in the same breath as games like NFL Blitz or NBA Showtime, due to their extreme playability, this is absolutely not the case. Virtua Striker 2 was designed to provide a stadium-like sensation, along with all that implies. Not since Namco's Libero Grande have you ever had the sensation of being on the field as much as you do in VS 2. What's significant is that a game like this was only recently made possible due to the Dreamcast's powerful hardware. However, that doesn't save this game from being a clunker. The game is incredibly beautiful, but in the gameplay, where it counts, the game falls miserably short.

Your controls consist of short pass, long pass, slide kick, offense realignment, and a joystick. While this sounds streamlined and dandy, it never seems to work to your benefit. The computer is agile and very adept at taking the ball from you every two seconds, something that, unfortunately, doesn't seem to work the other way around. Frustratingly, your only method of defense, aside from trying to steal the ball, is a slide-tackle. Despite the simplified interface, where throw-ins and goal kicks are handled via an onscreen button prompt, the game is anything but simple. One-touch kicks are nothing short of impossible to do because of the "innovative" power meter. The power meter functions like a swing-meter in a golf game. Instead of instant pass-shoot one-touch shots on goal, you must pause (even while running) to hold down the shoot button for an indeterminate amount of time before you can kick. Early experience will find you shooting far wide of the goal, often missing by a mile.

(Description written by: James Mielke )

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