Goalllllllllllllllllll lllllll (UEFA Striker (DC))

Member Name: Premier King

Product:	UEFA Striker (DC)
Date:	01/11/01 (100 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Quite a lot

Disadvantages: A few

UEFA Striker is a really good game on the Dreamcast, possibly the best football game on the console, for many reasons, although, as with many games, it’s not perfect, far from it in fact, but still you can’t go far wrong with this game, especially when it costs the right side of £10, you should easily be able to find this for £9.99, online and offline. Graphics are far better than the PlayStation football games, although I wouldn’t say that the visuals alone are enough to make a game worth buying – ISS Pro Evolution 2 is a rather good PlayStation football game, I’d say it’s better than UEFA Striker in gameplay, but visually this Dreamcast game by Infogrames is very good indeed.

Playing – football games are notoriously associated with obscene score lines, but UEFA Striker is different. In fact it’s completely different – you’re actually going to have to direct your shot as well as change the power you put on it in order to stand a realistic chance of beating the incredible good goalkeepers, something that is actually rewarding for a change, it’s really very, very hard indeed. But, with practice makes perfect and you should improve with each game you play. The controls are simple to learn – you have a wide range of moves you can perform – bicycle kicks as well as diving headers, scissor kicks and individual skills including ball juggling even in play!

Player animations are good, each footballer actually has eyes and a face, although you will see superior movements and realism in Fifa 2001 on the PlayStation 2, but then that is expected seeing as it was released about 2 years later. The teams all have the correct kits, although you may wish to change some of the team names in the options – Dennis Bergkamp plays for Arsenal NOT Highbury – and Blanco de Madrid is meant to be Real Madrid – etc… You can even create your own teams though, change the play
er names, change the faces, skin colour and hair style – should keep you playing for longer, knowing that the created teams are all top 5 star sides!

You can play leagues, knockouts, world cups, tournaments or just friendly matches – select the weather options, game time, night or day match, golden goal or penalties – extra time options, even choose the stadium you’re playing at, but again, the names of these aren’t quite right. So it is officially licensed, just a bit strange – players are all given real names, and the commentators – Ron Atkinson and Jonathon Pierce are both pretty good at commentating, with exception to Ron Atkinson! A unique training mode does enrich the gameplay and longevity – a certification mode is basically there to help you improve your game – match situation, passing, tackling, shooting and penalties – hone your skills, get a better level of certification and you’ll be rewarded – new teams will be available to be played as, teams like Brazil etc.

Replays are good, sound is fine and the graphics are great.

UEFA striker does have a major flaw though – the keepers. They are flawless. Why? Simply because it’s near impossible to score against them, as I already said, this does mean you’ll play in more realistic score lines – none of this 23-45 business, instead you’ll be around 2-3 or 1-0, but the keepers are just not supposed to be this good.

Very good indeed!

Summary: