PlanetDreamcast | Features | Dreamcast Soccer Shootout

Dreamcast Soccer Shootout A candid comparison of the soccer titles available for your Dreamcast - by Tren Page 2/6 Graphics and Presentation Graphics are the first thing that hit you in nearly all video games, and soccer titles are no exception. Impressive features like animated crowds, rock-solid frame rates, realistic ball physics and motion capture are what we�re looking for here. Also nice presentation, whilst not essential, makes navigating the game menus and selecting your team a much nicer experience -- but only if load times are kept to a minimum, of course! Virtua Striker 2 Virtua Striker 2 When you first kick-off on Virtua Striker 2 you�ll instantly realise that it has incredible graphics. Although the game�s menu and front-end are best described as "functional" with background cheese, the actual in-game engine is obviously where the brunt of the work has been gone. Huge, crisp polygonal players wearing finely detailed kits (although these aren�t up to date and are from circa. 1996), great motion capture, a steady high frame rate of 60FPS as well as realistic-looking physics complete this game�s potent visual assault. The crowds are fully animated and although up-close they lack detail, in the middle of a game they look mighty realistic. Loading times are short for the menus and also the main game, and are barely noticeable when compared to the next two titles. Sega Worldwide Soccer 2K (and Euro Edition) The original SWWS features pretty average graphics. Whilst all the teams are accurately modeled (right down to facial features and kits), the players look wrong somehow, and the animation is pretty mediocre. The ball seems to bounce quite oddly, and the crowd are hardly memorable at all. The game�s front-end is quite attractive, but the menus are slow and cumbersome to navigate. Thankfully a much needed face-lift was given to the game�s update, Sega Worldwide Soccer 2K: Euro Edition. This newer version features far more detail in-game, and the motion capture of the players has been completely re-done. This results in the players now actually looking like they�re running on the pitch instead of just gliding over it whilst a running animation is displayed. Unfortunately the game�s presentation has taken a turn for the worse, with a dreadful intro sequence, poor menu music, and huge load times cropping up just to navigate around basic menus (not to mention the whopping 1 minute 30 it takes to load a standard friendly game up from the main menu). UEFA Striker Both games manage to maintain a respectable 50-60FPS nearly all of the time, but with their lackluster level of detail (certainly compared to Virtua Striker 2) this isn�t too much to shout about. UEFA Striker / Striker Pro 2000 Thanks to the fact it launched with the Dreamcast (at least in Europe), UEFA Striker looks a little dated compared to the others. The animation is pretty basic, and the frame rate is only a solid 30FPS which, while adequate, pales in comparison to the smooth 60FPS in Virtua Striker 2. The actual pitch and stadium look superb, however, and coupled with the game�s excellent weather effects (which better the other titles) it still looks like a 128-bit title, at least when it's not moving. The game�s menu, front-end, and intro sequences are the most impressive of the bunch, however navigational weirdness spoils things a little here, though with time you�ll probably adapt to the game�s strange take on menu selection. The game features average loading times which are noticeable, but not a complete pain a la SWWS. Next: Sound and Music