''UEFA Striker'', known in North America as ''Striker Pro 2000'', is a

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

developed by

Rage Software Rage Games (formerly Rage Software) was a British video game developer. Formed in Liverpool in 1992, its video games were marked by an emphasis on graphical effects with arcade gameplay. Rage's first title '' Striker'' sold more than one mil ...

and published by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA) is a French video game holding company headquartered in Paris. Its subsidiaries include Atari Interactive and Atari, Inc. It is the current owner of the Atari brand through Atari Interactive. Bec ...

in 1999-2000. It is the final game in the '' Striker'' series following the cancellation of its sequel, ''UEFA 2001'', the following year.

Gameplay

The game allows players to choose from 51 European national teams, 44 domestic clubs and 20 "bonus teams", with individual players modelled with 16 different attributes. Players also have the ability to create their own teams and kits, edit existing players and edit the names of existing cups and leagues. Game modes include training,

friendly matches An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

, knockout cups, classic matches, leagues and tournaments. The UEFA licence enabled the inclusion of official

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

qualifying matches and the final tournament as a game mode, but other major cups and leagues are "cunningly disguised" with names such as the Euro Super Trophy standing in for the Champion's League. Commentary is provided by

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits. Nick ...

and Jonathan Pearce, with

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

providing analysis before international fixtures.

Development

Julian Widdows, a producer at Rage Software, told ''Dreamcast Monthly'' magazine that the team's intention was to "create something that felt like real football" and to allow players to "be able to draw the defenders the same way you do in real life, to make space and to make moves". The title was initially developed under the title ''Ruud Gullit's Striker'', with

involved on a "consultancy basis" and providing commentary, but this shifted when the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

licence was acquired.

Reception

The PlayStation version received favourable reviews, while the Dreamcast version received average reviews, according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. In Japan, where the latter was ported and published by Imagineer on 6 April 2000 under the name , ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 24 out of 40.

Cancelled sequel

A follow-up, ''UEFA 2001'', was announced for the Dreamcast in 2000, but was cancelled in October 2000 when Infogrames was re-evaluating their Dreamcast support, and the game was never released on any platform.''Official Dreamcast Magazine'', October 2000, page 29

References

External links

* 1999 video games Association football video games Dreamcast games Imagineer games Infogrames games PlayStation (console) games Rage Games games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in 2000 Multiplayer and single-player video games {{Sports-videogame-stub