''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 video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport (such ...

developed by

Rage Software Rage Software plc (formerly Rage Games Limited) was a British video game developer founded in Liverpool in 1992. Games developed See also * Network 23 (company) References External links

* ''Football in the New Media Age'', Ra ...

and published by

Infogrames Atari SA (formerly Infogrames Entertainment SA ()), also known as Atari Group, is a French holding company headquartered in Paris that owns mainly video gaming-related interactive entertainment properties. Atari SA's core subsidiaries include ...

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, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

, 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 was ...

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 Champions League. Commentary is provided by

Ron Atkinson Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s. Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...

and Jonathan Pearce, with

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and subsequent manager. Regarded among the greatest footballers of all time, he was also noted for his Utility player#Association football, abili ...

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 The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

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 and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

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 , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' 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 re-evaluated their support for the console, and the game was never released on any platform.''Official Dreamcast Magazine'', October 2000, page 29

References

External links

* {{moby game, id=/striker-pro-2000 1999 video games Association football video games Dreamcast games Imagineer games Infogrames games PlayStation (console) games Rage Games games UEFA European Championship video games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in 2000 Multiplayer and single-player video games