'Virtua' marks strike for Sega

Arcade soccer games; who could conceive of such a thing? The arcade mode of Virtua Striker comes from people who somehow or other got the brainstorm. Kind of a dreary day, really.

The main virtue of the game is that it can be played quickly; there aren't that many sports games that let you get it over with in a couple minutes if you want to just play for a short time. Usually the only exceptions to dragging periods or halves or innings were homerun derby's or their equivalents. Here you can play some really quick soccer for some super low scoring, ending up with a kickout when you tie.

Unfortunately, of course, the game is soccer. Maybe it's fun to play soccer, but it is not the most interesting game to watch, at least from an American point of view. And playing the videogame version of soccer is more akin to the viewing of and not the playing of the sport. And if you win, the game will drag on even more.

The other drag is the non-arcade mode. When you play tournament mode, you get to play as whatever second rate soccer obsessed team you want, like Tunisia. Here the game drags on for a longer time. And no matter how energetic the announcer is when he screams "Gooooooooooooooooooal!", it's just not interesting.

Well, the game has well designed characters, although they lag behind the other Dreamcast sports games. When you score some interesting things go on, like getting a rainbow goal, whatever that means. And you can injure players to the extent you can get thrown out of the game. But in the end, the overall stink of soccer covers the game. If you like that, then feel free to enjoy the disc.