First, I know Virtua Striker 2 is an arcade game. I'm not bashing the game for playing simplistically. I'm not annoyed at any lack in realism (as I was with FIFA 2000), because this game is not a sim. On the other hand though, I do realise that it's not an arcade game in the same mold as NFL Blitz or NBA Jam.

I have to say Virtua Striker 2 v2000.1 has the most astonishingly poor control of any game I've played in recent times. For a start, there's no analog control. Why? Don't give me that "but-it-was-digital-in-the-arcade" excuse. Plenty of arcade conversions have used analog control (even the aforementioned NFL Blitz) at home. And it's not that digital control is that bad after all; We were stuck with it before analog hit with the N64 in 1996. But Virtua Striker's control is so sloppy and so slow to react, it's somewhat ridiculous. Depth? Strategy? Hah, if the camera angle was decent enough to see a player coming along, then it might be easy. But the single camera angle offered (selectable camera angles? What's that?) is utterly absymal. It's not very high up, so it can be hard to judge how far you are away from opponents, especially on the far side of the pitch. Don't even get me started on trying to keep the ball in play by the far touchline. Anyway, back to the control. Another problem is that it is not just slow, it's inconsistent. The problem manifests itself most when trying to cross. In Virtua Striker, defenders tend to stay relatively tight on you, and when you have the ball, they seem to catch up to you no matter where you are. Basically, you need to somehow wrestle with the control system to give yourself that little bit of space, and then fire off a cross into the box. The problem is, sometimes the game instantly crosses, other times it just doesn't do anything at all. I've tried pressing the button as hard as possible, tried different controllers... nothing. It's always the same inconsistency.

I can spend this entire review ranting about the control. And why not? It seriously hampers any possible enjoyment of this game. You never actually feel in control of the players. You push a direction, the player waits and then executes the action. Of course, by this time you've probably already lost the ball, but hey. That's why this game is so annoying. Another pain is the relative lack of first-time shots. Since you only have a few opportunities to score, and working chances is an amazingly frustrating fight against the control system, the opportunity to rip a first-time shot into the net is one I'd like to take frequently. And what about when rebounds land at your feet? The Virtua Striker system of control, take another touch then shoot, is silly and far too slow to work; You get tackled most of the time anyway. Speaking of tackles, the slow control makes them a nightmare. Slide tackles are frequently late, and when the option is on, they frequently earn yellow cards for the offender. The control is so slow that by the time the game reacts to you pressing the button, the computer has already shown you a clean pair of heels, leaving you to savagely hack the the opponent down. I eagerly await the introduction of a device that allows me to see the future, so I can then time my tackles in this game correctly. Since that hasn't come out yet, I don't expect to tackle properly anytime soon.

What really annoys me is the shoddy control is not helped by other awful elements of the game. Like the AI. Not the opponent AI, but your own players. Sega has taken a game based on the 1998 World Cup (yes, the supposed rosters are that old), the pinnacle of footballing excellence, and yet the players stumble around like drunken louts from the Hackney Marshes Sunday League. For some awful reason, the players seem to be afraid of the ball. They like to run away from it. When chasing a long ball, attackers like to stop running (even if they are ahead of the defender). It gets to the point that, where after some goal kicks, the ball even manages to roll to a dead stop because everyone runs away from it. Add the slow, clumsy control and it makes this problem even worse. Another problem? Defenders are insanely fast. Even super-fast strikers like England's Michael Owen stand no chance against even the slowest defender. Whenever you have a one-on-one breakaway, the defender will close you down and tackle you, guaranteed. The low camera angle (which goes even lower when you're clean through) makes it hard to see what you're doing if you decide to try and pull back and pass. Then again, control is so poor that no good camera angle would help you if you decided to do that. And finally, Sega decided to let the game switch players for you. What a good idea! I always wanted to run towards the ball with one player before another player miles away is selected as the player I should be controlling. Again, combined with clunky controls, this really doesn't help.

Right, there are actually some good points about this game. Like the graphics. To put it mildly, they are jaw-dropping. Stunning. Amazing. Unbelievable. Also, unlike the Naomi version in the arcades, there is only a very minor slowdown problem. In fact, I hesitate to call it a problem, since although it is present, it is very rare. The detail is absolutely stunning, as you even get to see the correct logos and details on the ball (adidas Tricolore) and shoe (adidas Predator with Traxion). Unbelievable! It's also worth noting that this game has the widest variety of the most impressive VMU displays I've ever seen. Everything you do-from shooting, to passing, to throw ins, goal kicks, everything-is replicated by way of a specialised animation on the VMU screen.

Still, the bad by far outweighs the good in this title. The extra modes tacked on have some serious flaws. The International Cup only allows you to save after the first three matches, and then never after that. What? Why? I don't like rushing through the whole thing in one sitting, I like to squeeze in games between doing other things. This is annoying to say the least. Another flaw is the Yellow card system. Now in a real tournament, yellow cards carry over to a certain extent. If you got a yellow card in one game, and then another in the next game, you wouldn't get sent off immediately, but you would serve a suspension after the current game is over. In this game, oddly, if you get a yellow card in two successive games you are sent off on the spot. Why? It's ridiculous and annoying. It doesn't even wipe your yellow cards after the group stage, like in real life. So you have the ludicrous situation I found myself in- my two strikers carried yellow cards into the Final from group stage games, and within the first minute of a 10 minute game both were sent off. Very, very silly.