FIFA 2000, £29.99, PC CDRom
FIFA is the best-selling football game - to prove its popularity, a CD of songs from it is planned. Robbie Williams is the star player in this release, so players will get regular renditions of his It's Only Us. The "album of the songs of the videogame" might help hype a game, but it's what happens on the pitch that matters in the end. FIFA 99 was a far better game than its predecessor, so improving again was always going to be hard. The 2000 version makes some notable improvements, but oddly omits some moves that were available in FIFA 99. For instance, you can no longer "dive" to fake being fouled or intentionally foul an opponent. Formations are also restricted, so player losing 0-1 with five minutes to go cannot switch to a gung-ho formation such as 1-4-5 and go for broke. The allowed formations, such as 3-4-3, are a lot less radical.
Nevertheless, some subtle changes to gameplay make it more enjoyable. Players can now attempt to shield the ball and an arrow at the base of the player in control of the ball points to where the nearest potential pass can be made. The arrow changes colour (green, yellow, red) to show how hard that pass would be to accomplish. In set pieces, players' positions can be changed. You can also aim your arrow as if to shoot one way but instead pass to one of three "dedicated" players. These players have a small A, W or D above their heads and pressing the appropriate key sends the ball directly to them.
League-, cup- and custom-cup modes are available and the league mode is continuous, so winning the Premier League, for instance, allows a team to qualify for the European Champions League. The user can also choose to play as a "classic" team such as Brazil in 1970 or Liverpool in 1977. Renowned international teams such as New Zealand and Tunisia are included, but Electronic Arts (EA) has chosen not to include either the Republic or North of Ireland. The interface has a somewhat American feel, especially in the choice-of-language, where there is no "English" but only "American". Major US teams are included, and strikers now play in "offence". Minor gripes aside, FIFA 2000 doesn't disappoint, but a surprise or some real progress would have been nice.
[Recommended : P300/64MB/Win 9x]
The latest and probably final test-version of Quake III Arena was released on the Web last week. This test-build of the demo certainly has more flesh on it than previous releases, allowing multi-player network games and also the much-awaited single-player mode. Unlike Quake or Quake II, there are no "monsters" to shoot in single-player mode. Instead, you take part in a simulated deathmatch, where your opponents are controlled by the game's artificial intelligence. The AI turns out a clever bunch and playing on any level above the easiest can be fairly tricky. The "bots" appear to have the same agenda as you - to kill anything that moves. They frag each other and even send you insults. They feel just like a set of skilled and aggressive human opponents. This very worthwhile download is available from several sites, including www.download.com and www.q3arena.com. It is 50MB however, so downloads will not move as fast as the game.
At the recent BAFTA interactive entertainment awards Nintendo's Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time scooped the awards. It won in four categories: innovative game, computer programming, games and interactivity. Other winners where Grand Theft Auto: London 1969 (for sound), Wip3out (design) and Driver (moving images).