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Notable Sports Games
FIFA 2000
EA Sports is adding better graphics and more animation to FIFA 2000. There will be mid-air collisions, more moves, and more contact between players. The game will have a season mode that lets you play a season from league play to the World Cup and fight for a position in the European cup the next season.
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There will be 42 classic teams added to the teams from last year's version and a collection of matches, from international to domestic to league play.
Developer/Publisher: EA Sports
NBA Live 2000
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Shown behind closed doors, EA's NBA Live 2000 looked more realistic than anything yet seen in a basketball sim. The players' faces and movements - and their interactions amongst each other - give the impression that the developers won't be satisfied until they've achieved absolute photorealism. The game will also offer a pretty cool-looking street court to play on. The most notable addition to this game is the inclusion of dozens of players from basketball teams of years past. EA has acquired the rights to put in such players as defensive great Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Dr. J, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird. At E3, we saw a match between new poster boy Kevin Garnett and Dr. J. These players will look like their old selves; Dr. J wore knee high socks, a loud tank top, and a bushy afro. It will be great to match up the best players of all time against each other. Unfortunately, as with all basketball games, Michael Jordan will not be in the game. Still, every other player will be.
The graphical enhancements include more and smoother animations, as well as the elusive knuckle touching inbetween free-throws (at least, EA tells us it is elusive). Players will have more facial expressions, and will now shout after good dunks.
Developer/Publisher: EA Sports
NFL Fever
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NFL Fever 2000 is designed to hit in the middle ground between arcade games like NFL Blitz and more hard-core sims such as Sierra's Football Pro. The build we played seemed to hit this target quite well. The game is easy to pick up and begin playing, and the play-calling screens and player controls are intuitive. The passing is crisp and accurate, and the running game is sophisticated enough to let real holes open up in the middle of the line. No surprise then that big offensive plays happen early and often - in limited play, we saw several huge gains on simple passing plays - although Campbell says that the offensive/defensive balance will be tuned considerably before the game's release.
NFL Fever 2000 will include a heavy Internet emphasis. It will feature a play editor that lets you create your own plays and then trade them with other players online. In addition, during the NFL season, Microsoft will offer weekly updates with the latest statistical and injury information, which players can then download and import into the game.
Developer/Publisher: Microsoft
Professional Bull Rider
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Against the backdrop of countless shooters, strategy games, and RPGs, professional bull riding seems like a conceptual breath of fresh air. But we had our doubts about how that concept would translate into an actual game. Fortunately, the designers seem to have a clear idea of what they want to achieve with Professional Bull Rider and, based on our time spent with the game, it looks like they're well on their way to doing it.
The build we played was early, but the basic gameplay seemed fairly polished. As promised, you can choose to be either the bull or the rider and can use either a keyboard or joystick to control your character. Gameplay basically consists of quickly twisting and turning your character either to throw the cowboy or to avoid being thrown. The action is quick - each ride lasts only a few seconds - and intense, especially when playing with a force-feedback joystick. If the rider is thrown, the bull has the opportunity to run the cowboy down as the cowboy runs for the fence. This adds an additional element of strategy to the game - if playing as the bull, you can either go for the quick throw right out of the gate or head out to the middle of the ring for a better chance at the post-throw rundown. Multiplayer support is offered either on a single PC or over the Internet.
Developer/Publisher: Sierra
Next: Notable Strategy Games
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