Worthy sequel to FIFA 99, but some inconsistencies lurk within the game.

User Rating: 8 | FIFA 2000 (Platinum) PS
FIFA 2000, being the sequel to FIFA 99, obviously features (somewhat) better graphics than the previous game, and new additions, which mainly appeal to bigger football fans than casual fans. What's new here is the addition of new clubs from different nations-for example the Turkish Premier League and African clubs like Egypt's El-Zamalek. Furthermore, one can play as 'classic' versions of teams already in the game, such as the 1968 European Cup winning Manchester United squad and Argentina's World Cup winning 1978 squad. All these new clubs are much more than those featured in ISS Pro Evolution (also released in 2000), which would make FIFA 2000's higher amount of clubs a selling point for those who want to play through the Champions League with their favourite team that isn't in ISS (and that game only had 16 clubs).

In terms of graphics, the players look practically the same as they did in FIFA 99, except with some tweaks in smoothness here and there. It is easy to identify big players from others-i.e Zidane's bald patch and Beckham's hair-yet what I dislike is how for example, Turkish players appear to be black when Turkey isn't even very close to Africa! But as most people tend to say, good graphics don't (always) make a good game.

Moving on to the most important aspect of the game is the gameplay. Unless you've been living under a rock, you'll know how football is played. You have 3 difficulties to choose from, but this leads to a steep increase in difficulty as it becomes too easy to have the ball stolen from you in the normal difficulty than it was in easy difficulty, where the AI doesn't really try. One can perform a 360 degree turn to get past players, which is effective when done at the right time, practically making it possible for one man to get past 5 players and score-which for the most part is unrealistic (I have managed to get my goalkeeper to score by running all the way through the pitch with this skill on the hardest difficulty). Tackling is split into three forms- a soft tackle (sticking the foot out), slide tackle and the professional tackle, which I don't recommend as it is most likely to earn your player a red card (a yellow card at best) Sprinting feels more fluid than it does in ISS Pro Evolution, as players can stop sprinting with the ball quicker, which is a positive point in gameplay. Scoring goals is all too easy when one picks the right position over and over again-even on the hardest difficulty and the computer's team having the best goalkeeper, one can easily score from a certain position every single time. This inconsistency is what drags the difficulty of the game down a fair bit, yet overall the game is more fun when playing it with a friend due to no unbalanced gameplay.

In conclusion, if you can overlook inconsistencies with the game's difficulty, FIFA 2000 is definitely a fun game to play-the thought of taking a weak team (such as Besiktas) to the Champions' League final (albeit the competition is under a different name due to no rights to use the Champions' League name) adds excitement and a challenge to players, and two player mode is always fun to see your friend frustrated as conceding so many goals from THAT position over and over again.