Exclusively licensed EURO 2000 will encompass the full look, feel and excitement of the real event. Players will experience the tension of the qualifying rounds, the celebration of the event, the colour and excitement in the crowds, the countries’ flags, official event logos and, of course, the animated official mascot. The game will feature all of the nations that competed in the qualifying event in a realistic draw, giving everyone the chance to qualify for the finals. Once qualified, the player will enter a true tournament atmosphere, selecting his team from a realistic squad that may suffer injuries or suspension as the tournament progresses. Teams will play in a realistic style and formation, and will have their own preferred set pieces to use. The player will be able to train his first team against his reserves to enable selection of the strongest side, and will be able to set the reserves to play in the style of the next opponent, allowing effective tactics to be developed. Also included in the game are 40 of the greatest EURO championship teams of all time, allowing the user to replay some of the classic EURO games.
Designed and produced by the FIFA team in EA Canada and developed by the Manchester based company, Software Creations, EURO 2000 will offer outstanding gameplay, and novel approaches that will differentiate this game from the myriad football titles in the marketplace. For example, team management and training has often been a mundane add-on to most football games. EURO 2000 overcomes this by introducing a feature called Skill Drill that allows players to hone the new finishing moves in a quick fire style. In this manner players can master essential in-game moves without detracting from the spontaneous elements of gameplay. There is also a true tournament feel to the software, as the game will feature injuries and suspension to create on-going selection issues for players.
In terms of detail, EURO 2000 utilises, for example, a brand new face texture generator. Team players will look unique with faces generated by combining three source textures from a bank of twenty – making possible over 4,000 different permutations. Also, brand new Out Of Play sequences enhance the authenticity with more spontaneous celebrations, ball retrieval for corners and throw-ins all contributing to make EURO 2000 look and feel unlike any other football game to date.
The whole game presentation has been designed with a meticulous eye for detail to reflect the building tension and excitement of the tournament. Front-end graphics and audio become more frantic as the tournament progresses toward the final, and pre-match screens offer a real sense of the time frames – with backgrounds representing morning pre-match, through afternoon/early evening lighting as kick off approaches. Post match summaries have an evening setting giving the feeling of an end of day summary.
With 12 stadiums (the 8 from the tournament plus four famous locations for pre-tournament qualifiers), all 51 competing teams (in home, away and goalkeeping strip - 153 Bit-mapped kits!) EURO 2000 offers high quality and authenticity to the only licensed product of the 2000 European Football Championship.
