F.a. Premier League Football Manager 2001, The

PlayStation · 2000 · EU

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts

Publisher: Electronic Arts · Developer: Electronic Arts

Stars 2001 (in either one of the F.A. Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and LNF flavours) is the sequel and last title of the short run of EA's Stars series, a spin-off from the mainstay FIFA titles. Instead of digressing into several leagues, Stars focused on only one (giving each team individual kits and stadiums) and allows the player to improve his team by enhancing the players' abilities or in the transfer market. However, to do so, first the player has to win Star Points on the playing field - by scoring, not losing and having a clean sheet in both goals against and sending offs. Occasionally, there might be some Stars Challenges, which require the player to fulfill a task (scoring five goals, for instance), which will grant more star points, at the risk of possibly losing them if the requirements are not met. After the player completes a season (which includes the league, cup, European cup, international cup and legends match, against an all-time squad), the player can save the team, customize it and then play against other human-controlled custom team, the winner being able to select (well, steal) key players from the opposing team. Commentary is provided by Richard Keys, Martin Tyler, Clive Tydesley and Andy Gray. Music is provided by one of the leading record labels of the house music scene, Ministry of Sound.