VR Soccer '96

All in all, VR Soccer '96 gives the gamer the best of both worlds - the ability to feel the experience of playing competitive soccer while in the comfort of his or her own home. With the joint efforts of Interplay Productions and Gremlin Interactive Ltd., everything comes together. When VR Sports puts you in the game, the difference is real!

Overall, Striker '96 barely nudges this game off the podium for being the best 32-bit soccer title while FIFA '96 places a distant third. You can't go wrong with VR Soccer.

VR Sports has put all of the ingredients together and made one great soccer game. With Major League Soccer in its infancy and the profile of the game increasing all the time, VR Soccer has a lot of balls. Headers, bicycle kicks, precision passing - this game has it all. If you enjoy great sports games, give it a try.

Which game should you buy? Hard to say. But when I picture a couple of guys up at four in the morning, sweating over a fierce futbol match. I see VR Soccer on the screen, not FIFA.

Äntligen ett riktigt sportlir till Macen. Rekommenderas varmt.

The biggest negative point about VR Soccer concerns the AI. Once you have mastered the task of controlling the ball, you will score many goals, possibly more than six or seven per game, because the computer-controlled players make lots of mistakes. To conclude, this is a game with good graphics, even when the players are shown close up, but it isn't very difficult once you understand how it works. For this reason, I give the game a 4, as it is almost perfect.

Another solid contender, Adidas Power Soccer from Psygnosis, is due out this summer. But if you're ready to kick in some dough for a soccer title now, you'll get the most boot for your buck with VR '96.

Die Präsentation von ran Soccer ist überaus stimmig. Herrliche Spieleranimationen, eine Kommentatorstimme, die man sofort erkennt und übersichtliche Menüs lassen Vorfreude auf einen flotten Zock aufkommen. Die ungenügenden Torwartleistungen vergällen aber zusammen mit der schwierigen Strafraumverteidigung einen beträchtlichen Teil des Spielspaßes, so daß hier insgesamt nur der zweite Tabellenplatz hinter FIFA Soccer herausspringt.

VR Soccer Œ96 has lots of things going for it and will entertain most soccer fans for hours on end. There are plenty of options, teams, and players and (for the most part) a high degree of verisimilitude. The soccer players and the stadiums they play in look good, and the sound effects are very pleasing. However, most of the FIFA soccer games from Electronic Arts are more fun and have steadier player and ball control.

Actua Soccer liknar FIFA '96 väldigt mycket, men saknar en del finess och funktioner. Trots det ett godkänt fotbollsspel som hade varit otroligt bra om det hade kommit först. Nu är det bara näst bäst redan från start.

Die Steuerungsidee ist neu und schlecht. Die ganzen Anzeigen machen das Gekicke nur unnötig kompliziert. Eine konsequente Ausnutzung von 4-Feuerknopf-Joypads wäre sinnvoller gewesen. Ein paar 3D-Routinen und Menüscreens machen eben noch kein gutes Fußballspiel. Mit dem äußerst unrealistischen Gekicke von ran-Soccer werden nur Anhänger rüden Basis-Gebolzes etwas anfangen können.

In the final analysis, suffice to say that other soccer sims do it better for the same price.

Unlike modern soccer titles, the "shoot" button doesn't automatically aim towards the goal, so it's hard to aim with precision. The goals are awfully small but manned by lazy-assed goalies that allow soft shots to float right over their heads. VR Soccer's play-by-play is professional but subdued. A rich option menu provides so many choices that it's almost ridiculous. When sports games become old, their whiz-bang features tend to fall to the side, and all that remains is their gameplay. Fortunately for VR Soccer, that's good enough.

Actua Soccer came out of nowhere in 1996 and grabbed the football crown from EA's Fifa. Since then, a clutch of better contenders have come, but Actua still provides a worthwhile game of soccer. In-game the perspective is right in at the player, which showcases the motion-capture animation to its best effect. The stadiums look good, including their show-off video screen effect. The game is somewhat afflicted with traditional footy game problems, namely erratic scrolling and limited goalie intelligence, plus it's been supeceded by the nippier Actua 2.

All in all this might actually be a good game if you want to take the time to dig into it - for those who just want to play a quick round this is not really a good choice.