''Actua Soccer'' (''VR Soccer'' in North America) is a

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

developed and published by

Gremlin Interactive Gremlin Graphics Software Limited, later Gremlin Interactive Limited and ultimately Infogrames Studios Limited was a British software house based in Sheffield, working mostly in the home computer market. Like many software houses established i ...

for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few o ...

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a di ...

, and

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the su ...

. The game features a variety of teams and leagues to choose from, including national teams and club teams from various countries. Players can create their own teams and customize team kits, as well as participate in various game modes, such as exhibition matches, leagues, and tournaments. ''Actua Soccer'' received positive reviews upon its release for its realistic gameplay and depth of features.

Gameplay

''Actua Soccer'' contains only 44 national teams, each containing 22 players. However, in 1996 a new version containing clubs was released: ''Actua Soccer: Club Edition''. It contained 20

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

teams from the 1996/1997 season, with players displayed in " Panini-style" photos and with individualised statistics. Commentary was provided by

Barry Davies Barry George Davies MBE (born 24 October 1937) is an English retired sports commentator and television presenter. He covered a wide range of sports in a long career, primarily for the BBC. Although best known for his football commentary, D ...

Development

This was the first sports video game to include a full

3D graphics 3D computer graphics, or “3D graphics,” sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for th ...

engine.

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire ...

-based Gremlin used

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

Andy Sinton Andrew Sinton (born 19 March 1966) is an English football manager and former professional footballer, who is club ambassador for Queens Park Rangers. As a player, he was a left midfielder who notably played in the Premier League for Queens P ...

, Chris Woods and Graham Hyde as

motion capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

models. The ''Club Edition'' was developed using the engine used for Gremlin's previous football title '' UEFA Euro 96 England.''

Reception

By 1997, the game had sold more over a million copies for MS-DOS and PlayStation around the world. In 1996, ''GamesMaster'' ranked ''Actua Socce''r 85th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." Reviewing the ''Club Edition

Saturn Power ''Sega Power'', initially known as ''S: The Sega Magazine'', was a Future publication aimed at the Sega range of consoles, including the Master System, Mega Drive, Game Gear and later on the Mega-CD, 32X and Saturn. The magazine was later relaunch ...

'''s Dean Mortlock gave a score of 65/100, criticising "sloppy controls and poor artificial intelligence". He concluded, "Sorry Gremlin but if '' Worldwide Soccer'' is one of the Manchester Uniteds of this world, then ''Actua Soccer Club Edition'' is more like a

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

". ''Sega Saturn Magazine'''s Lee Nutter argued that "very little has been changed from its Euro 96 incarnation" and that it lacked "the speed, playability and overall polish of Sega's seemingly untouchable ''Worldwide Soccer '97''".

References

External links

*{{moby game, /vr-soccer-96 1995 video games Association football video games DOS games PlayStation (console) games Sega Saturn games Video games scored by Kevin Saville Gremlin Interactive games Video games developed in the United Kingdom