VR Soccer ’96
28% 
VERDICT: Aged terribly. Camera swings around. Robust multiplayer options. Cool team customization. Co-op play. There has to be a more worthy soccer game that’s come out in seventeen years. Avoid this title.
Above: VR Soccer ’96 offers co-op.
VERSION: GOG
This game runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Linux requires Dosbox tweaking.
GOG messed up the music. Music should play but GOG mounted the drives incorrectly or something. Oh well. Doesn’t matter with this game.
MULTIPLAYER:
If you ever have desire to play soccer over a modem, this is your game! Using the co-op same-computer feature and networking, one can play up to around fifteen people. It could be interesting to see it in a LAN party provided everyone doesn’t kill you for making them play this ancient game.
INPUT:
I didn’t find the mouse to do anything other than selecting things in the menu.
The controls are as follows:
FORWARD
BACKWARD
LEFT
RIGHT
SHOOT
PASS
And that’s it. When you are defending, shoot will make your players slide.
TECHNICAL ISSUES:
No issues.
WHAT IS IT?
It’s a soccer game.
If you have the ball, you control the player who has the ball. If not, then you control the player nearest to the ball (or you can select the pass which goes to the next player nearby).
This is one of the first 3d soccer games. The camera likes to swing around when the ball gets passed to someone else.
Above: The camera loves to move around. It can get you dizzy.
What is most interesting is how you can customize the teams. You can update the roster on your own as seen below.
Above: It’s the Post Console team!
Above: The countries you can play.
Above: The match setup.
I’m not sure how else to describe this game. I’m not very experienced with sports video games. The only soccer game I’ve play extensively is Super Mario Strikers.
MANUAL SCORE
There is no manual to score. It’s like no one cares about this game. It’s just there.
NOSTALGIA CHECK
I’ve never played this game before. And if you did play this game before, I bet the nostalgia goggles shatter upon replaying this game.
JUSTIFICATION FOR SCORE
Sports games tend to age terribly, and this one is no exception. Some old sports games can be interesting such as the Atari Era games where the players look like blocks. However, this early 3d soccer game is probably the worst time period to choose from. The graphics have aged terribly to the point where it makes it difficult to enjoy the game. The camera swinging also is annoying.
Above: Check out that checked green field! Terrible, terrible graphics.
However, VR Soccer ’96 offers a complete package. The team customization is something you never see today. There is co-op at the same computer which is very nice. The other multiplayer options are plentiful including modem support and LAN.
This game isn’t garbage. It is a competent game that tried to be good in 96. However, we live in the year of 2013 which is seventeen years later. The elements of DRM free don’t make this soccer game worth playing let alone buying. You will try it out a few times and promptly uninstall it.
Unfortunately, games from this era have not aged particularly well. It’s easier to come back to a game like Star Fox than the ‘realistic’ outings from the ’90s.
Seems to me that games at this period were beginning their transition from more arcade-like experiences, to wowing the audience with the latest graphical bells and whistles (that’s not to say though that 2D games didn’t do this – e.g. Metal Slug!).
At least it [sort of] seems like there’s a slightly competent game buried under what amounts to a tech-demo for a 3D camera.