Actua Soccer

Infobox VG
title=Actua Soccer series


caption= "Actua Soccer 3" UK cover, featuring Alan Shearer.
developer=Gremlin Interactive
publisher=Gremlin Interactive
distributor=
designer=
series= Actua Sports
engine=
version=
released=1995 - Actua Soccer
1996 - Actua Soccer: Club Edition
1997 - Actua Soccer 2
1998 - Actua Soccer 3
genre=Sports, football
modes=Single player, 2 player
ratings=
platforms=PlayStation
PC (MS-DOS and Windows)
Sega Saturn
Macintosh
media= CD-ROM
requirements=
input=

"Actua Soccer" is a soccer video game series that was developed by Gremlin Interactive as part of their Actua Sports series, and was the first football game to use full 3D graphics. The series comprises four titles released from 1995 to 1999, but does not include Gremlin's official video game of the Euro 96 tournament. At the time, the "Actua Soccer" series was a direct competitor of Electronic Arts' "FIFA" series. Barry Davies provided in-game commentary for all games in the series.

"Actua Soccer" and "Actua Soccer: Club Edition"

The first title's biggest claim to fame was its full 3D graphics engine, used for the first time in a football game. Although other games applied graphics used a 3D field, players were commonly still 2D sprites, but in "Actua Soccer" players were polygonal. The game features only national teams, with squads of 22 players from each of 44 national sides, though a version with English Premier League teams named "Actua Soccer: Club Edition" was released in 1996 using 20 players from the 20 Premier League teams from 1996/97. The Actual Soccer match engine was used to display matches in Premier Manager 64. [cite web | title="Premier Manager 64" IGN preview | url=http://uk.ign64.ign.com/objects/011/011903.html | author=Hiranand, Ravi | publisher=IGN | date=1999-07-07 | accessdate=2008-03-17]

Actua Soccer 2

"Actua Soccer 2" was one of the many football titles released to capitalize on the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and once again included only national teams, but a more polished engine (optimized in the PC version for 3D graphics cards) and a new "scenario" mode assured good sales and mostly positive reviews. Barry Davies was joined by Trevor Brooking on the commentary, and the game featured England football team captain and striker Alan Shearer not only on the cover, but also providing interviews about the game in the press. Michael Owen and Simon Tracey provided motion capture for the players. The game also featured menu music and a cameo appearance from Welsh rockers, Super Furry Animals, which could only be activated after entering a cheat code. "Actua Soccer 2" was also bundled with Creative Technology's "Voodoo 2" graphic cards, which helped to achieve widespread distribution and popularity.

Actua Soccer 3

The last of the series, Actua Soccer 3 arrived in late 1998. For the first time, both club and national teams were present, plus other teams (such as an all-girl team) and various joke teams. While its predecessor had been criticized for the absence of club teams, "Actua Soccer 3" featured a total of 25 leagues with 450 national and international teams, more than any game of the time except the earlier "Sensible World of Soccer" as well as over 10000 players. The graphics used a slightly improved version of the "Actua Soccer 2" engine with much improved weather effects. Trevor Brooking was replaced by Martin O'Neill as Barry Davies' commentary partner. "Let Me Entertain You" by Robbie Williams was the only soundtrack to the game.

References