FIFA Soccer 96 PS1 Review

FIFA Soccer 96 is the first entry of the FIFA series to be released on the PlayStation in late 1995 and the game also got subsequent releases on the Sega Saturn, the Mega Drive, Super Nintendo, Game Boy even the Sega Game Gear within the same year and it follows the popular lineage of the FIFA soccer series as it started to raise in popularity during its time in the early to mid 90s and the game would be your best seller in the UK in terms of its sales. 

The game actually did sell really really well across all formats as the FIFA series had started to become the dominant force and presence within soccer games across the board on games consoles. 

And this game would move away from the popular element seen on previous 16-bit consoles and tried to move forward into the 3D era by utilizing 3D graphics for many of the games aesthetics and environments on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn as the stadiums and the pitches you will play on would all be in 3D but still utilized 2D elements for the sprites of the characters and players that you play as in the game. 

And it was also an early soccer title alongside the first actua soccer game also seen on the PlayStation and that game fully utilized 3D elements across the board with the environments and with the characters. 

But FIFA at that point had already been somewhat popular and was pretty much the standard of soccer games at that time because it had all the influences in terms of its presence, its feel, it had all of the licenses in terms of clubs, countries and even player names that were relevant to that time. 

So it made the game in general feel almost authentic and almost lifelike, it made it feel very lifelike in terms of how it was presented which appeals to a lot of players at that time and that's why FIFA was always ever popular and was dominant for a long period of time.

Although when you consider this to later FIFA titles it does pale in comparison in terms of what's offered especially compared to the likes of the ever popular FIFA 98 Road to World Cup as that's considered to be one of the best all-time soccer games seen on the PlayStation. 

But during the early days of the console and even with the likes of the Sega Saturn because with the early era of 3D gaming, just to get to play games in this sort of dynamic even though they weren't full 3D to a certain degree they still use 2D elements. 

It didn't matter because people just lapped it up, people just decided to play these type of games on newer consoles and they wanted to experience their favorite series from a whole different perspective and we managed to get that during the early days of the likes of the 32 era of consoles which was really really cool. 

Although the next iteration FIFA 97 would go full 3D, it wasn't fair as well in terms of reviews, would play quite sluggishly and would receive mixed reviews considering some of the more negative aspects of the game but it would later be improved upon with FIFA 98. 

But FIFA 96 during the early period of 3D consoles did help to set the foundation for what was yet to become as this game was a bestseller on the consoles during the early days of the PlayStation and the game receiving really good reviews across all versions of the game on different consoles even the Sega Saturn version getting very very good reviews as well in games magazines stating that they like the way the game played and they like the transition from the likes of the standard 2D kind of isometric Style Elements to 3D gameplay. 

So it helped in its own way to revolutionize the soccer genre or it was building the foundations to what was yet to become. 

But when you look back at it from a modern perspective the game obviously hasn't aged well but for what it did present back in the day it presented something that was truly unique and something that had to set the bar a lot higher for developers to really start pushing the boundaries of what was possible with soccer games during the fifth generation of consoles and that would even later one to inspire future games that we now see and play today so that in itself is a testament to the popularity of these early FIFA games. 

As each installment gradually increased in popularity and also improved on various aspects while some would not be as popular as others but they still all helped to build the foundations of what would become possible later down the line. 

So FIFA 96 in all respects to the game is considered an all-time classic regarding the early days of 3D consoles as it did help to pave the way like I mentioned for future games and future entries in the series and with other gaming brands that would later become popular on the console as well and even beyond. 

So it's an interesting concept and it's interesting to go back and play these type of games now and to see what they're like today compared to what they would have been like even years ago because back then people years ago would have lapped this game up although it hasn't aged well by today's standards and for most cases to go back and play it now it probably is difficult to pick up and play for most respects. 

But it still is an enjoyable title and it's a true concept to the FIFA series itself and it just is an interesting game overall to learn and understand more about and even if you want to see the early takes of what football games looked like back during the early days of the fifth generation of consoles. 

FIFA 96 will definitely be a game to look into just for the nostalgic reasons alone and to learn the history behind these games. 

So I'd love to know your thoughts of FIFA Soccer 96 for the PlayStation if you have played it yourself and if so what did you think of it. 

Did you own the game yourself back in the day when you had your PlayStation and if so did you manage to play it and what do you think of it overall? 

I'd love to hear whatever stories you have with this game so be sure to share it in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to FIFA Soccer 96, you can check out the blog where we will be diving into the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...