Pet Soccer is just soccer with animals. Nothing special about it. However, it is a ton of fun to play with all the different animal teams the game has to offer.

In the core, Pet Soccer is just your ordinary soccer game. You can play a quick match, practice and enter tournaments against various other teams. When you win, you unlock more different animals to play with. Rinse and repeat. You play on the home world of your own team and the world of the opponent.

I really like the different team names that are just the existing soccer teams from around the world but turned into animals. You got Bearchester United, Frogen Leverkusen and FC Turtelona. Each team has their own strengths and weaknesses, making for varied gameplay. Because you can win eight world cups, the game keeps you occupied for a good amount of time.

Although it is still soccer, it has some different mechanics. When you possess the ball long enough, your “super” bar fills up and you get a bonus that you can use for a short time. This could be “evade all opponents” or super speed, but also some cheap and dirty ones like a wall on your goal so the opponent cannot score and the worst of all, the “fireball” in which you shoot your ball with lighting speed into the goal of your opponent, always scoring.

The controls work decently, you pass the ball to the teammate closest when pointing in a certain direction. Shooting on goal goes automatic when you are in range and are pointing to the goal.

The graphics are nothing special and do not impress. Not back then and not today. The animations are a little clunky but all right. In terms of backgrounds and crowd, it adds a little extra touch but not much.

However, the sound, and especially the music is excellent. The tracks are all made specifically for a certain animal type and work really well. You got Christmas themed music for the Polar Bears, funky forest music for the Frogs and barn music for the Bulls. For me, a bad or “OK” game can be made great, just by adding some decent or good music.

The only problem with this game is how simple and easy it is. Even on the hardest difficulty setting you win matches with 30-0. This is mainly of the stupid AI, but also a broken game mechanic in which you walk to the top right or left on the screen and make your shot. Almost any time, you score a goal.

Nevertheless, I really enjoy this game and even today would fire it up anytime.

Pet Soccer is a forgotten classic that deserves some love.