0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Adidas Power Soccer International 97

      

Adidas Power Soccer International 97 is a football based sports game developed by UK based developer Psygnosis, the game was also published by Psygnosis, and was released Exclusively in Europe in April of 1997

In addition to the French, German and English leagues from the first game in the series come the Spanish and Italian league, also included in this edition is a Top 20 league made up of the 20 best European teams, also included as you would expect form the name of the game, 56 international teams are included, the usual game modes are present with the player able to play cups, tournaments and leagues.

As with the previous version of the game both Simulation and Arcade modes return with the former largely unchanged with the face buttons controlling passing, locking and shooting, and different tackle styles, it is the Arcade mode however where the real actions is with players able to hack down each other with vicious tackles, punches and kicks, players are also able to unleash the Predator Megakick named after the revolutionary football boot from the time, however doing this depletes the players stamina meter qucker.

Football game no story present

Only been able to find four reviews, lets start with the best from Consoles Plus in France who gave the game a very good 90/100 with their review quote saying. We found everything that charmed up about Adidas Power Soccer, and many improvements to it. (Google Translation,slightly modified to make sense).

Video Games a German publication were pretty upbeat on the title as well giving the game a solid 80/100 with them quoted as The 97 update is, of course, again a brilliantly playable and super-fast simulation, they were critical of the failure of Psygnosis to improve the players AI even though it was made out that they had, they were also critical of the repetitive commentary.

On the other hand Mega Fun another German publication praised the improvements to the AI in their 71/100 review praising the ability to distribute the ball much easier, and praising the keepers for being on the job, they also praised the expanded roster of teams and competitions, calling the game a completely successful update.

The only English review I could find comes from NowGamer who were far more critical of the game giving it just a 5.2/10 with the review saying, As a stand-alone product, Adidas Power Soccer International ’97 is passable, but nothing more.We were hoping for a substantial graphical overhaul, improved AI and better commentary – not someone who sounds like he’s been picked off the winner’s podium of the 1997World Gravel Eating competition.

They concluded by saying  It seems almost criminal that Psygnosis is releasing a product which constitutes no more than a glorified data disk when we all want to see is Adidas 2. If you haven’t sampled the relatively limited delights of the first game then this might interest, but to be honest there will be a whole new generation of football games in time for the new season, and for now you’re better off with Eidos’ Soccer ’97.

This is the part of 0 to Z where is visit five online retailers and see what the availability of the title is, and what price you would be looking at if you wanted to pick this title up, the sites that I will be using for this are Amazon.com,  eStarland.com, retrogames.co.uk and Gamedude.com I know the last one is very location specific, but from a podcast I listen to I’ve heard they have a huge stock of older games, I will also be including Ebay.com as well

So lets get down to business with Gamedude, who along with eStarland.com and Retrogames.co.uk don’t stock this game in any form disc, complete, used or new so we move onto Amazon.com who as well to no surprise don’t stock this European only release.

So we switch to the co.uk version of Amazon where the game is readily available and for a quite cheap price a very good quality used copy can be picked up for as little as £3.01, this converts to $3.87 in the US, in the Euro countries it will cost you €3.30, and in Fiji it will cost you 7.83 Fijian Dollars.

At the time of writing this there are no new copies of the game on sale, a like new copy can be picked up for £6.99 + £1.85 for shipping, so £8.84 in total which converts to, 22.98 Fijian Dollars, in the Euro countries it will set you back €9.69, while in the US you will be looking at an outlay of $11.38, there are a couple of more expensive copies on sale as well.

Heading to Ebay.com and again the game is pretty cheap and plentiful, slightly more expensive than Amazon with a used copy of the game available form $3.88, this comes with free international shipping, both these copies are good quality ones, if you are just looking a disc then a platinum version of the game is available for $4.42, again this comes with free international shipping.

Written by

P J Gibbon