0 to Z of Playstation 1 Games - Alexi Lalas International Soccer

        

Alexi Lalas International Soccer is the United States version of this title, it is also named Three Lions in the UK as well as being named Golden Goal 98, Bomba:98, Mundial:98 and Pro Foot Contest 98 in other countries, the game was developed by Z-Axis games for the Playstation, PC and Game Boy Color.

The games was released on the Playstation in Europe on the 17^th of April 1998 and later that sale month in North America, the game was published by two companies, the PAL version was published by BMG Interactive and Take Two Interactive, while the US version was published by only Take Two Interactive.

With a total of 50 licensed teams to choose from, players have two game modes to play, a tournament mode with official settings and exhibition matches, the teams and players have apparently been developed with attention to statistic detail, they also feature unique faces for each player rendered from their likeness.

The game unlike other football games from this time period don’t have commentary, instead the game tries to simulate what the players on the field hear, from the crowd noise to players shouting to each other, the game also allows the player to create their own formations to exploit any oppositions weaknesses.

Football game no story present

Plenty of review scores available for this game, a couple of good ones, however largely this game has review average or lower, but lets start with the positive ones, Power Unlimited scored the game a very good 8.9/10 the Dutch publication concluding I say: do not overlook the Soccer Golden Goal! (apologies for bad translation).

The next review up was a considerable drop in score compared to Power Unlimited’s 8.9/10, with Absolute Playstation giving the game a solid 77/100 this review was for the UK version of the game, they conclude their review by saying, Three Lions does not reach the high standard set by Actua Soccer 2 and FIFA 98 but is still acceptable and has that instant appeal which should hold the attention of the younger audience.

German Publications Video Games and Mega Fun both scored this game the exact same giving it a 67/100, Video Games were harsh in their review conclusion saying,  I've played the France '98 parallel to Golden Goal '98, tested in this issue, and will not be able to feel that BMG's contribution is only a fraction of the work and dedication compared to EA.

Heading to the other end of the review scores we find a familiar outlet with the lowest score, Computer and Video Games giving the game a lowly 10/100, they concluded with, A disappointing game with some strange new features that don't quite come together in a satisfactory way. Save your money and wait for the proper World Cup game, or ISS '98, or Sensible Soccer 98 or even the 2002 World Cup. Nice graphics, poor gameplay and ultimately no fun, Official Playstation Magazine gave them a run for their money though with a lowly 20/100 score.

EGM and GameSpot were not much kinder to the game scoring it a 32.5/100 and 33/100 respectively, with GameSpot review conclusion saying, Alexi Lalas International Soccer is a painful soccer game. It offers neither the stunning animations, nor the tactical depth, nor the ease of control of any recent soccer title. Beyond that, the AI is downright infuriating. Even the die-hard soccer fan will want to skip this one.

Adrenaline Vault who rated the game as average as you can get with a 50/100 had the following to say in their review conclusion, In the end, I have to say that, while ALIS isn’t a half bad soccer game, it isn’t the best on on the market, either. I don’t know exactly how much star power Lalas has in the gaming world, but I doubt that it is really enough to push a fairly mediocre title onto the best sellers list.

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, if you are looking to trade in your copy of the game, then you are looking at $2 from Gamedude, on the other hand if you are looking to buy a copy of the game form them, it will set you back $7.

Retrogames.co.uk do not stock this title, neither do they stock the PAL version Three Lions, heading to eStarland.com next who do stock the game however at the moment it is out of stock, the usual price when in stock is between $4.37 and $7.95, they also off a trade in and will pay $2.25 for a used copy.

Amazon.com has a plentiful supply of copies available the cheapest can be picked up for $4.40 this is a good quality used copy, and comes with free shipping however only when you spend $25, for just a little over a dollar more though you can pick up a very good quality used copy with free shipping for $5.58, this converts to $4.33 in the UK, in Euro zone countries it will cost you €4,72 while in Russia it will set you back 329.87 Russian Rubles.

At the time of writing this there are only two new copies of this game on the market, and they are exspensive with the cheapest of the two priced at $99.00 + $3.98 for shipping, so $102.98 for a new copy, this converts to 6087.79 Russian Rubles, in the Euro region it will cost you €87.19, and in the UK that converts to £79.85.

Moving to Ebay.com a complete copy of the game, with free shipping is the first copy to greet us, this is priced at $1.00 + 2.99 for shipping, for only a small amount more however you can get your hands on a new mint copy for just $4.25, this also comes with free shipping.

There is also a brand new copy of the game available on Ebay, this copy is much more wallet friendly when it comes to price, at $21.94 this copy also comes with free shipping in the US.

Written by

P J Gibbon