Minute Improvements (Libero Grande International (PS))

Member Name: kmxretro

Product:	Libero Grande International (PS)
Date:	18/09/01 (48 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Innovative, Less slowdown than original

Disadvantages: Training Challenges removed, Lack of play modes, Poor cameras

Libero Grande sunk without a trace in the UK, simple as that. It came out, got average reviews despite it's innovative take on the ever more depressing football genre and then disappeared from our shelves, never to be seen again....

..or so we thought. The company that brought you Soul Calibur, Ridge Racer, Ace Combat and Tekken working on ANOTHER football game?

Well the first one wasn't actually that bad. An impressive "Training Challenge" mode, the innovative "control one player" style of gameplay and the ability to unlock new "lookalike" players from around the world made it more than a wasted hoof upfield.

So what could have been better? A decent league option, perhaps? Maybe a "Create-A-Player" mode? How about league teams instead of just internationals?

1 out of three isn't that great, unfortunately. Create-A-Player is in this new update and it does the job perfectly. Edit the height, weight, hair colour, name etc of a default player and then save him into your favourite team. Simple.

There are more cups than before, but the options are still limited. The training challenges mode has gone, which doesn't really take that much away from the game. It would have been nice if Namco had improved the mode, rather than removing it completely, though.

As for the game itself, the play moves along fluidly and you can now select from a number of camera angles. The only problem is that the majority of the angles are unusable and the rest of them will give you motion sickness as soon as you start on a Ricky Villa style mazy run.

Control is impressive, with the analog sticks being used for movement and all of the buttons being used differently in various situations. This may sound complicated, but you can select to have a button diagram on screen, which updates according to the situation.

Once you get used to them, the controls are pretty powerful
and you'll instinctively know what to do when you get a bit of space and are waiting for a pass, or when your striker is clean through on goal and you need a precision pass to pick him out.

Graphically, this is the same as the original with only minor improvements in animation and stadia. I did notice that this version doesn't have anywhere near as much slowdown as it's predecessor.

The sounds in LGI are pretty cool. Crowds chant in their local language, sing local songs and really give a feeling of a big match atmosphere. A good job, well done.

Overall, if you didn't buy the original, this is worth £15 or so. If you didn't LIKE the original, this won't turn you on to the series. It's just too similar to consider owning both.

Summary: