Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22828 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Codemasters
• Released on: 2003-10-10
• Platform: Xbox

Amazon.co.uk Review
Available at the time of writing in 17 different guises, Club Football is a commendable new entry into the world of console football games that proves itself to be a good deal more than the marketing gimmick it first appears.

The principles, whichever team-branded version you opt for, are inherently the same. You take the club you've picked through a domestic season, with the clear intention of filling up some of the empty spaces in the trophy cabinet. In doing this, you can use the game's player generator to put yourself into the midst of this team, and then it's down to action.

And the action is good. Backed by strong in-game graphics, Club Football offers an enjoyable rendition of the beautiful game, which endears itself to a healthy, long term challenge. There are a couple of quibbles that temper things a little. The fluidity of the gameplay, for instance, is sometimes hampered by an over-insistence on a good animation instead of a quick pass for example, and there are other mild issues that slightly break up the flow of things.

Yet considering the healthy state of the competition, with both FIFA 2004 and Pro Evolution Soccer 3 putting in strong performances, it's to the credit of Club Football that it does enough to make it well worth considering. As it stands, it's not the best title of its ilk on the market, but it's a good, promising debut. --Simon Brew

Manufacturer's Description
Codemasters have put together a range of different Club Football games, each centred on one of Europe's top teams. UK club editions include Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds United, Liverpool FC, Manchester United and Rangers. The Club Football development team has been busy digitally building some of Europe's greatest football landmarks: the home stadium of each team. In the game, matches will be played in an exact replica of each club's stadium, recreated using architectural detail and photographic reference.

Playing a game will be just like experiencing the genuine match day atmosphere in the ground--with you as part of the team. During a home match, you and your team will walk out onto the hallowed turf through the players' tunnel. The stadium, packed with supporters in the teams' colours, will fill with the sound of chants, songs and crowd atmospherics taken from real match days, specific to each club. Ten different in-game camera views, in addition to replay cameras, will relay the on-pitch action in televisual style.

Customer Reviews

One to Challenge FIFA and PES??
I've just taken delivery of Leeds United Club Football and played my first match against a dogged Rangers. This is my instant reaction.

Club Football is definitely one to buy if you're a fan of one of the featured clubs. The player likenesses are incredible - better than anything I've ever seen - literally like their real-life counterparts. The stadiums are absolutely spot on. The commentary is good and the club-specific crowd chants are excellent. Also the ability to create your spitting image digitally and put yourself in your chosen team is superb. And in Leeds' case, the fact that Codemasters have coped with the sale of virtually an entire team, the recent recruitment of a bunch of loan signings and a new(ish) manager is admirable. However they did forget to have a side game about juggling the finances but still keeping enough money spare for £1,000.00 per week on the Chairman's goldfish maintenance!

Club Football's game play is good, but not outstanding. It's certainly better than Fifa 2003, but behind Pro Evolution Soccer, which remains in a class of its own. You can't vary the play as much as with Pro Evo and the players don't move as quickly. Also the computer AI is bordering on being too smart in defence, making hard to score or even create good chances. That having been said, it does make scoring goals particularly satisfying.

So, if you're a fan of one of the featured clubs then buy Club Football, but if you have a PS2 then buy Pro Evo 3 as well because its as close to the real thing as you can get on a console. Overall, I'd say 8/10 and 10/10 for effort on Codemasters' first attempt at living room footie. If they work on the game play for another 12 months and release an upgraded version next year then this could well become the one to have. In the meantime, this is going to be an attractive enough diversion to keep my attention for some time to come and I suspect that it will work very well on multiplayer.

PS: I left it at Leeds 0 Rangers 0 with Peter Reid giving the lads some typical verbal before extra time! COME ON!

A dissapointed fan
After playing this game non stop for a week now, I am putting it away and dusting Fifa 2003 back down in preperation and excitement for the arrival of it's big brother 2004.
The Codemasters effort simply doesn't shine. The player likeness and stadiums aside, the gamplay can go from slow and cumbersome to downright frustrating. There are too many glitches in this game to make it a worthwhile purchase. The gameplay itself doesn't flow, players take an age to turn when they have the ball, and the delay between you pressing pass/shoot and it actually happening is awful. It can get very frustrating at times and sometimes can be difficult keeping more than 7 players on the pitch. The refs make the real premier league refs look superb! You can get sent off without even controlling the player in question!
I'd recommend NOT buying this game, try an alternative. Come on Codemasters, what were you thinking of bringing this unfinished game out?
Roll on Oct 24th and Fifa 2004.