Club Football: Manchester United

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

For starters there is only one commentator which makes the commentry quite boring and extremely monotonous, and certainly lacking in depth. Getting sent off is far from impossible, although not quite as easy as some reviews I have read make out! The graphics are on the whole very impressive with most players looking like their real life counterparts. However when the game shows close-ups of the players they look extremely frightening. They look well suited to a disturbing horror movie and a million miles away from a football pitch. Goal replays can be saved which is great if you want to watch an amazing goal that you have scored over and over again (unfortunately it seems near impossible to score a goal that is worth watching more than one more time).

The way the game was advertised to me I was sure you could only play as Manchester United. How wrong I was! You must complete a full season and finish top of the league with United to unlock the ability to play as other teams. Not only can you access teams from the Premiership, SPL, Bundesliga, Serie A, etc., but you can play as teams from Division 1 in all the countries. I found this rather impressive!

You can also recreate yourself into the game usuing the player creation option, which enables you to play alongside your Manchester United heroes!

So, to sum it all up, Manchester United Club Football is certainly worth buying. The game is, on the whole, well put together and very enjoyable to play. If anybody tells you that this is the most wonderful game they have ever played, don't believe them! But don't be convinced by the people who tell you that it's awful either - it's not true! It's not as good as Pro Evolution Soccer 3, but it's certainly a very good game to add to your collection. I'm certainly glad that I own a copy of it, let's put it that way!


Useless   November 22, 2003
 3 out of 12 found this review helpful

this is the worst game i have ever played. It takes forever to come and when it did i played it once, lost 5-0 against liverpool, had 6 players sent off and gave away 5 penalties. Then I took it out and gave it to my little brother. He broke it in two.


Gimmick over Gameplay   November 14, 2003
 1 out of 4 found this review helpful

A very clever idea, to create a game in which devoted football fans (but only of selected clubs) can control their club through a season with the added incentive of being able to add yourself to the team, thus fulfilling the boyhood dream of pulling on the shirt and jogging out onto the hallowed turf. So what. Club Football, like the FIFA Series have gone for detail & accuracy over gameplay. It does look amazing and you have the great Barry Davies providing the commentary ... however, once you get into the matches, you realise the truth - it is poor. The controls are confusing and unresponsive, scoring is a near impossibility and the whole thing does not have the satisfying smooth gameplay of Pro Evolution Soccer - 1,2 or 3 ... Sure, the players look far more realistic and the screen looks more like that of a televised football match, but when it comes to the crunch, the game is far from beautiful. If you want to truly enjoy a good football game, look no further than Pro Evolution Soccer 3. It may lack some of the gimmick of Club Football, but it sure has the gameplay.


A Well Cool Game!!!!   November 9, 2003
 1 out of 1 found this review helpful

It took a while to arrive but when i got it i couldn't stop playing it. It is truly a great game and I wouldn't tell anyone to not buy it. The controls are different to that of Fifa but once you get used to it theres just no end to how many times you could win a league. Once you have made a player for your team, you go into a league. The teams seem hard to start with but as you get better you could beat Arsenal like that. A great game for a great team. ENJOY!!!!!!!