Hi,
I'm the Football Community Liaison Officer (for that title read: dosser) for Codemasters and I was just passing. Just thought I'd clear some things up. And don't worry - this isn't a spam message, just a bloody long spam message

. I'm a big fan of PES2 as well - I've got it, played it etc etc and it's the best out there at the moment, easy (although it doesn't take much to beat the competition...)
Quite a few football gamers think that Club Football is a bit of a gimmick - the Fiorentina Easter Egg as someone put. And yes, the first buyers of Club Football will be fans of the teams and (gulp!) the "What should we buy little Johnny for Xmas?" market (if little Johnny's got a console and is a fan of one of the clubs). We'll be selling at club shops, it's only 17 teams, etc etc. It's a tie-in for God's sake - and we all know how 'good' tie-ins and licenses are as games...
However, that's the bad points (gaming-wise). The good points are that under the gloss hides 1. a great games engine, 2. the graphics are top notch and importantly, 3. we believe in the game. We haven't rush released this to get the Christmas market - it's been in development for two years - and it was just about ready for release in Spring but felt we better leave it so it would include the new kits and rosters (I hate that word but it's the best desciption) for the new season (updated as of the end of the transfer window on 31st August).
1. The gameplay (the most important bit) is very good - getting towards PES. We haven't nicked the PES system but we know what works and what doesn't from games and we feel we've got it right with Club Football. It's unlikely that you'll win each game 10-0 like some football games out there, the AI is believeable and we get some things very right with the control system (so you can get used to it easily, whether you are a PES player or a FIFA player).
2. Graphics - well, they're great. One of the journalists from Aston Villa was looking at the game and he couldn't believe he could see his own seat in the press box in the Doug Ellis stand - and person in it had a writing pad in his hand. And as for the players' likenesses, they're getting better all the time - check out the new screenshots that will be coming out next week. Yeah, Maldini had square legs!
3. And finally we believe in the game - we know that PES players are less likely to buy the first version of it - PES/WE is the gamers favourite. FIFA is the kids' favourite. We're hoping that Club Football will be the fans' favourite. Where you can play alongside your heroes, at your ground and for your club.
Things to note: Newcastle aren't in there because they're crap at sorting things out. We wanted them in there. They said no. They saw how good the game was looking. They wanted in. We didn't have time to do a good job if they wanted a game this year. So we're hoping for a NUFC version next year (and, as a Mag myself, so am I).
And as for other clubs, we've got about 250 other ones in there as well - you can play as any one teams from the top two division of seven leagues across Europe (England, Scottish, Holland, France, Spain, Italy and Germany). And, with certain exceptions, it will be fully licensed names.
Right, my fingers are hurting, I haven't done this much work in years. Any questions, email me at
[email protected] - I'm off to play WE7
