Manchester United Soccer 2005 (PC)

CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
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Overall score: 5.5 (2.5 stars)
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Product summary

Gamespot editors' review

• Reviewed by: Justin Calvert
• Reviewed on: 11/04/2004
• Updated on:11/05/2004
• Released on: 10/28/2004

In Europe, Codemasters releases a series of "Club Football" games every year, each one geared toward supporters of a different major European team. One of those teams, predictably, is Manchester United--a club that enjoys such popularity around the world that its game has been judged the only one worth releasing in North America at this time, albeit under the new title of Manchester United Soccer 2005. The game boasts a few interesting features, but it also lacks a number of options that you'd take for granted if you were playing something like FIFA. Unfortunately, Manchester United Soccer 2005 is difficult to recommend even to fans of the team, because, unlike Alex Ferguson's world-class squad, the game doesn't play an attractive, realistic, or even challenging game of soccer.

The game looks like soccer, at least.

The game's biggest selling point, at least as far as Codemasters' marketing department is concerned, is that it allows you to create a "career player" and add him to the Manchester United squad. The player-editor tool is quite comprehensive, and you should have no trouble creating a player who bears at least a passing resemblance to what you're aiming for. Unlike most soccer games, Manchester United Soccer 2005 doesn't allow you to create a "perfect" player. Rather, it forces you create one with 11 below-average attributes and then grants you skill points to spend on him according to his match performances. It can get a little frustrating having to field an abysmal player in place of a United regular, but there's definitely something satisfying about seeing yourself playing alongside and mingling with the Manchester United team, especially if you happen to be a fan of the club. Other soccer games feature player editors, of course, so this feature actually isn't anything new--the difference is that it's an integral part of the game here, even after you step out onto the pitch.

Manchester United Soccer 2005 essentially features two modes of play that you can switch between at will during any match. The "team" option plays much like any other soccer game, and will see you assuming control of whichever player on your team (you don't have to play as Manchester United--not in all the gameplay modes, anyway) is closest to the ball. The "player" option, on the other hand, will allow you to control just one player (it defaults to your career player if you've created one) for the entire match. The player mode is an intriguing idea, and if this were a better game, it would arguably offer the most realistic game of soccer around. Unfortunately, you'll find that calling for the ball (using the key that would otherwise be reserved for switching between players) often doesn't result in it being passed to you successfully. Also, no matter how good a soccer brain you have, you'll find it hard to resist the urge to chase the ball all over the park, because the intelligence and tactical knowledge of your teammates is questionable at best--especially at the back. Goalkeepers are often too slow to come off their lines and seem to go out of their way to get caught in no-man's-land (you can bring them out manually, though doing so is often ineffective), and rather than close down an incoming striker, your defenders will invariably back off and then turn their backs on the ball, almost as if they're deliberately testing their own keeper and want to see how he fares.

For better or worse, your opponents' AI is every bit as disappointing as your teammates', and if you're playing on anything but the toughest of the game's five difficulty settings (which still isn't particularly challenging), you'll often be able to steal the ball from your opponents' kickoff, walk it into the penalty area, and take a shot at goal. You won't necessarily be able to walk in a straight line, but if you avoid the temptation to run or pass the ball (or to play soccer, basically), and keep a reasonable distance from the static opposing players, you'll have no difficulty keeping the opposing keeper busy. That's assuming, of course, that you've mastered the game's controls, which are really no different from those in the FIFA and Winning Eleven games, but aren't as responsive.

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