Codemasters announces Club Football 2005

Following the success of its Club Football range in Europe last year, Codemasters has today announced that it will launch a Club Football 2005 range for the PS2, Xbox, and PC in Europe this fall. Each of the titles in the Club Football range focuses on an individual European soccer team, and Codemasters has clearly been busy signing additional clubs for the upcoming season.

A number of clubs have yet to be announced for the Club Football 2005 range, but those confirmed for the console games to date include the following: Tottenham Hotspur, Birmingham City, Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Arsenal, Chelsea, Celtic, Rangers, Leeds United, Aston Villa, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburger SV, FC Bayern Munich, Ajax, FC Barcelona, AC Milan, FC Internazionale, and Juventus. Team-specific games on the PC will focus on Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, FC Bayern Munich, and Ajax.

"We delivered what football fans wanted [with Club Football]--a great game of football, specific to their team," said Nick Wheelwright, Codemasters' managing director. "We are aggressively supporting the Club Football 2005 range both commercially with major new signings, the introduction of PC editions, as well as investing in design and development to make it one of the game market's dominant brands backed by the biggest collection of the most powerful football club headline licenses."

Like last year's game, Club Football 2005 will let gamers create a player in their own image and then take to the field alongside their favorite team. This year's offering will boast an accelerated gameplay engine and a new animation system, as well as improved controls and additional skill moves for players. The game will also feature more team-specific content than its predecessor did, including playable scenarios based on classic matches from the club's history, a club album section with memorabilia to unlock through the new credit points system, and behind-the-scenes videos.

We'll bring you more information on Club Football 2005 as soon as it becomes available.