This Is Football 2005 - PS2 Review

This Is Football 2005

This Is Football 2005 - PS2 Review

The name of the game, This Is Football 2005 is a statement of what Sony Games, the makers of this game, are trying to achieve. Unfortunately you have to say that other leading competitors in the football gaming industry, such as Pro Evolution Soccer 4 and FIFA 2005 have better products out. But to be fair ‘This Is Football 2005' gives them a run for their money.

So what does it have to offer? Well it offers you a wide range of club teams in countries ranging from Arabia to Switzerland , and a host of international teams from every continent in the world. This along with 27 ‘stadiums' ranging from the San Siro to the School Playing fields and strangely Windsor Castle it gives the game a genuinely enjoyable depth.

The game offers 4 different difficulties; amateur (for the beginners and people in need of a confidence boosting win), pro (for the more experienced players), world class (for those who fancy themselves as a bit of a show-off) and master class (for people with skills almost at my level).

You can play games from 4 minutes long to 20 minutes long depending on how much time you have, and can choose to play in a range of modes, including Challenge Mode. This takes into account every good point of your game, pass percentage, goals etc. over a match and takes away your bad points, goals conceded etc. to give you a final score of how good you were over the 90 minutes, which is a good way to compare yourself with your mates and prove your better. Even though you constantly draw with them and have to use penalties to separate each other. Also there is the compulsory exhibition mode along with league and cup modes, that you can fully customise yourself. But the main part of this game and its selling point is its career mode.

In the career mode you start as a school team, with a range of 13, 14 and 15 year olds. Your challenge if you wish to accept it, is to take this squad of youthful teenagers all the way to the top, starting in the school league and going though the semi professional leagues on the way. This really is getting back to the basics of football and what it's really about, hence the name ‘This Is Football'.

During your rise to stardom from the brink of obscurity you can purchase and sell players in the transfer market, obviously buying better players when/if you get promoted. During this period you can also keep track of your record throughout the whole career and the player's stats.

The career mode offers you a vast range of options to ensure that you have your own personal career. You can change the name of the manager and all your players to your name, your mates' names, your families' names, your favourite players' names or something you find childishly amusing. Also you can edit your flag and kit, and if you have an eye-toy or are willing to splash out on one, ‘This Is Football 2005' offers you the chance to put YOUR face in the game. So it looks like it's really you scoring the last minute, winning goal in the cup final. Also it offers new online options, including playing against someone on the other side of the world.. But personally I buy a football game on its sole purpose, playability.

The games playability is fairly good and the game play is smooth. I like the use of arrows on the game, to show where your players are when you can't see them, so you can make that world class pass to set up a goal that Gerrard would be proud of. But unfortunately it doesn't, and probably never will live up to the high standards of game play PES4 has put into the football gaming industry, and the official status FIFA 2005 gives.

Rating: 7 out of 10 and probably worth buying if you like to be different.

Louis Bleazard

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