
	Platform Playstation 2 Genre Sports Publisher Sony Developer 989 Sports ETA April 2004
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World Tour Soccer 2005

Someone out there got paid good money to get the word out about World Tour Soccer 2005 so why should I bother throwing in my two cents? Here are some screens and an overview (that’s what you really wanted anyway):

Overview:

One of the most sought after sports games for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system returns from last year with enhanced gameplay and even more options. This year, World Tour Soccer 2005 prides itself on being built from the ground up with the die-hard international soccer gamer and fan in mind. Featuring more than 900 international and league teams from around the globe, 18,700 players from 30 divisions and 22 leagues, World Tour Soccer 2005 captures the enormous size and popularity of what is truly the world’s game. Multiple modes of play including Exhibition Match, Season, Career, and Challenge Mode give the sports gamer the opportunity to get in and play a quick game with a friend or battle it out in a grueling season where they’ll have to manage player contracts, trades, salary caps and injuries. So the battle for victory will once again begin in stadiums filled with passionate fans as they support their team with electrifying chants while waving their club and country flags.

Features:

All The Teams and Players From Across The Globe – With more than 18,700 actual FIFPro licensed players and 900 League, Club and International Teams, gamers can play as or against all the world’s greatest teams past and present. Replay the World Championship final or the entire Tournament and change the course of history. Lead your favorite club team through their grueling domestic season while vying for the international or domestic club cup. Even play as classic teams from the past like the 90’s Barcelona team, the 80’s Milan and the 70’s Liverpool team.

Earn Your Goal – World Tour Soccer 2005 features the tightest, most realistic soccer action ever. Easy to pick up and play, but challenging enough for the biggest soccer fan, World Tour Soccer 2005 offers the accessibility of intuitive controls coupled with the depth and complexity of the real sport. The incredibly smart AI will make gamers use the full array of special moves and managerial tactics to move the ball up and across the pitch in an attempt to put the ball past the stubborn goalie. Unparalleled soccer gaming awaits.

Modes Galore – Choose to play for any of the five continental Cups or take on the world for the grandest Cup of all. There are 68 different leagues from throughout the world including 32 national divisions complete with Transfer Markets, a career mode that starts in an English school league as you guide your youngsters to international stardom. Create your own Custom Cup or entire Custom League to your exact specifications or take on the greatest teams from decades past in the Timewarp Cup and Time-warp League. You can even create your own Custom Team to take on the world’s best players and teams. Successful soccer play will unlock hidden teams, stadiums and cheats as you attempt to fill your trophy cabinet with one of the 49 available trophies.

Experience the Passion – You will be engulfed in rich, immaculately detailed stadiums from across the globe. Designed by the internationally famous architectural company HOK Sport, who are responsible for the design of Sydney Olympic Stadium, Millennium Stadium and more, each stadium in World Tour Soccer 2005 is visually stunning and accurately recreated right down to the tinniest detail. Crowd chants are sampled from over 200 club and international teams and the colors and flags from the battling teams are represented in the frenzied seats. Relive the highs of hard earned goals and the lows of just missed opportunities with an unmatched TV style presentation and new replay feature.

Choose Your Language – Give your match an international flair with seven different languages to choose from. Announcers can broadcast your game in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese.

Change the Match – With the newly designed and developed free kick interface, World Tour Soccer 2005 allows you to change the flow and momentum of the game. Depending on the situation, you can choose to power the ball past a wall of defenders by adding mighty swerve to your free kick or use the revolutionary icon passing system to have your speedy player make a run to the open area to volley the ball into the back of the net. Power or finesse, World Tour Soccer 2005 puts you, the user, in control.

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For starters, I love reading official fact sheets and overviews. They always manage to make the game in question sound like the next big thing through gratuitous hyperbole. I always try to give the game in question the benefit of the doubt. Maybe World Tour Soccer 2005 will live up to its potential, but does that mean it will be able to knock of Electronic Arts’ FIFA series as the top soccer game on the PS2?

WTS has a huge list of features, which will please soccer (more properly called, football) fans, but it probably

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won’t convert non-fans. A game like Sega’s Soccer Slam appeals more to the unwashed masses because it’s not based on any sort of reality. With the kind of re-creation 989 and Sony are aiming for, complete with over 200 team chants, you can scratch casual game players off the list of potential buyers. But for those beer-can-crushing armchair strikers, WTS looks to keep you satisfied.

Slightly puzzling is the fact there’s no mention of online play. Sony has been very good about getting their first-party games online capable, especially the sports properties so it’s a little strange to see no mention of it. (I’m sure someone out there is mulling over conspiracy theories involving Electronic Arts.) There’s multi-tap multiplayer though (supporting up to 8 players) and in the minds of many, online play will never replace in-your-face opponents.

World Tour Soccer 2005 is scheduled to hit retail in April 2004.

- Omni

(February 19, 2004)