Aston Villa Club Football (2003)

Platforms: Xbox, PlayStation 2

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A simple, fan-service-driven soccer sim that lets supporters relive their club's highlights and insert themselves into the lineup without much depth beyond that novelty.

licensed sports simfan-focusednostalgicstraightforwardcasualpersonalizedmodestteam-specific

About

Club Football is a soccer series designed to re-create the individual team experience. A total of 17 games released in the Club Football series are tailored to the specific European teams on which they are based, including character facial mapping from each of the 22 position players on the roster. Each game features bespoke content - including media archive clips of great goals and famous victories - and allows fans to add themselves to the 2003/04 starting line-up of their favourite side.

More games like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.