This game is pure trash
Written Jan. 24, 2006:
If you’re expecting the old blitz game play, forget it. If your expecting a new style of game play based on old blitz, like I, as well as most of us, expected, forget it. This game is pure trash.
The game is simply unresponsive. You try to use clash on defense and the game might or might not make a dirty hit. It's completely random. Switching players is a shameless chore; it's a) too slow, and b) gives you the exact wrong guy. Then there’s the AI. Yes, like the old games, this game does heavily use catch up mode. In the old games it was understandable because the game would lay off in time to let you come back. Now, the game doesn't ever try to actually beat you, but simply tries to cover the spread (usually 21 points). And prepare to get picked if you use a clash pass. The game always either put its guy in perfect position or throws its guy way out of position. And then when you have them beat by 20 yards with ten yards from the end zone, the game will turn into superman and its d-lineman will catch your wide receiver and cause you to fumble the ball. Of course, you won't recover the ball, because none of your players are nearly as fast as their d-lineman; plus, they're stuck at the 30 and refuse to get any closer. Then here's your defense, if you can call it that. Instead of playing pass coverage, your DBs will stand next to the wide receivers until the receivers catch the ball. They won't jump for the ball or tackle the WR or anything. This, combined with the fact that changing players is snail-paced and bass-ackwards, makes pass defense on any pass under 40 yards nearly impossible. Not that you ever have any problem scoring against them, so long as you don't pass deep to open wide receivers.
And don't think the campaign is worth playing either. First, there’s the "Create-a-Team." There are roughly eight different logos to choose from, aside from the ugly and unusable letter logos. Prepare to see a lot of "liger" teams. This puts the "Create-A-Team" slightly under the quality of either NFL Street games, minus the creation of your players; which means it's virtually useless. Then there’s the uniform designer, but don't spend too much time on it because the game will go back to the default uniform in roughly 8/9 of your games. Once you get through that monstrosity, you choose a rookie, veteran, coach, o-coordinator, d-coordinator, and team doctor. This won't take much time either, because there's only three choices for each position, and each one is either one extreme, the other extreme, or balanced; not that your decision makes any noticeable difference.
Now it's time for the storyline, which is poorly played out mostly through your PDA. How original. Not that the cut scenes are any better. Apparently there are only three total player models that move their mouth during cut scenes, and they almost never speak to each other. During games, there are wagers you can place, as previously mentioned, and challenges which unlock nothing but rather blah cheerleader pics and some ugly cheerleader uniforms that you cant even tell the difference between because of the poor texture and you only see them in a pre-game cut scene, and even then that’s if your the home team... not wearing the jerseys you designed. The challenges are simply stupid, as well. How am I supposed to put a dirty hit on Tony Forbes three times between the mess of the game play problems and the fact that they refuse to run the ball or pass it to him, no matter how wide open he becomes. Oh, let's not forget the game's quirks. In game injuries are supposed to be based on your stamina, but they are random as well. Your "unleash" move, when the game realizes your holding L, is supposed to be a big hit that causes turnovers or injuries, but again, half the time it does nothing but shows you one of three animations. Your kicker’s power, no matter how much you train them, will jump from 90 to 70 back to 90 on a bi-weekly basis. And no middle-ground either; it will gain or drops at least 20 attribute points. Of course, you can't unlock steroids to alleviate this problem until you reach Division 3, at which point your mind is so numb from the horrific game play that you simply won't notice or care.
