And each time I'm disappointed. :(

Oh well, at least the gameplay is good. The fact that I'm mashing that button just like I would in the old days shows they've got that Blitz feel down. But since there's no late hits, it seems like that pause after each play with the players just standing around needlessly slows down the gameplay.

Stupid NFL I don't give a shit about your dumb football rules I just want to smash faces.

Yeah, it's a bummer. I just wished the tackling was more satisfying at least, but even that seems toned down. The gameplay's still sharp but it just seems slow since you can't make anymore late hits.

I'm baffled as to why they had to tone it down so much though.

Late tackles are the only reason I ever played NFL Blitz. I'm not much of a football guy.

@VinceNotVance said:

Yeah, it's a bummer. I just wished the tackling was more satisfying at least, but even that seems toned down. The gameplay's still sharp but it just seems slow since you can't make anymore late hits.

I'm baffled as to why they had to tone it down so much though.

They speculated on the Bombcast that it's because the NFL got involved in this one and they aren't too keen on having players take late hits. I guess its like how some car manufacturers don't let racing games bang up their cars.

@VinceNotVance: Because the NFL told them no.

Well, since then, the NFL has ordered late hits removed from the latest game. Speaking to GamesRadar, Ross said the EA Sports Tiburon team did include late hits, a staple of the hold series, in early builds of the game, including one shown to the league. But the NFL said no and asked EA to prohibit contact after the whistle.

"At the end of the day they really felt like, with the messaging that they have, and with their stance on player health and safety, that it was something that was better left out of the game at this point," he told GamesRadar. "It still has the same over-the-top arcade experience that people remember from the old version of the game … it just doesn't have the late hits anymore."

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/647146-nfl-blitz/61559155

Good to know.

Its a good game, but since the people running the NFL think it sends a bad message, they said no late hits.

Yeh it's for sure the NFL's doing, and the awkward pause after each play feels like they really did have late hits in an earlier build but they had to be removed. I guess they just didn't want to remove the pause.

The thing is, like VincenotVance said, it really does affect the pace of the gameplay. I didn't notice it back in the classics, because I just thought it was awesome to hit them over and over. But now that it's gone, I don't just miss it for the fun, it's also because I'm just not doing anything for a couple of seconds. And in a game as fast as Blitz, that's a pretty lame moment. I wish they'd at least let you run around or something.

You get used to it, and I do think the gameplay is good (although I've had some kind of questionable issues with tackling and character switching....) but damn will they be missed.