EA 

Bugbear Entertainment

All Platforms ! 

Locking up the official rights to the National Football League, EA has had the muscle to do what it likes with the license.  Without the competition to drive forward innovation and creativity, some fans of armchair Gridiron were fretting like a “fourth and inches” down.

Shifting the emphasis to the running game with a new control mechanism, gives the game a small shot of performance enhancing drugs.  This time round, you can control a lead blocker to make a hole in the defence, then quickly switch to the running back for the glory of the play.
Difficult to master in practice, a hoot when it comes off.

The controls are slick, especially the new “Highlight Stick”, further enhancing the running game with the ability to Juke to either side in time to avoid a tackle.

The graphics and animation are top notch, a focal point being the coaches showing sideline theatrics.

Quibbles come mainly from the audio side, with the enunciation of both Officials and the big guy himself – John Madden – being somewhat subdued, no matter how much you fiddle with the in game sound options.

Those into the forging a gaming Dynasty have options galore to bury themselves in.  From Training camp to the Big League, players can run a team, or build and follow the career of their own Superstar. Until they have a tub of Gatorade poured over them, to bring back reality.  {moscomment}