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NFL Blitz 20-02

If you click me, I will take you places!

Developer: Midway / Point Of View

Publisher: Midway

Console: GameCube

Genre: Sports

Number of Players: 4

Released: March 19, 2002

Memory Card Blocks: ?

Introduction

NFL Blitz is the game that appears on every home console known to man, so its no surprise that Midway released it on the GameCube. The third football game to appear on GameCube and the first extreme football game. With the power of the GameCube, will this game fare better then the versions of yesteryear? Will it just have better graphics and sound and nothing for 1-player action?

Graphics: 8.75/10

Finally, the graphics on this version top the arcade graphics of years past. No longer is there blocky player models and poor stadium graphics. Sure it may not look as good as Madden, but it still gets the job done. The players in the game are very detailed. You can see veins in their arms and their jersey’s look very realistic. The player animations are very good. Some of the tackle animation looks like it is straight out of a wrestling match. Very fun to watch. There are a lot of different tackle animations. My favorite one is when a player is laying on the ground you press the tackle button and instead of tackling, the player kicks him!

The stadiums are highly detailed showing off each individual stadiums trademarks like the pirate ship in the Tampa Bay Buc's stadium. The grass and turf textures are amazing looking. The only downside to the graphics is the lack of populated sidelines. There is absolutely nothing there. I guess this is the sacrifice for the rock solid frame rate. The crowd is decent, but it's so far away from the field you won't notice them. The weather effects are nicely done also.

Sound: 8/10

The sound is pretty solid in this game. The play-by-play guy is hilarious just like in previous versions. This time, he brings along a friend in the booth doing color commentary. He says some pretty crazy things like “That reminds me of a time when I bit a finger off a guy”. It does get repetitive after a couple of games, but you can always turn the announcer volume down. The players talk a lot of smack in this game. It’s very funny to hear all the different insults. The tackling sound effects are nice. It sounds like you really hurt someone after a big tackle. The crowd is pretty loud, but the default crowd noise is real low. So you might want to turn it up before you play.

Gameplay: 8.5/10

Blitz retains all the modes from years past. There is Quick Play, Exhibition, Tournament, or Season. The season mode allows you to take your favorite team through all the teams and go for the superbowl. Tournament supports up to 4 players to take on other teams in a bracket like format. Quick play and Exhibition are basically the same. They allow you to hone up on your skills until you are ready for Season mode. There really should be more modes here. Where is a training mode, or lets say a franchise mode?

There are 8 players on each team now, instead of 7 like in the old games. The new player is the impact player. He basically is a player that by pressing the c-stick it will automatically thrown to him to help you get out of a tough situation. Luckily, there are no rules. Late hits are encouraged and pass interference is accepted. You can’t even be off sides because there is an invisible wall where the line of scrimmage is. Since this is an arcade football game, it's to be expected. The game play is fast. You can’t even watch yourself kick an extra point after a touchdown or the kickoff. That’s what makes it fun, just pure football action.

Controls: 10/10

A welcome edition to Blitz is icon passing. It makes it much easier to pass the ball to the intended receiver. Just hold down the left button and a different icon appears over the receivers. No longer did I accidentally throw it to the wrong receiver. Instead of rambling on for 4 sentences about each button to press for the controls, I will say that the controls are customizable! This is the reason I gave the controls a 10 out of 10. I really think that every single game should have customizable controls. Sadly, most games leave out this feature.

Replay: 7/10

The replay depends on how many players are playing. If you have no friends, there aren’t many reasons to play one-player modes. There is a season mode that will last a while. It’s solely lacking a franchise mode of some kind. If you have a lot of friends and will take advantage of the 4-player, then bump the replay to 10 out of 10. There are no create-a-player or create-a-team modes. There are no unlockables like new stadiums, or fantasy character’s like in NHL Hitz. In the options menu, there is a Blitz theater. It has a promo movie of NHL Hitz. You can view the intro and Ending FMV’s. Three other unlockable FMV’s are also there after you complete the different modes.

Conclusion

This is definitely the best Blitz ever created. It can still be improved though. Midway needs to add more game play modes dammit! It’s still as fun as ever though. It’s a must buy for football fans with friends, as the 1-player game gets old fast. If you have no friends, I suggest renting it. It’s only a matter of time until another company (EA Big) releases a game to go against NFL Blitz. Until that day, NFL Blitz reigns supreme in the extreme football genre!

Pros Cons

Pretty graphics Port of a PS2 game

Hilarious commentary No new game play modes

Customizable controls Lacking replay value for 1-player

Fast game play

4-player support

Final Score: 8.5/10, 85%, B

Reviewed by: Eric Brown on June 1, 2002

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