NFL Blitz 2000
Reviewed by Dale Kulas
The Game
Most football games are simulations, the same goes with the
newer ones, like the Gameday, Madden, QB Club series, and
football games have proven to be difficult to be given a
complete arcade game play style make over, I believe before
the Blitz series the only football game to attempt an arcade
make over was Super High Impact in the early '90s which
turned out to be a pretty darn good game. Their hasn't been
many arcade football games since, but once Blitz came along,
the world of football gaming changed forever. This is the
sequel to the ever popular original NFL Blitz, will it
manage to give us a whole new experience, or leave us
begging for more? Let's get onto the review and find out.
Graphics
Alright, we got big polygonal players here, which look way
more polished up and detailed than the ones from the N64
version of the game, you only got 2 shapes of players, fat
linemen, and everybody else looks thin and muscular. The
play book selection menus are nicely laid out and easy to
manage, also if you press up twice really fast while your
play high lighter is in the upper left corner, the play high
lighter will disappear, and if you have a VMU, you'll have
the tic-tac-toe type play selection screen on their and
it'll let you know what play you're picking so you can fool
your opponents. Really cool bonus for the Dreamcast version.
Most of the graphics though look like the same as last
year's but polished up a little with higher resolution due
to the Dreamcast's power. But that's usually the lacking in
most game updates, because it's so hard to mess with stuff
when it's really good. Oh, yeah, one other bonus in graphics
to Dreamcast the N64 version doesn't have is a really nice
opening FMV, but in return we get (short) loading times.
Sound
Sound's pulled off pretty good here, all the grunts and
tackles sound like they do in most other games the same goes
with most of the other sound effects. The player's taunts
sound really hilarious, occasionally you'll see them do some
really weird pose and they'll say something pretty funny
like, 'You're no match for my power's ' in a weird Arnold
Schwarzenegger type voice. The other funny thing in here
is the announcer, he does a little bit of play by play like
only calling the down, and saying when your short on time
and whenever you get touchdowns, first downs, interceptions,
etc. But he'll throw in some pretty funny comments when you
keep on tackling players over and over after plays like, 'I
don't think that's in the rule book' and 'That's an
illegal hit!' Also when I loaded up Windows CE on my
Dreamcast and put it in the audio section, and popped in the
game, there was this one weird track where you heard all of
the announcer's comments, well about 2 minutes into it, he
said some cuss words that got bleeped out and just sounded
hilarious!
Game play
Take the NFL rulebook, and torch the dang thing with this
unique game play we haven't seen since Super High Impact.
It's 7-on-7 action, 30 yard first down, no penalties at all,
and bone crushing hits! Usually an NFL offense side has 5
linemen, 2 RB's, 2 WR's, 1 TE, and 1 QB, but now it's 3
linemen, 1 RB, 2 WR's, and 1 QB! All the NFL teams are here
too. Of course this is an arcade game, and it will offend
Sim fans, but it doesn't matter if you're a sim fan, and if
you are, go grab NFL 2K! Besides the old Arcade mode,
there's also a tournament where up to 8 teams can play, also
there's a season mode where you can go to the Super Bowl, a
Play Editor where you can make your custom plays, and user
records, all this you can save on your Sega VMU/3rd Party
Memory Card. Game play is pretty fun. 30-yard first downs!
Average field goals are easy to make from 60-yards away,
etc. New features to this year edition is a 4-player mode
where it's only 2-on-2, and players take turns on
controlling the QB, there's also a new On Fire mode, where
if you make 3 consecutive passes/sacks you're 'on fire'
with improved passing, rushing, and breaking tackles!
There's also new animations like new types of tackles, new
end zone celebrations, and you can also run down the field
with a defender dragging around your waist! Another thing I
love is how the extra point is just awarded free if you
wanted too, no more hassle on accuracy for just a lousy
14-yard PAT.
Some people might complain about the lack of plays, because
there is only about 27 offensive plays (plus another 9 you
can create with the play editor for a new total of 36) and
only 9 defensive plays, but then again, that's another
arcade aspect of the game which some may over look. And more
people might complain about the game not being that much
different from last year's version of the game.
Replay Value
If it's an console game from Midway, you better bet your
money they'll be loads of codes! At the match-up screen if
you input random button combinations, you'll get loads of
different codes like a team's actual play book, big heads,
no heads, etc. There's also secret characters too like the
programmers and guys from Mortal Kombat. Also it's fun to
play with 4 players too, but most the replay ability is from
the multi player fun (trust me, I partied with friends
before, with a wide variety of multi player games, and this
is always the #1 pick), so if you got no one to play this
game with, you probably shouldn't buy this game just for the
season and tournament modes.
In Brief
+: Great fast arcade game play, lots of codes and goodies,
nice extra play selection on VMU for bluff play calling, way
better multi player than NFL2K
-: Not that many plays to pick from, game looks and plays a
lot like last year's game
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 8. 3
Sound: 9. 2
Game play: 7. 6
Replay Value: 7. 3
Overall: 8.1 out of 10
Final Analysis
Great Arcade Football Action! If you liked Super High
Impact, or NFL Extreme, you'll love this it's probably the
best arcade football series ever, and if you got people to
play this game with, you gotta get it, because we all know
it's better to have 4 people play an arcade football game
than a sim football game! Some might say it's a lot like
last year's game, but it's till the only Blitz on Dreamcast
so far. But if you don't have anybody to play the game with
you should maybe give this game a rent first, because this
game isn't aimed for just one player!
OR
Cell Phone - Mobile Phones - Personal Loans - Credit Card - The eBay Song 