Joe Montana Football 3
Reviewed by Dyson Turner
Joe Montana Football '93 was superior to any football sim
that was on the market. Though it had few kinks that were
never really worked out in later versions, but is way better
than last years and the previous Montana 1 & 2. This version
comes back with more sports talk commentary, more plays
bigger players and better graphics. Upon First inspection in
late 1992 this seemed like the best thing on the market, but
when you actually got into it you saw the few problems that
it had. Well these problems needed serious adjustment, I
will discuss deeper into it later on in the review.
Graphics 8.0/10
In this one you had your choice between 5 different types of
views. There was the blimp view, this was good for the
strategic player, but really hard to see any action and t
looked like a play sheet. Some times you can cheat with the
blimp view, or get cheated. Sometimes a fumble may occur and
since it is so high up the game never catches, but you get
to see it by viewing the instant replay. Then you have
behind the quarter back view, this is probably the best view
and you get to see 40 yards in front of you. Then you have
behind the defense view, this is good for watching the on
coming blitz but it is hard to see the receivers. Finally
the side view which is like most other football sims at the
time. When you were the quarterback and after you either
passed the ball or handed it off, the screen would switch to
a very cool looking zoom view. This was up close and the
graphics here was great truly zooming of the best graphics
on a Genesis football game were shown here. Their was also
sega films where the showed the referee or the crowd
cheering up close, on what was suppose to be the jumbo tron.
This really helps the over graphic but it does hamper the
game play a lot.
Sound 9.0/10
"Montana back to pass, looking? he's in trouble, breaks a
tackle, the pass. Caught at the 40-yard line, to the 30 he
could go all the way! To the 10 Touchdown San Francisco!"
This is just an example of the great play by play of the
announcer they had in the game. Even though he did sound
like a robot and stole some Maddenism's like Boom and Pow!
Famous things John Madden said during the game. There was
some music in the beginning, and during the password screen
other than that and in between quarters. You didn't have any
music during play just the sounds of the field and the
announcer. Although the announcer isn't as repetitive as he
was in part 2 he gets a little better in this one. He said
newer things, but he still only recognizes Montana and no
other player. He gets better in 1994, too bad they didn't
continue using the announcer in the later versions, I guess
his voice had to take up mega memory in the game. The on
field sounds are good too like the hits and the referee's
whistle, and the cheer of the fan. They didn't know the
difference between home and away though. The graphics and
sound together produced a well rounded looking and sounding game.
Game Play 7.0/10
This game is for 1 or 2 players. The Game Play part of the
game is where it gets ugly I will discuss the pros first.
The controls are tight and very responsive, as soon as you
try to spin or pass it goes right away with no lag in
between. This is a must because you don't want the game to
be slow and you get tackled or sacked. The Offensive and
Defensive plays were made up but modeled after real plays
even though they didn't have the authentic names like Madden
and other sims did. You had a lot to chose from probably 200
to 400 if you flip them. Each team has a different set, and
there is the unstoppable offensive pass that is found in
most games. You had some good moves to chose from like spin
and speed burst, the speed burst was one time only so save
it to escape from the pack. The spin was very effective as
well just don't over use it and you might wind up fumbling
the ball. This where the problems set in, although the zoom
view looks great and adds realism to the game, you can't see
no more than 5 yards in front of you. So this annihilates
the running game totally. So no running up the middle you
have to take it to the side lines. Think that is bad try
taking the ball to the air, when you perfectly align your
receiver with the ball here comes zoom view, and you marvel
frustrated as 3rd and long is giving up to the special teams
because of the ridiculous zoom view takes effect. So say if
you're near the ball and you are on the right corner back.
Suddenly out of no where the free safety can come from 10 to
20 yards and way and pick up the interception. Then if you
some how unlikely catch the ball you will get popped by the
scrawny little cornerback and watch him run towards the goal
line off the fumble. Even with all the cheating the CPU do
you can cheat yourself. The AI is absolutely stupid and the
ref is as blind as a bat, you can knock people off the ball
very easily and the ref will not call it. Plus for some
reason when you get the ball the whole team chases you and
you can have them run in a retarded circle behind you. The
difficulty is adjustable, and you have password saves.
Overall 8/10
Even with all the problems, with this game many factors make
up for it. The graphics and sound basically give this game a
good look on the outside but it is a hollow shell on the
inside. Some of these mistakes were thankfully corrected in
the 1994 version of this game. The replay value is high, and
you and a friend will get to see some high scoring affairs.
The fun factor is very low because of all the cheating
involved with this game, and you basically have to cheat to
win in this game. You can't be a fair sport, which I don't
like. If you are in dire need of a good football sim, that
this is the one to get.
OR
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