Tecmo Bowl: A Warm-up To Greatness (bargain bin w/o)
Written: Mar 08 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: decent gameplay, good learning curve, some revolutionary aspects
Cons: many missing football features, only 12 teams, no team nicknames or logos, no stats
The Bottom Line: There really isn't any reason to play this game other than for a sense of history or nostalgia.
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| kjell1979's Full Review: Tecmo Bowl for Nintendo |
This review is part of rice75's Bargain Bin Writeoff.
Inferior By Association
Tecmo Bowl for the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES) was the mildly successful predecessor to the smash hit Tecmo Super Bowl. Tecmo Bowl, while delivering some nice innovations to football games and sports games in general, seemed like a work in progress. However, you could say that about all the other sports games at the time as well. Regardless, this was the beginning to a great and very successful Tecmo Bowl series that spanned across 6 different gaming platforms.
Features
Tecmo Bowl was the first console game to feature real pro football players. Tecmo Bowl listed the team cities that were appropriate for the given players, but they didn't have the team nicknames or logos as Tecmo Super Bowl had. There were 12 teams: Chicago, Indianapolis, Miami, San Francisco, New York, Washington, Minnesota, Cleveland, LA Raiders, Denver, Dallas, and Seattle. Another disappointing aspect was that, although you could see player’s real NFL stats when you were controlling them, you couldn't see their true attributes until you're familiar with the game. In addition, quarterbacks, arguably the most important single position in all of football, were very generic in that they all had the same passing abilities.
The game allowed you to play single player against the computer, against another player, or coach against another player. The single player pits you against a computer opponent in some sort of tournament. You choose your team, and then the computer picks a random team for you to play against. If you defeat that team, you're given a continue code, and the computer picks another random new team to play as while you keep your original team. If you're able to defeat all 11 other teams, you win. This isn't as easy as it sounds. The further you go in the tournament, the harder the computer player competes. When you finally reach the last team, they'll be the hardest team out there to date despite the relative team strength.
The game doesn't feature very much relating to a real NFL system. Despite only having 12 teams, there is no semblance of a true NFL style schedule. Tecmo Bowl doesn't keep track of stats throughout the tournament, or even a single game for that matter. There are no rewards, or extra teams like a Pro Bowl teams or throwback teams. There isn't even a true playoff structure or Super Bowl championship. It just feels like generic football with real NFL players.
Gameplay
The common theme in Tecmo Bowl games revolves around its play calling as well as the on field action. In Tecmo Bowl games, you have a playbook that you can choose one of many plays. In the case of this game you have four plays to choose from which you cannot change. These plays correspond to a button and combined with a direction on the control pad. One example of this is up + "a". If you are on defense, you still are shown the offensive playbook screen as well. The reason is because you are expected to pick one of the offense's plays. If you pick the same play as the offense, your defensive players will receive a speed and power boost on the field which frequently results in a loss of yards or at best a no gain for the offense. If it is not the same play, the defense reacts in a generic fashion.
The on field action is a little different than most football games. The view of the field is a top down view that covers between 10-15 yards at a time. When players of opposing sides engage each other, they appear to start wrestling. This is what I, and most people in the Tecmo Bowl community call "grappling". This is used by the game to represent blocking or tackling. If the player you're controlling starts to grapple, you must press the "a" button rapidly to break the tackle. Defensively, players can also slide to tackle the ball carrier as well. If caught by a slide, you're automatically tackled and there's no grappling. However, if the defender misses, he'll be down for a couple seconds. Generally, on defense, you'll want to grapple because a second defender can come in and slide tackle the back while you're grappling. Conversely, if you have the ball you want to try and force the defender to slide because if you start to grapple it leaves time for the rest of the defense to catch up. You can induce sliding tackles by weaving your ball carrier in a zigzag motion.
When on offense, you'll first appear at the line of scrimmage. The quarterback will begin to say hut hut hut ... over and over until you press the button to hike the ball. If it's a running play, the quarterback will automatically give him the ball. All you need to do is move the ball carrier using the directional pad and press the "a" button rapidly if you start to grapple. If it's a passing play, a cursor appears over a receiver. By pressing the "b" button you can throw the ball to the receiver with the cursor. You can change the cursor by pressing the "a" button.
Before the snap on defense, there is something you must do before the quarterback hikes the ball. You must choose your defender by pressing the "a" button to cycle through your players. As soon as you found a player and stop hitting the "a" button, the quarterback will hike the ball automatically after a second or two. You move your defender using the directional pad. If you wish to dive, press the "b" button while near the ball carrier. If you start to grapple, press the "a" button rapidly.
Special teams have its own Tecmo Bowl flavor. When kicking the ball, whether it's a kickoff, field goal, or punt, is done through a kicking meter. The meter starts filling up and when completely filled, it will reset back to empty again. You typically want to press the button to stop the meter when it's completely filled. However, if you're not sharp enough, the meter will go back down to nothing and you'll get a very short kick. Another aspect with regards to kicking is that there are no onsides kicks. If the meter is completely empty on kickoffs, the kick will go short, but the returner will field it out of range of the kick coverage. If you kick the ball into the endzone on punts, it's an automatic touchback. On kickoffs, however there are no touchbacks no matter how far you kick the ball. Another aspect only reserved to Tecmo Bowl is that there are no "muffed" kicks or punts. Meaning the returner will always catch the ball before returning it.
There are a few specific details that pertain only to Tecmo Bowl. First there are only 7-8 players per side. This is mainly done for performance issues as well as screen limitations. Tecmo Bowl does not have any penalties, injuries, or substitutions. The players on the field are the starters and will be in the game throughout. You must cover the receiver whose being thrown the ball tightly on defense and you'll automatically be granted an interception. In other games, you can double or even triple cover the receiver and you might not get an interception. The best players might even catch the ball in those situations. Finally, there are no fumbles. The only way to get a turnover is by stopping the other team on 4th down or by intercepting the ball.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics, were not bad for the time, but there are quite dated now even for a NES game. The player sprites were very rough and not very detailed. However, they did wear the appropriate uniform color corresponding to their team. The ball, while not detailed either, is big and easy to follow. The field is nicely marked with hash marks on both the inside and on the sidelines. First down distances are marked by a dotted line on the field. Endzones are clearly marked and have a colored endzone. While the graphics aren't all that great or refined, they are functional and they do add a little bit of ambiance to your football experience. However, it definitely isn't enough given today's football games.
The music really sparsely placed and is subpar. There is an opening theme when you first start the game. There's a theme when you have the ball on offense and another when you have the ball on defense. There's also one for when you score. There are a few others as well during different screens. The music here just is bland and uninspiring. It just sounds like generic video game music that doesn't really inspire you to play football at all.
The sound effects are a mixed bag. The good is that when you score a touchdown, the game actually says "touchdown". When you're about to hike the ball the quarterbacks says, "Ready, Down, Hut hut hut hut ...". The bad aspect to this is that he'll just go "hut hut hut" forever until you snap the ball. It does add ambiance to the game however. The other sound effects are really bad. No other sound really associates itself well with the sport of football. There is very little crowd noise, and what crowd noise exists sounds very artificial. Overall, the sound adds some great revolutionary things, however for the most part it's forgettable.
Controls and Challenge
The controls are really sluggish. Tecmo did a good job of creating games with precise responsive controls. However, in this game, the controls really react slower. The players seem to trudge over the field as if they're at the beach. One of the reasons the Tecmo Bowl series thrived in its time was because the gameplay on the field moved quickly and the controls were precise. Here it is not the case.
As I mentioned before, the game does offer you quite a challenge by the end. However, the manner in which the game challenges you is very lazy and frustrating. Later in the tournament, when the computer is on offense, it doesn't play smarter, instead it plays faster. If their running back, no matter who he is, gets past your safeties, then no one on your team will catch him. This really seems like lazy AI programming. It also abides by the premise of "I can't beat your strategy, so I'll beat you physically". It beats you by doing something that your players just are not able to do. On the flip side, when the computer's on defense, they do pick up their play. While some players get faster, their defense reacts to the plays quicker and covers more of your receivers. While this is an improvement, it falls flat anyway. By covering all your receivers on a non-picked play, you're forced to throw to the only receivers that run routes that can catch the ball in coverage. This essentially becomes a snoozer in that you'll be picking the same play over and over because of this. The game's outcome will then depend on how you play defense, because you'll either score every time or you won't score at all. Overall, the game just wasn't designed so that you could provide a legitimate challenge to the player against the computer.
Replay and Value
The replay value of this game suffers for many reasons. The first reason is because of the lack of options. In addition to the lack of features I mentioned above, there are many other options this game is lacking. You cannot customize your plays. There is no trading, or franchise mode as well. While I cannot blame an old NES game for this, it does cut down significantly on how you play the game. Another reason for the lack of replay value is the challenge. Since the more challenging computer AI limits the game, especially on offense, it does make you want to put down the game. Against the easier computer at the beginning of the game, there is more of an open up style of gameplay. The tradeoff here is that unless you like scoring every possession and stopping the computer almost all the time, this will become boring as well. The only redeeming feature is that the game has 12 teams to try out. All the different players to use can fuel young imaginations, but for adults this isn't enough as well. If there were 28 teams, then that might be a different story. As it stands, there really isn't much that will make you want to play Tecmo Bowl for a long time.
I wouldn't value this game very high. I would probably value it no higher than 25 cents. When I really think about it, when comparing this game to getting a soda at Walmart, I really have a hard time deciding. I even had a hard time playing this game to familiarize myself with it before I wrote this review. While maybe this game isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be, I have to admit that there are just so many games out there which just blow it away. If you must play a NES football game, play its successor, Tecmo Super Bowl instead. It has most of what Tecmo Bowl was missing.
Recommended:
No
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kjell1979
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Ecclesiastes 6:11 (the NIV translation is the best)
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