scigamer's Full Review: NFL QB Club 2002 for PlayStation 2
With Madden 2002 hit store shelves and was released last month as several other football titles from EA sports, I really couldn’t imagine any other company releasing a football game so soon that would equal what I consider the greatest football game ever created for a game system. Acclaim is the first company to release an NFL game to complete with EA sports.
NFL quarterback club 2002 has made it’s way to the PS2 after franchise spend a successful time with the Nintendo platform.This is definitely a decent attempt by Acclaim in developing an arcade style game play that is different than Madden but I honestly have to say, the only reason to buy this game is for the Quarterback challenge game which you will only find with quarterback club
GAME PLAY: 6.0
Let’s face it Madden 2002 has screwed any other company in releasing any other NFL game any time soon because it’s that good. You can’t help when playing NFL quarterback club that you compare it to Madden because anyone always compares anything to the best of the best. Can you imagine if Madden 2002 had the quarterback challenge as well, let’s just say it would become the holy grail of sports games. Quarterback club has some other solid qualities and a great effort and maybe down the road it will be top quality but it’s not there yet.
Quarterback club has about 5 basic different play modes in the game. You have your basic Exhibition, Season, Playoffs and Simulation as well as the quarterback challenge. Unfortunately there is no franchise mode but you can overlook it because the dynamic challenge which contains all of the real events, Speed and mobile, Accuracy Event , Read and recognition and Long Distance throw. It’s a shame this mode out shadows the rest of the entire game and you think that much effort would have been applied to all the aspects of the game.
CONTROLS: 6.5
Most football game have the same kind of format and the same kind of style. Instead of Madden 2002 simulation style, QB club uses a arcade based control format which takes the physics of reality and throws them out the window. With arcade mode you can run a route at full speed without losing a step in your rhythm. For the most part the controls respond quickly and almost all the plays are insanely easy to put off and each receiver and runningback has there own symbol to correspond to the control pad, basic standard stuff.
I noticed with QB club when you call a play that’s exactly what’s going to happen on screen and not something entirely different. Every time I play a game in Madden there’s something that happens in a play that I never intended the computer just decides it’s going to do something different. I prefer more realism to my games so the arcade style isn’t the format that’s ideal for myself and It always feels like I play on easy mode.
DISPLAY AND MENUS:4.0
Madden has a rather simple approach to designing the look of there menus but QB club goes for the more complex approach in the plays menu. Instead of showing a diagram of several plays at once, QB club only shows you one play at a time even though there’s about three on the screen. When I started playing the play menu is so cluttered up and confusing I was calling the wrong play half of the time. The plays are set up in a column format and you have to scroll to highlight the play you want but it;s not very clear half of the time what you are highlighting.
The game field display which shows the score isn’t very appealing as well because it takes up a larger corner of the screen and the graphic element used is too distracting when you playing the game. The best feature that I have never seen before in a game is in the play menu there is a meter bar at the top of the screen on the defensive side of the ball. The bar gives you information on whether or not your play is better at stopping the run or the pass. This feature will definitely help if your not sure how the defense will react in a certain situation
GRAPHICS: 5.5
This is one of the important elements in any kind of sport game and unfortunately when you view QB club 2002 it’s looks like a PS one game for the most part. The animation is rather weak in most places and it has that second rate quality look to it. Most of it looks rather choppy and jerky and there’s almost no natural flow in the movement.
The models and textures for most part are good for the most part with time taken to give the grass different colors of green in certain areas for more realism. There’s several glitches in the frame rate as well for the animations. The models of the stadium seems to off and not as accurate as the real thing. In general you won’t find things as crisp and detailed with QB club as you would with Madden.
SOUND: 6.5
Pretty standard stuff here as well for most of these types of games. The commentary work is average for the most part with some enthusiasm and excitement heard but that’s about it. There’s even times when you play there’s no audio at all and then after checking the remote and options it just comes back on in mid sentence. It’s almost a point where Madden and Summerall seem to have more sense and personality than with these announcers.
PROBLEMS
The major downfall of this game is that the Al isn’t that challenging even if your playing the hardest mode. It was really too easy to move the ball in the game. Passes seemed automatic for me even when I passed into triple coverage. My running plays usually gained around 8 to 20 yards each time. It was to a point where for the whole first half I had just called the same two plays and they worked most of the time as the computer never caught on I was calling the same play over and over. The whole value in playing is lost because you know your going to always win.
CONCLUSIONS
When it’s to a point where the only thing you wish is that Madden could have the quarterback challenge and some of the other features you realize that QB club isn’t quite up to par with the best of the best. If Acclaim didn’t have the quarterback challenge with this version there really wouldn’t even be a point to rent this game because it wouldn’t be that enjoyable. It’s a decent attempt by Acclaim but when your facing some big competition you better let it all hang out so to speak and make it something that stands out and not just become one of the pack.
Return of the NFL Quarterback Challenge mode, featuring 4 head-to-head events Speed and Mobility, Accuracy, Long Distance Throw and Read and Recogniti...More at eBay
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