Football on the GC... I think I'll pass...
Written: Jan 22 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: QB Challenge. NFL QB Club license.
Cons: HORRIBLY choppy. Terrible sound. Quirky gameplay.
The Bottom Line: Juke and jive... Avoid a sack and throw it away.
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| search66's Full Review: NFL QB Club 2002 for PlayStation 2 |
"Football season is just about over, yet the games still come. The competitive market for football games is at an all time high, and Acclaim tries to resurrect it's once brilliant title."
Tooth and nail.
Throughout the years there have been numerous football games released on every system imaginable. From Atari's 10-Yard Rush to Segas' NFL 2K2. The competition has always been fierce and only a handful of them have been note worthy.
Currently, the John Madden and NFL 2Kx series are on top leading the way. Madden originated on the Sega Genesis produced by Electronic Arts has set the standard by which all football games are produced. In the meantime, Sega has produced some amazing games from their 2Kx line.
On the backburner NFL QB Club has always been a sleeper. Comprising decent gameplay, good graphics and a few extra twists has kept them in the football wars. When Acclaim announced plans on resurrecting the series and introducing it to the GameCube, I was anxious to see them take advantage of today’s technology. While NFL QB Club was never my favorite football game to play, it was a nice alternative style play that I enjoyed on occasion.
Exit stage left.
Those familiar with the series will be back in business in no time. All the standard game modes are here along with the trademark Quarterback Challenge. The "QB Challenge" allow you to choose a quarterback, and put them through various skilled challenges. These challenges include: accuracy, distance, mobility and reading the receiver.
The series has always had two major selling points. "Quarterback Challenge" is the first major point, and the second is the ability to use the NFL QB club license. Both are great points, which is why it always became the industries "sixth man". Gameplay, on the other hand has always been solid, but nothing comparable to others in the field (like all of my football references?).
Acclaim drops the ball when it comes to gameplay, and is about as fun as a cup of rice. The first downfall is the lack of a franchise mode or building your own player. By today’s standards, gamers want the ability to create a player, add them to a team and build them throughout the season. I was completely stunned when I discovered the lack of a customizable season. Talk about "3rd and long"; I knew I was in for a long review.
Once you jump into the game itself, I felt dampered by the controls. While mostly the control was fairly responsive, overall the game was completely sloppy. Play calling was limited to looking at one screen at a time that forced you to hastily make a play. Flipping through the playbook took time, and precious seconds depleted as your play-clock ticked down.
After the snap of the ball, choosing receivers was fairly standard, and controlling the ball handler was downright quirky. Again, while most of the movements were responsive, many of the time I felt like I was playing NFL Blitz. It seems that Acclaim couldn't decide to make this an arcade button masher like NFL Blitz, or take the simulation stance of John Madden. Diving, tackling, spinning and jumping seemed quite natural; but the play itself became mundane and very unimpressive.
It seems that NFLQBC2K2 has digressed in the evolution of football games, and was about as linear as old school Madden without the fun. You will also notice that the game seems bigger than it should be. The field seems too "open" than it should, giving much more room to move than other games. It might have been just me, but I felt like I was playing a game of street ball rather than an NFL season.
Port whine.
What seems to be the industry standard is to take a game (successful or not) from one system and convert it to another system. QB Challenge was a mediocre title for the PS2, and I expected a boost in graphics, sound and depth. Instead we received a bad photocopy with no extra bells or whistles one comes to expect on a "newer" system.
Have you ever watched a DVD that was scratched? The video stutters, flickers and is choppy? Well, this is the best analogy I can think of when describing the graphics. At first the animations seem smooth as silk, but halfway into a movement the game chokes and becomes an eyesore. Critics looking for the bad, this sticks out like a sore thumb. Even for novice gamers, it becomes obvious and almost unplayable.
Colors are somewhat dumbed down, opaque and dull. The sharpness and color of NFL 2K2 simply make this look like inferior in comparison. To make matter worse, the crowd looks like a puke balloon exploded in the seats giving you a nice "splattered puke" look.
Aside from a shaky framerate (30FPS), character modeling is quite good. Players look fairly true-to-life, and their facial expressions are dynamically changing. A huge plus, but cannot be appreciate for the total lack of performance.
Sounding like a broken record, as far as audio is concerned it is nothing more than a few blips, bleeps and crashes one would expect from your Sega Genesis. Sound effects are weak, "tinny" and dull. To make things worse the announcers are classic boo-ha-ha chumps. At first it might sound interesting, but quickly diminishes like a glass of milk. Overall the audio is classic arcade material... from the 80's....
27-0 and the ball is on your five yard line.
Disappointed is an understatement after this hard luck review. The multiplayer mode added a bit more enjoyment from an otherwise sickening experience. Heck, any sports game can be fun when you team up with a friend. The only saving grace could have been the Quarterback Challenge, but still couldn't save this drowning kitten from certain death.
By no means is this a purchase for anyone. If you are a loner, looking for a renter do a spin move and keep looking. If you are having some buddies over, and there is nothing else on the shelves to rent, it's not going to be horrible, because any sports game with the proper amount of adult beverages can be enjoyable.
-gameplay- six out of ten
Move. Pass. Yawn.
-graphics- four out of ten
Look Mom, it's an Atari!
-audio- four out of ten
I've heard better hits at a tea party.
-replay- three out of ten
No franchise = No replay
-overall- four out of ten
Stunningly stupid.
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
search66
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Location: Maryland
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God bless netjak.
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