Arena Football PS2
Bill gets the formal review on this one, but I wanted to add my thoughts. Reviews on this game have been all over the place, IGN says it’s great, Gamespot says it’s meh and other sites say it’s a turd.
I’m on the Gamespot/other sites area. Now I have the PS2 version, not the Xbox, but my gawd is it fugly. I honestly think the Midway AFL game played better. Don’t bother running, period. The screens, which are such a huge factor in the real game, don’t seem to do much. Whenver a ball bounces on it, your player seems to be a ball physics expert and knows where it will land.
At least the clock runs right and the game does explain some things to you, such as why I got a penalty for blitzing on a field goal (it’s not permitted). Some of the things IGN loves like the coach being on the field, I’m not sure i’ve seen that happen for real. I have seen people go over teh boards and that’s fun.
The play calling is not fun at all. All of the plays are very similar, and like I said, don’t bother running. The ingame cat calling and trash talking and coach/player discussions are neat.
I am a follower of TV arena football, but I have a tough time seeing this one to being that much fun unless online is just totally awesome…
I’m looking forward to seeing if Bill thinks I’m an ignorant slut on this one or if he agrees….
February 10th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Being a season ticket holder for the AFL, i can tell you this game is a good representation of the game. I think however, the only people who will like this are AFL fans and people who want a good multiplayer pick up and play game.
First you can run, most AFL fans know that most runs in the AFL are on 3rd or 4th and short, or when your inside the 5 yard line. I’ve seen somewhere around 4 years worth of Rush games, and that team ran more then the norm and they didn’t rush a lot. An 8 yard carry is big in the AFL. I looked at one RB historic stats last night, in 2001 the guy had 28 TD’s and rushed for 212 yards.
In the game running is a matter of calling the right play or hitting them when they don’t expect it.
The playbooks are disappointing because they are all the same and very small. In the real AFL most teams run the same plays, but they really do seem limited in the game.
The hits are a little over the top, but not Blitz like. So i can live with it. People going over the boards happens way more then in a real game, but again not enough to make me go WTF.
Coaches are on the field during an AFL game (you sure you’ve actually watched a game on TV) You constantly see the QB running over to them after plays. Why that is cool for the video game I have no idea.
The kicking system in this game is really cool, i hope it translates to Madden in the future. The season mode is just passable if you ask me, it could have been expanded. But i assume this game had no budget. Finally graphically i think the game looks better on the Xbox then madden does, whatever that is saying.
Anyway, to each their own. This game is fast paced, requires you to learn some AFL rules and is all about offense. As i said if your an AFL fan you will probably like it, if you want a good multiplayer game (especially in the same room game) it will be a lot of fun. As a single player game, I only see myself finishing a season.
February 10th, 2006 at 9:05 pm
As I don’t have a local team near me (I do have an A2 team), I haven’t followed it nearly as much as you do. I know some of the basics, but you’re right, I didn’t notice the coach on the field as much (keep in mind the only exposure I have is TV, and 90% of the time it’s “Look at John Elway and Bon Jovi! They own their teams!”
I had seen more running in teh real AFL than I have with this game. I find running EXTREMELY difficult, and that’s what I was saying.
I can see how this game could be nitpicked, I can also see how some people might like it. Then again, I wasn’t formally reviewing the game and just giving my quick thoughts based on limited playtime.
I wouldn’t consider doing a real review of this game because with sports games you better know WTF you are talking about and I don’t have that hands on knowledge as you ascertained.
Soccer on the other hand, is another story :).