Sometimes you just gotta Xcept things for what they are.
PlayStation 1
Released in 1999 by 989 Sports
Grade: C-
This is actually a few adjustments away from a serviceable arcade football game, but it’s got some issues that Xtremely damage the final product.
Where it falls in the series
989 Sports was in the midst of yearly NFL GameDay and NCAA GameBreaker titles when they took a shot at stealing NFL Blitz‘s popularity with NFL Xtreme in 1998, followed by this in 1999. They gave up on that Xperiment, and then gave up on football altogether after GameDay 2005.
Praises and gripes
This game takes the elaborate game of football and turns it into a FIVE-ON-FIVE rodeo. You’ve got a quarterback and four receivers. Even the center takes off looking to catch a pass.
The passing system is nice and simple, but unfortunately, receivers stand still once they’ve run their routes. If you haven’t fired a pass within a couple seconds, you’re probably out of luck, as defenders routinely blast receivers as they catch the ball.
The running is easy to control and there’s a handy speed burst command, but it lacks the Xcitement you might Xpect from an arcade style game. Fumbles are common, and that’s about it.
Between plays, you have to watch a player take his helmet off and offer bits of trash talk, which I suppose is an answer to Blitz’s trademark late hits. You can turn trash talk off, but you STILL have to watch the player go through this Xercise every time, which just slows down the pace of the game. It’s Xhausting.
The graphics have a typical junky PS1 quality to them, but they’re okay. Animations are usually fairly clear, although there’s an annoying quirk where your receiver catches the ball, takes three steps, gets hit, loses the ball, and it’s … an incomplete pass? Xplain that one to me, because I don’t get it.
I wanted to like this game. I like 2009’s Madden Arcade on PS3, which is also a lighthearted 5-on-5 football game. But this just doesn’t get anything right.