PlayStation 2
Released in 2005 by Midway
Grade: C+
This game has some decent arcade action, but it’s slowed down and overshadowed by all the nonsense that’s meant to compensate for the lack of an NFL license.
Where it falls in the series
Midway released NFL Blitz 2002, NFL Blitz 2003, and NFL Blitz Pro on PS2 and Xbox, but EA Sports acquired the exclusive NFL license in 2004, and Midway needed to get creative for this title.
Blitz: The League II followed on PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2008. Midway filed for bankruptcy in 2009, and EA scooped up the rights to Blitz and made NFL Blitz 2012, the last Blitz to date.
Praises and gripes
The core gameplay has some fresh updates from previous Blitz games. It’s now 8-on-8 with a mix of different offensive and defensive formations. There are now plenty of run plays to go with the wacky pass plays. The movement is slightly more fluid, and defenders aren’t as superhuman as before.
There’s also dumb, unneeded stuff. On offense, you can activate the “Clash” feature, which slows down everyone except the guy with a ball. Runners can easily blow by defenders, and quarterbacks can evade sacks with no problem at all. This isn’t a once-in-a-while occurrence. You can use it on almost every play. The defense has no answer for it. Luckily, you can turn this feature off.
There are cutscenes where players talk some R-rated trash. These are annoying as hell, and you cannot turn them off. The pace between plays is much too slow.
In addition to trash talk, this game goes overboard with adult-themed, grimy gimmicks. When players are injured, you see X-ray animations of bones breaking or muscles tearing. You can gamble on games. Doctors “juice” up injured players to rush them back into action. You can upgrade your cheerleading squad, whose dance moves are damn near pornographic.
I’m neutral on the issue. The first time I saw that bone-break animation, I thought, “That’s pretty tasteless,” but after a while I didn’t mind. It doesn’t add anything, but doesn’t ruin the game for me either.
What does ruin the game is the slow pace between plays. For me, all those audio clips and animations are wasted effort.
I’m not crazy about the Blitz series anyway. It tries to cram the fun of football into a simple formula, but it ends up leaving a lot of fun out. The players move like machines, there’s not as much strategy, the rubberband AI is blatant, and the added violence has no appeal.