Sega Genesis
Released in 1995 by Acclaim
Grade: C-
Wow, this is quite the disappointing sequel. Nothing is improved from the first NFL Quarterback Club, and in fact it’s worse.
Where it falls in the series
It’s the second of two QB Club games in the 16-bit generation. The series continued its losing ways on later consoles up to a 2002 edition before giving up.
Praises and gripes
I kind of liked the original, with its simple, Madden-style controls, graphics, and pacing, despite some glaring limitations. It’s at least easy to play and sort of cute. This time around, it’s largely the same, except it looks slightly worse and the defensive AI is slightly more challenging.
The game never moves very fast. Players appear to jog instead of sprint, and passes float in the air. The passing game has an awkward stop-and-go feel. You never hit a receiver in stride. Receivers don’t always follow their routes, and they’re rarely wide open. Every pass play is a guessing game: will a defender bat it down, or will the receiver make a catch despite being surrounded by defenders? Runners break tackles an awful lot, even without use of the overly effective spin move.
Tactics-wise, you now have the option to let the CPU choose a defensive play for you, but you don’t see what play it is, so you don’t know what to do with the player you’re controlling. Defensive plays have more detailed play diagrams, which is an improvement. Offensive playcalling uses the same effective system, and there are plenty of plays.
The QB Challenge mini-games from last year are replaced with a practice feature. It isolates game situations, such as 1-on-1 passing. These aren’t very fun, and in fact, they just highlight how broken the passing system is.
You can safely skip this one.