NFL Blitz 2001

American football, or ‘gridiron’ has never really taken off outside the USA. The game is very similar to rugby, but is also very different, as you are allowed to throw the ball forwards in gridiron. Both games are incredibly aggressive, and many an argument has been proposed as to which is more dangerous. It is surprising that, despite the fact that gridiron players are padded all over and get to wear helmets, there are more serious injuries among the American football players each year than there are amongst the seemingly less-protected rugby participants.

American football can be quite complicated for beginners (and Roy) to understand, so let’s start with the basics (actually I do understand it, I just happen to think it’s pants! – Roy). Two teams have four attempts, or ‘downs’ to reach a set yardage marker. Teams can choose to either throw the ball, or run the ball downfield to reach the goal line (or ‘endzone’) at the far end of the field. Moving a player over this line or catching the ball in this area results in a ‘touchdown’, and six points are awarded. Just like in rugby, a kick is taken after the touchdown for an extra point, but you can also try to run over the line again for an additional two points.

Game On!

With that sorted out, we can now tell you a little bit about NFL Blitz 2001. An official, licenced game, Blitz features all the teams currently playing in the NFL, and each team has unique stats – making your choice of team important. In the real league, each team has over fifty players including reserves, but to simplify things NFL Blitz only uses seven players per side. This makes the game a lot easier to cope with, and means that a lot more processor power can be allocated to making the graphics clearer, and the general gameplay much faster.

Another major difference to the actual sport in NFL Blitz is an extension to the normal yardage markers. Instead of having to make ten yards in four downs, you must reach the thirty-yard mark before you will be awarded a new first down. This may seem a little cruel, but the normal ten yard ‘down’ is for pansies – and you do like a challenge, don’t you?

There are quite a few different buttons needed to play, but these are very well positioned and in the logical places. The C buttons are used for passing to the three wide receivers and the ‘turbo’ button is assigned to Z making it easy to activate when required. A few little tricks have also been included to aid you in your goal-line struggle, such as your players’ ability to jump to catch the ball and perform little spin moves to avoid all those bone-crunching tackles.

Wide Open

Four different gameplay modes are included to fuel your passion for gridiron, including Season mode, Tournament mode, Arcade mode and a special Party Play mode. This option has three separate mini-games challenging you to score, defend and pass against computer opponents. These three games may sound a little silly, but we found them excellent training before stepping onto the pitch for game time. With three different difficulty settings for all levels of playing skill you can be sure that Blitz will remain competitive for quite some time.

The first really noticeable thing about NFL Blitz 2001 is the speed of the gameplay. Right from the kick-off, your opponents come steaming at you – hardly giving you time to think.

Blitz has enough brute force to make even the strongest of you wince from time to time. The violence doesn’t stop with the whistle either, as you can continue to pummel your opponent for a few seconds until play resumes. This adds excitement and aggression to the gameplay, making it fantastic to just pick up and play for a short while.

Audibles

The sound on NFL Blitz 2001 has been greatly improved since the original, with the commentator making some very witty remarks at times. These comments usual follow just after moments of extreme brutality, adding further spice to the crunch of the tackle. The other game sounds are standard for a gridiron game, with simple grunts and groans, but these are more than enough to make it sound like the real thing. The graphics are Expansion Pak-enhanced for a little extra vibrancy, although they do still appear a little blocky at times. However, when the game runs as fast as it does here you really have very little time to study the size of your players’ knees or elbows!

The computer-controlled teams in the game are fairly intelligent, and use cunning tactics to run down the clock, or try to regain possession. Of course, there are two major skills when playing gridiron, as both Offence and Defence must be mastered. Stopping your opponents gaining any yardage can take a little while to master, as they seem to throw the ball around as if they were playing piggy-in-the-middle. Still, a few practice goes at the ‘Defend the Endzone’ game, and you’ll be battering the opposing Quarterback in no time. In Offence mode there are several screens of pre-designed plays to choose from, and these can be flipped to make the action reverse. If you decide at the last minute that you wish to change your chosen play, then you can hold the C Down button and issue different commands by pressing left or right.

Bone-Crunching

The developer of Blitz has really gone to town making the aggression come to life, and in combination with the speed this makes for some intense multiplayer action. Up to four players can compete, two on each side, and all players can try out every game mode. At last, the time has been taken to let a duo take on the championship season, rather than just having to play simple arcade exhibition matches. There really is no nicer feeling than blending your opponent into the turf, of hitting them so hard you can almost hear the bones snap!

Blitz takes a very arcade-style approach to American Football... and we like it. Although the graphics are not quite as good as NFL Quarterback Club, and the number of team members is limited, Blitz makes up for it with some totally intense gameplay. The action is ceaseless, making it hard to put down, and the hardcore tackling adds excitement almost every second. You will have to search for a very long time to find a gridiron game that is more fun to play than this one!

Touchdown!

The frantic on-screen action is very well put together, and although the game has been simplified, it nevertheless remains exciting to play. Sometimes the effort of learning more plays and controlling more team members might be appealing, but we’re sure that there’s more fun in this little package. Unfortunately, due to the current N64 climate, it is very unlikely that NFL Blitz 2001 will ever make to the stores in the UK, so if you’re a die-hard fan, then you’ll need to find yourself a cartridge converter and an import shop in order to sample its delights.

With Midway producing games of this high standard at this point in the N64’s lifecycle, we can only assume great things are to come on Gamecube. Mind you, we don’t think that this game needs to get any faster or the action would become almost unplayable. NFL Blitz is a stormer of a title that gets the adrenaline pumping faster than a rabbit on Viagra. It’s great fun, and is just so violent it makes us go all gooey! Top stuff if you’re a gridiron fan!