Wild Card Football

When it comes to serious sports games, fans have a pretty significant choice to pick from. Sports games that take a more arcade-y and whimsical approach, though, can be pretty rare. With that in mind, then, most might not be 100% sure where to begin when it comes to upcoming release Wild Card Football. The game itself looks very fun and engaging, and Saber Interactive appear to have landed on a good thing with regards to the style. How can this new and exciting arcade football game manage to avoid falling into the same trap as other arcade football games, though? Let’s take a look at what we know so far about Wild Card Football.

Football Made Fun

Most sports games go down the route of having a more serious style to them, but it would be fair to say that Wild Card Football does not take itself too seriously at all. It is more something like Blood Bowl or Mario Strikers than it is something like Madden. The content available for the game shows everything from holographic street brawls to power shields and UFOs appearing to mess up the flow of the game.

So, there is definitely something a little bit different waiting for fans here. With 7-aside rules, the use of a Wild Card system is the games main feature. This allows you to change the game with various power-ups – such as the shields and UFOs – that would simply not be present in a more serious sports game.

You can pick from a whole host of professional players who arrive in a kind of Playgrounds-inspired look and style. This gives you plenty of choice to pick from, and with over 150 cards to pick from there is no shortage of interesting powers and ideas existing within the game. How, though, will this hold up game after game?

An Interesting New Iteration For Arcade Sports (7.5/10)

What we have seen so far from Wild Card Football looks very exciting indeed. It definitely has something of the WWE Battlegrounds look to it, while it has the kind of arcade madness of something like Mario Strikers. So, there is plenty of fun to be had with authentic pro players reimagined in a pretty hilarious world. On top of that, the combination of single player and multiplayer modes means that players of all styles and preferences should find something worth their time waiting for them here.

The main question is going to be longevity. With so many cards to pick from it should be easy to experiment and try out new things. However, will there be enough variety? Or will we wind up with a collection of the same kind of power-ups again and again?

Pros

• Exciting gameplay loop that brings in over 150 different power-ups, boosts, and more
• The use of real pros in a more inventive setting will allow for some great dream team setups
• Plenty of variety in game modes will have a big impact on how players choose to get their fix

Cons

• Remains to be seen how the powers balance out: will there be enough variety and difference?