I love football and by now anyone who has read my sports reviews should know this. Now when the NFL inked the deal that took the rights away from other game companies, I was the first to rant and rave about it. I was afraid that this would leave the other games out their stale and basically boring. Midway took the sports genre to a new level with their first Blitz football game and it was an instant hit in the arcade. The over-the-top playing style and commentary was unlike anything fans have ever seen before.

During the last four or five games released for the consoles, the game started to lose its edge and became more like the other football games out their. Now with no NFL license, Midway did the smartest thing they could do. They invented their own league and even created a story around it while adding back in the brand of gameplay that was slowly lacking over the past few versions. In short the grittiest and most realistic story has created what could have been the best football game of 2005! If you think this is a bold statement, you may be right; then again you won’t know what made me say this until you read the full review of Blitz: The League.

Gameplay

The Midway brand of hard knocks and dirty play is back and better than ever. Midway took a few risks to achieve this and even called in one of the toughest players ever to play the game. Lawrence Taylor provides one of the lead voices in this new title that takes a look at not only the dirty side of the sport but the things people don’t want to admit to that go on in the sport on a weekly basis. As far as the story, I won’t ruin it, but let me say this is as real as football gets. Winners get the rewards and football is a big business. A deal is made between the owner of the team and the Mayor of the city so that if the team wins the championship, he gets a new stadium and a huge cut of the profits. If the Mayor wins the bet, she gets a slush fund for her next election campaign. It’s raw, it’s gritty and as real as the sport itself except the names and teams are all made up. Players will have to recruit a new coach, a team trainer, who also is a doctor, and of course a new star player that either will take the defense or offense to that next level. The twist in this one is while the story plays a huge part of the game, it never gets in the way of the action on the field. If anything, it improves it to the point of being the best Blitz edition yet.

Before we go any further, if you’re thinking the game is the sort that will be great for any football fan, think again! This is a very mature approach to the game. We all have heard the stories of sex, drugs and steroid abuse in football. Blitz plays that angle up in the most realistic way I have ever seen. The other part that makes Blitz so unique is that the choices of the coach, trainer and star will effect the team’s playing style. Old rivalries and even sexual tensions on and off the field from the head office to the field with the cheerleaders come into play. It’s a realistic look of everyone’s favorite Sunday sport. One coach is an old vet, while the next one is a maverick and the last choice has the reputation for winning at all costs. Each has a history that will slightly change the story within the league’s main game mode. Steroid use is a common practice but if you juice a player too much, he may snap during a game. So you need to not only make quick choices that may win a game, you need to watch his mental state and the effects the steroids have and know when to back off. The rules are there but this is Blitz football and rules are made and encouraged to be broken.

The first five minutes of the game will show you exactly what I mean in as the story shows a young blue chipper QB with a chance to win it all in four downs. Every snap of the four plays sets the story as the defensive players threaten the young rookie with his own fate. As the clock is winding down, each hit is worse than the last and the language is real. Take any GTA game or other controversial game and the opening five minutes will match that easily. The last play finds the young QB being sacked and then his throwing arm snapped in two for good measure.

Creating a fantasy league is risky enough. The steroid abuse, the double-handed dealings and the drama on and off the field creates a football title that takes almost every well-known football movie and uses the best scenes. The coaches are paid to win and even given bonuses if they injure a rival player. Dirty hits are encouraged and smack talk is plentiful as well as colorful. Midway even uses the covergirls from FMH magazine. Their costumes are far from the normal ones you see. Sex sells as much as violence and the balance of the two makes the gameplay very interesting and more importantly fun.

When you happen to manage a dirty hit or are on the receiving end of one, you may get hurt. The way they show the injury is great in a slow motion style that also shows what part of the body is hurt. This is shown in the form of an X-ray view of the body and the damage at times will make you want to squirm since it looks realistic. You then have a choice as a trainer and coaching staff to let your player heal naturally and risk losing the game or juice the guy up so the pain goes away. He is still hurt and a walking bulls eye is painted on him, but being jacked up he may make a play that wins you the game. Each game brings a new chapter to the story. Gamers need to buy new equipment and talk to the trainer and see what new untraceable steroids or experimental drugs he has, all for a price of course. Then there is the training of the star players and this is not cheap either.

To earn all this cash, side bets can be placed on the game and players win bonuses for dirty hits and even taken out a star player on the other team. It’s everything that goes on in the NFL but being a fantasy story based game, they get away with things no licensed game could. The Blitz style is simple: 1st and 10 is a thing of the past. It is now first and 30 and the plays, while simplistic looking, are far from it. You get the look of the control booth where coaches make the big calls, but in Blitz there is another twist. Even in play calling someone can be on another team’s payroll. It’s cut-throat and it is has a soap opera feel.

If you win the game, you’re greeted to new messages, some praising your abilities to pull off the win and a few threatening ones as well. Every action that goes on during the five minute quarters has repercussions, good and bad and will change the story inside the game. All the classic styling of the old Blitz plays are back and it’s even presented from an on the field view, not the normal TV presentation to make it look more realistic.

Control / Playability

The controls are set-up like other Blitz games of the past. You now have a few new options and features. There is no on fire mode instead you will fill up the rage meter on each play the meter will fill up and then light-up with the word Rage! Hitting the left trigger and holding it in allows the QB to duke blitzes or get out of a tricky situation. The same with the receivers and running back you know have moves never before available but pulling them off is a little tough. They added in a few tutorials in the way of game films that show the more advanced moves and how to pull them off.

The learning curve is about 30 minutes, perhaps a little longer if you’re new to the series. While the controls are great and set-up well, they can back fire on you and this is the risk of attempting the more advanced moves. The training modes can be a little difficult to get down and understand. This is the type of game you need to read the game manual. The only downside of the game’s controls is that real gamers seem to have to really work at the special moves while the A.I seems to be able to pull off a dirty hit or create a brawl at will. At first some players may get frustrated but will soon learn how to bulldog a player and even snap his neck or leg. Hey, its football – if you’re not up to the challenge, you can go back to the classic styles of Tecmo bowl or something a little easier. The kicking controls are not the meter everyone is used to. When you kick off or try an extra point, the screen will flash buttons at random and you have to hit each button in order each correct match increases the distance and accuracy of the kick. It takes some time but after a few games, it’s pretty easy to get used to.

Xbox Live

In order to play with your made up team, you need to be connected to Xbox Live even while playing through the campaign mode. It saves the players and status so you can then use your team online against others and see if you have what it takes to play against real players or friends. It makes sense once you start playing, but is a big difference. You will also want to enable the auto-save feature since it is easy to forget to save. Taking a break from the regular game modes and playing online is easy. The lobby allows you to adjust each quarter form two to five minutes in length and the Opti-Match is easy to find a game. There are no lag issues and you are penalized for dropping out of a game if you are losing. Of course you can make a room for someone you know and play. The game plays great online and the lobbies, while not fancy, are easy to navigate through.

Graphics / Presentation

Graphically, the game looks great. You pick the team’s name, the city and the look of the uniforms. It has a cartoon-like look, but in a good way. Each player looks well made and rendered and the cut-scenes are well done. The cheerleaders look great and again Mom and Dad this is not for the younger gamers out there. Leather and other outfits are available to unlock and they get skimpier as you unlock new members of the squad. It was neat to see the team name on the uniforms and on the field as well as the logo you make. It’s not the deepest create mode out there, but fits this game. The injuries and instant replays are well done and having every Blitz game in the series, this one is the best looking of all of them.

The game relies on the graphics to help bring the story and cut-scenes to life. It has a realistic look of the game, just not the old NFL you’re used to seeing. A few old faces will look familiar, like LT himself who has a recurring role. The on-field view gives gamers a whole new aspect to play the game from and the game is hard not to enjoy. It shows how much time went into this fantasy-style story driven football game.

Audio

If you are easily offended, chances are you will be offended by the language since the ‘F’ word is used about 9 times in the first five minutes and that’s just the opening intro. The hits and on-field sounds are dead on and will make you think you are on a real field. The music and announcing is more realistic and at times there is a few audio cues to let you know when someone is screwing around with the play calling or will make you aware of a team about to call for a dirty hit. The sound effects and voice-over work is well done and makes the game stand out and gets gamers interested in what is going on, but you need to pay attention to what was said or it may cost you.

Replay Value

Blitz The league is a different style of football but offers gamers a variety of modes and things to unlock and buy. The better the equipment or the special medicine advancements will make players pull off impossible plays. The game can become a brawl and no refs whistle will blow. You settle it on the field and when the last body hits the floor or in this case the field, you keep playing. For fans of the Blitz series, this one shows Midway has not forgotten how to make an over the top game. The online mode offers another way to play the game. Midway threw in all sorts of extras from videos to covers of the cheerleaders and other things fans will want to unlock.

Overall Score

Overall Score: 8.8/10 [not an average]

Additional Comments

This one takes a fantasy approach but hits the game’s real issues in a different way. Yes they throw it right out in the open and I applaud them for turning what could have been another rehash of the series into a great and fun game to play. It has a few balance issues but plays so well that no one will really care. They also managed to create a game without using the NFL License and made it a solid football title that any sports fan will enjoy. It does have adult humor and situations, but they needed to use this approach to bring the game to life and make it believable. Certainly hands down the most fun I have in a long time with any football game and one that makes gamers want to play it to see what is next.

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