Recent reviews by Firebird4Life

I was very excited to try this game. Looking like a cross between Tecmo Bowl & classic Madden games, I thought it'd be right up my alley. Unfortunately, several factors led to a disappointing experience for me. First and foremost is the controls. There's no way to remap the controls so years of playing Madden had me constantly hitting wrong buttons. The "mash button to break away from blocker" mechanic is difficult as well because it has you so focused on hitting the button fast that you miss the chance to adapt to the play quickly. I agree with someone else here that maybe a well-timed press of the button can break the block or maybe add a swim move or power move button. Perhaps one of the most frustrating things for me is the amount of dropped passes by receivers. Even when throwing to receivers ranked in the 90s with a perfect throw, they'll drop it a significant amount of times. On the flip side, I don't think I've seen a single interception by a player on either my side or watching others play. Of course the computer intercepts passes without a problem. My RBs and KRs seem to constantly fumble the ball as well. Defense is nearly impossible as no matter what play you pick, the receivers seem to find a perfect hole or break away with no trouble. And naturally, your players can do the same but they get gassed just in time to get caught from behind but it never happens to the computer's team. And kicking...don't even get me started. Even if you think its timed right, its not. There's no reason they can't slow down the left-to-right aim by half and it'd still be a challenge. The meter fills up so fast that your kick is either so powerful that it flies out of the camera frame or it falls short every time.

BOTTOM LINE: A nice attempt to clone Madden with a classic look & style but falls flat on many levels. Creative and visually satisfying but very disappointing in the end as I was hoping for something that doesn't make me want to throw my controller across the room on every other play.