Genre: Sports
Developer: Tecmo
Year: 1994

Rating: 7

Review: Rather than be content to upgrade the previous installment, Tecmo decided to overhaul the game itself. It remains an arcade version of football with no penalties, but the gameplay became visually less appealing and also less intuitive.

The camera angle moved from bird’s eye-view to more of an angled perspective. The playbooks are expanded, but harder to understand. Fake punts and field goals are now an option. You can call audibles. That’s because rather than on defense trying to guess the play your opponent will call in hopes of an all-out blitz, you call a defensive formation. While more realistic, it doesn’t really make strategy more meaningful and defense becomes less enjoyable.

It’s a fine football game, though unless you’re beholden to the rosters from this year, there’s little reason to play it, as the sequel is similar yet improved.