"A decent start by EA"

The Arena Football League has been a very quiet sport, even though it has been around for 20 years now. EA has now decided to make a game based on this indoor sport, and it's a decent start.

Gameplay:6/10
The game has a very arcade like feel. Games will go back and forth very quickly, which translates into high-scoring games, but that is common in the actual AFL. Fast gameplay, makes this feel arcady, but it's still fun. The game sometimes feels a little bit like Blitz, since you can perform late hits, and not get penalized, but the ref can still call the penalty. The special rules of the AFL are in place, like only one of the two linebackers can blitz, and the lineman can not twist when engaging the other lineman, since violation of those rules lead to penalties. Madden fanatics will have take awhile to learn the new rules of the game, since it can be very hard and confusing at first, but once you learn those basics, your set.

Graphics: 6/10
The graphics are average, but the player models have a decent look to them. The PS2 version has good visuals, but the Xbox version's visuals almost are the same as the PS2. Framerate can get a little choppy, but it occurs on a rare occasion, during the game. The game doesn't suffer too greatly from this, but it EA must take care of this minor problem, since the low framerate can lead to sometimes choppy animations, but still the game runs smooth.

Presentation:2/10
The presentation for the game is very basic. There is no NBC presentation, since the actual AFL is on NBC. EA may want to try to implement a better presentation next year. I felt that this was a major, missing component that could have been a lot better for this game, but there's always next year for improvement.

Overall:7/10
This was a decent game and it's fun-factor sadly isn't that long lasting. I had fun with this game for a week, then I began to lose interest, but a die-hard AFL fan will find a great game, with a lot of value. Hopefully, next year will be better.
I am a fan of the AFL and had a feeling of a mixed bag with this game, but again a decent first try by EA by trying to bring "The fifty-yard indoor war " home.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 05/21/06