Value Bin Review: Arena Football (Xbox)
While the impending doom (for some) lurks of an NFL lockout next year, and the first year in my NFL watching life that there would be no Brett Favre, some people clamor for a sport filled with violence and enough downtime to put in 10 minute commercial slots for bad beer and terrible appetizers.
Once such league shall exist next year, for those who need to see the pigskin tossed around: The Arena Football League. Read all about them on their Wikipedia page for proof this isn’t some terrible XFL wanna be. I first got into Arena Football a couple of years ago, back in its “peak” of popularity (right up there with Major League Soccer) when they would air a weekly game on NBC while I worked at a bar. Admittedly, it’s fun to watch, and is able to hold the attention spans of those with Sports ADD such as myself. It’s a game where players play both sides of the ball, field goals can be kicked from anywhere on the field, and scores for a real game look like you and your buddy’s drunken game of Madden 94.
The official licensed game came out in 2006, right around the time EA was buying licenses just because (Remember, the ill fated College Baseball Game?). It also came out right around the changing of the guard between the original Xbox and the 360. The Arena Football games never made their way onto the modern consoles unfortunately, but are backwards compatible with the respective systems (On the PS3 if you have the right one, of course).
The game itself feels a bit dated, despite coming out only 4 years ago. Admittedly, some of that might have to do with being an original Xbox release, rather than a 360 release. However, other aspects of it seem to be lacking as well. First off, I actually found myself missing the terrible commentary that has plagued the Madden franchise for so long (Chris Collinsworth is TERRIBLE! Real life and in Madden…) as the PA announcer grows bland. The graphics, obviously, are not impressive either. (Again, it’s an original Xbox game, not a 360 game, still…) A little more time spent on the arenas and entrance would have been nice as well. I realize they all play in similar style arenas, but every arena is the same, and every team has the same entrance. Every other sports game stopped doing that in the PS1/ Dreamcast era. C’mon…
Despite all the negatives, I do enjoy the simplicity of the game. The playbooks are all very basic, no team specific things. The rules of Arena Football are different, and take a little getting used to. However, the Arena 101 in the beginning screen will help with that. The game plays a lot like an NFL Blitz style game, in that the offensive/ defensive schemes are not complicated whatsoever, and you can get some pretty epic hits (they allow you to knock guys over the side boards, and into the speakers.) The running game in Arena Football is also substantially different, as it is all based on short runs by guys who are built like Marcus Fenix. Don’t expect any 40 yard Adrian Peterson-style bolts down the field. I found myself having better success with handing off to Wide Receivers than I did the giant Fullback.
The fact that scoring happens pretty routinely actually makes the game more enjoyable and tons of fun. I recall getting frustrated with 17-10 victories with buddies. Like in real life, while we all are amazed with a great defense, we all really just want to see our favorite team score like it’s going out of style. Throwing for 9 TDs in one game is not out of the realm of possibilities.
The game also features some staple Ea Sports features. There is the dynasty mode, where you can take your favorite Arena Football team (who all have pretty odd names. But hey, one team is owned by John Bon Jovi, what do you expect?) and run them through an Arena Football League season. You also have the ability to look at match-ups (for advanced users), and offers EA’s thumb stick kicker system, which has now recently been changed in Madden 11.
All-in-all, a good game to pick up on the cheap. It’s a great game to mess around with, especially with friends. It doesn’t require a lot of thought, as some of the games in the Madden series have required, and offers an enjoyable playing experience once you can get past some of the graphic shortcomings and lack of detail. If you see it on the Goozex Value Bin, it’s worth picking up for a mere 150 points. If only someone would make a new Arena Football game now that the league is back in business.
This review originally appeared on Goozer Nation.