by Wyatt "JOE DOG" Elliott
A new type of Football entered the world in the last year or so. Its arcade Football. A brutal, no holds barred super slam fest. Mix one half WWF with one half NFL and you've got Arcade Football. There are two arcade football titles and both have returned this year for another round. NFL Blitz 2000 and NFL Xtreme 2.
Last year NFL Blitz won the competition hands down, with the dreadful NFL Xtreme taking second fiddle to the arcade football originator. This year its harder to decide. Xtreme 2 is ten times the game of the original. 989 Sports has taken what was a desperate attempt at a Blitz rip off and have turned out a game that gives NFL Blitz a true run for its money.
NFL Xtreme 2's graphics are sharp and revolutionary. Real life players with real life player faces and voices.
Players rip off their helmets or jersey and just yell at the top of their lungs. Xtreme 2's high resolution graphics are a big leap forward from the original bland washed out look of last year. Xtreme still is a bit slower than Blitz, but is light years faster than Xtreme 1.
NFL Xtreme 2 offers more strategy to the gamer then Blitz 2000 and its mosh pit game play. The game control is more in GameDay's style, so veteran NFL GameDay players will be able to pick up on the control quick. NFL Blitz 2000 also offers high-res graphics and extremely fast game play and load time. Blitz is true arcade madness. Based on Midway's NFL Blitz '99 arcade smash, NFL Blitz 2000 is less realistic than Xtreme 2. Less NFL players, no Player faces or voices. However all of the NFL teams are featured in both games.
NFL Xtreme 2 and NFL Blitz 2000 both offer more fun than a Super Bowl. Xtreme 2 is more of a realistic NFL sim with NO rules. Be as brutal as you want. The Necessary roughness doesn't end at the tackle. Toss your opponent in the air, slug him, kick him while he's down, or just plain talk trash. NFL Blitz 2000 is everyone for himself, do whatever it takes to get that pigskin to the end zone. If some one should fall it is your duty to body slam him til the next play. Players are shown out of breath and in pain. You will feel sorry for these players.
NFL Blitz is a no brainer. If you liked the original you'll love this one. While if you hated NFL Xtreme you owe it to your self to view Sony's apology in the form of NFL Xtreme 2. I like them both with a little more admiration for Xtreme 2.
NFL BLITZ 2000 PUBLISHER: MIDWAY NFL XTREME 2 PUBLISHER: 989 SPORTS GRAPHICS: 8 / 8.5
SOUND & MUSIC: 8 / 7
CONTROL: 7.5 / 8
SECRETS: 10 / 8
ORIGINALITY: 6 / 8
FUN & REPLAY: 9 / 9
OVERALL: 7.5 / 8