Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)As a longtime hardcore PC gamer, I surprisingly found this game to be a lot of fun with a nice simple interface. There are a couple modes to play from, starting with a Skirmish where you can play a quick game, or a season. There is also a multiplayer LAN-ONLY feature.
Starting with a season game, the interface first lets you choose which of the 31 football teams will be in the season (you are allowed to choose about 25 of them), and which team you wish to play as your own. Each division also has a CUSTOM team that you can choose. You can customize this team's name and jersey colors. The team names are limited to the selections they give you, but this is for the purposes of the in-game announcers.
Then comes the player selections, which gives you a very wide variety. There are all sorts of players to choose from, from African Americans, Asians, Latinos, and many more. There is also a player in a wheelchair to choose from! The political correctness of this game is deep, which is a good thing for children. There are also a group of kids based on real NFL players, such as Ricky Williams, Brett Favre, Drew Bledsoe, and Junior Seau. The only gripe I have is the low number of these NFL players, and the fact that they only had current players and none of the recent greats like Dan Marino. This is a small gripe that is countered by the ability to create your own player. Although it is a custom player, you must choose one of the default nicknames -- because the announcers will use the nicknames during the game. Choosing the players is a lot of fun and has some strategy. For instance, one of the players plays better if you have pink uniforms, and another plays better if you also choose her twin sister for your team. Each player has rankings based on Passing, Running, Catching, Kicking, and Defense.
The game itself is very simple. Choose a play, click to hike the ball, and hold the mouse down in the direction you want to run, or click past the line of scrimmage to pass to a receiver. You can choose from 12 plays in your playbook. You can customize your playbook from existing plays, or make your own play. There is also the addition of special magic plays that are for 1 use only, and are awarded when your team does certain things (like run a lot of yards). An example is the leapfrog play. Your QB hands off to the RB, who then leaps over all the players for an instant 5 yards (great for goal line plays). Supersonic will cause a loud boom that will stun all opposing players for a few seconds for a free run. There are defensive special plays too. Overall the plays are varied enough to keep the play calling interesting, and the special plays are a lot of fun. You can also call a timeout to substitute your tired players with fresh players on the bench.
Scoring a touchdown is very interesting because when a player scores, all the players on the field clap their hands and cheer (even the opposing team). The scorer then does a custom victory dance. This is a very kid-friendly design that the developers chose.
There are 3 difficulty settings to be played, with lots of toggle switches. For example, you can turn off special plays, or turn on player fatigue.
The main gripe I have is that you cannot re-draft players between seasons, without starting a brand new team. But this is a minor concern since the game itself is a lot of fun.
The easy interface is simple yet effective, and the fun factor is very high. I recommend this game to any football fan out there, and parents who are looking for a fun and safe game for their children to play.
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Backyard Football 2002 NFL (WIN/MAC CD-ROM), Product #22672
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