Customer Reviews

Blitz: The League

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, I love Madden. For those looking for a Madden replacement, this is NOT it. However, for those that loved the NFL Blitz game, it's back and it's amped and ready to break bones and tear ligaments off of the opposing teams. This is more of a "supplement" to Madden, but a fun one IF you understand where it fits in the grand scheme of football games for the console.

Remember "The League" on ESPN? This is basically it. You create a team (well, pick it's location and name, uniform style for home and away games and a stadium-style) and attempt to bring it up from the toilet-league in a 30-game season. The owner is a slime, working with the mayor to fund a new team to win the championship in a brutal league, wrought with players with rap-sheets longer than the entire Raven's roster! These players put Jamal Lewis to shame! He's a baby-candy thief compared to some of these criminals!

The "Campaign" mode is where you are tasked with getting this team to the championship. Along the way, cut-scenes occur, giving you an insider's view of what goes on at the sidelines and in the locker room. The story is not that fleshed out, but it's fun to watch and brings in another level of immersion that Madden doesn't have. Again, this is fictional and that's what makes the over-the-top play all the more fun and not a detractor from the overall gameplay.

I first thought that using fictional, non-NFL teams would detract from the game. In all honesty, it's one of the things that makes this game excellent. Creating your own team, choosing the city, the name, the uniform and the stadium has made me actually feel like this is more my team, than picking up the GM responsbilities in Madden for an already established team. True, you don't have control over who starts and such, but to me, those are not important. You can choose how you wish your medical team to make decisions and offer "medicinal" fixes. You can choose the safe route and use "legal" substances and training, or you can go the experimental route and try the new black market stuff that up front appears to give your team the "juice" it needs to win the big one. As you win, you gain more money to buy "upgrades" to beef up your team. This includes new training regimes, massage therapists, training equipment, uniform upgrades, and new "substances" to "enhance" your team. You can even wager bets on whether your team covers the spread or not. No fear of going "Pete Rose" here, but if you do choose to use questionable substances, you might get caught and fined and lose some serious cash you earned.

Game play and the immersion factor are what count, and creating the team from scratch makes me feel more like a part of the team. You're more in the coach/player role, but you receive messages from rival players trying to get your goat, as well as from the owner, demanding better play from your team. As you get e-mails from rivals players, coaches and your owner, they might have a challenge with them. Meet the challenge and you unlock other extras to help your team win along the way as well as other extras, including behind-the-scene movies of how the game was created, cheerleaders and other cool extras.

Graphics - 5/5
You thought Madden's players looked like steroid users? Wait until you get a load of these guys. The graphics are detailed, right down to crisp tats on some of the players. When you get a vicious hit on a player, it goes into slo-motion and depending on the hit, you might see blood fly. When an injury occurs, it switches to an x-ray view, showing you what gets injured, along with the sounds of the bones cracking or muscles tearing. OUCH! As cheap as it sounds, when you're playing against a team with a trash-talking, loud mouth jerk, and your D takes him down, it's VERY satisfying and never gets old!

Sounds - 5/5
As I stated earlier, the sounds of the game are awesome. The jawing going on between the players is hilarious. Parents, there is a reason this game is rated M - F-bombs, sexual references and drug use. The drugs are meds to help "amp" up the players during injuries or to help increase their abilities. Still the sound is excellent in this game. You have an "announcer", but rather than being irritating, he only talks after the play, and it's pretty funny. It's about the same as the guy in the original NFL Blitz.

I also like the cuts to the coordinators in the booth when a play goes your way or blows up in your face. Hilarious, especially when he says "You're on your own. I have to go to the bathroom". Well, that's the G-rated version of what he says, but it's hilarious none-the-less.

Gameplay 4/5
Not quite there. It's simple to learn. You have a limited number of men on the field (eight in total) along with a limited play book. You can put a man in motion, audible at the line, including flipping the play, but that's it. You can't alter receiver routes, call for a block, etc. You have evade moves and such, but that's the extent of it. But, the point of this game is not how much "fluff" it can throw at you, but rather how much hurt can you inflict on the other team?

On O, if you continually advance your team forward, you build up your unleash meter. As long as you have this built up, you can make some excellent breaking plays to demoralise the D. Get enough and you go into unleash mode. Use this to unleash a major QB throw or RB run and you become almost unstoppable.

On D, each sack you get or INT builds up your unleash meter. Get it into unleash mode and time it right, you can sack the QB or hit the RB or WR and cause a fumble when you need it most. Keep that unleash meter filled so you can do dirty hits. Dirty hits reduce the effectiveness of the players you hit, so don't stop dishing out the pain!

The only problem with the unleash mode is once you learn it, it can make it almost impossible to lose. It's not a game stopper, but it could use some tweaking, but it's not something that spoils the game.

Plus, within about 30 minutes, you can have the controls down and play and win games, unlike Madden which can take a long time to get down. But, it's meant to be that way and that is in no way a smack against Madden.

Also, catchup logic is present and there's no way to turn it off. If you start to win big time, you'll notice in the 4th quarter your players begin to fumble or throw INTs a lot, while the CPU will break off 90+ runs using its unleash mode to make it impossible to tackle, even if you have a full unleash meter and lay a dirty hit. But, I haven't had a game where I've had a large lead become a loss because of it. However, I have had a game where it was tied 14-14 in the 4th, and I threw a crucial INT. This never happened before, but at that time, my team was 7-0 in the campaign mode, so the CPU decided it was time to make me lose and I could NOT bring him down, even with a full unleash meter going. But, even NFL Blitz was like this.

Overall, this game is a fun diversion. Since I've purchased it, I haven't been able to stop playing it. Just the bone-crushing hits alone make it fun and it never gets old when you lay a mean hit and see the other team's player go down.

Again, not for the kiddies (drug use, sexual references including cheerleaders with G strings on the field and numerous F-bombs), but loads of fun!

I Love this game. The braking bones part is the best invention ever thought of. The running back can break tackles more easely and it looks a lot cooler. The QB EVADE is also the best too because you can control it unlike sucky MADDEN 06 where it's automatic. Seriously if a line backer is coming to sack you just hold L and press the direction it tells you and home free. The Unleash is beautiful because of the amazing and COOL things they do. I just love this game it is addicting. I used to like MADDEN but BLITZ is way more fun. The campaign is beautiful but yes you don't know who you are BUT still the graphics are BEAUTIFUL WHEN YOU DO THE UNLEASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The unleash moves on defense is the coolest thing because I POWERBOMBED someone and KNEED someone in the chest. GET THIS GAME, it will take about 10 minutes to get used to the controls and thats it. Just go to training camp and you will learn everything. GET THIS GAME MUST HAVE!!!!!!!!!!!

I got to play a review copy of this game and it was a blast. You can actually try to injure players, it's awesome. I really don't think there's ever been a sports game like it. It's everything you always wanted to do in Madden but never could. You can actually send escorts to wear out an opposing team prior to a game! I mean they have some just unheard of stuff in there. You really got see some of it to believe it.

Well I just picked this game up today, and have been playing for alittle while already, and so far I love it! I've had alota fun with it, and love it copared to Madden, and being honest, I almost like it better than 2K5, which up until now was my favorite football game made! So yea, if you know me, thats saying quite abit. However this is not a serious football game, if your lookin for a game thats acurate to the way football is acturlly made, this is not the game for you! But if u like to just sit down, and play a few games with your buds, go online, or play the great story mode this game is for you!

I felt that this game was absolutely amazing and the graphics are cutting edge and better than MADDEN 06 by far. This game is amazingly addictive and the broken bones and gore never get old. I would highly reccomend this game to MADDEN lovers do to the fact that this game has everyting MADDEN has and a whole lot more including graphics that would blow MADDEN away any day and it basically has everyting you would've wanted in MADDEN 06 but didn't get. If you are a football video game fan then I would highly recommend this game above all of the "top ranked" games. Basically what i am trying to say is that this is a must have video game.

I have tracked this since announcement, and got it on release day. I haven't started Campaign Mode yet. Although, for parents, Quick Play is something not very bad for teens. This has gameplay from the older NFL Blitz games and some added touches like cheerleaders and the Clash Meter. The only questionable material in quick play is some use of language and the cheerleaders do some...things. Not bad for teens if getting for Quick Play. The game is extremely fun and addictive and hard to stop once a game has started. A definate 5 stars. Highly recommended. (Much better than any Madden)

This game is a very great idea, and I remember I loved the Blitz series. I havn't really played the other ones on the the systems, but this one looked good so I thought I would pick it up. To be honest the game is ..eh. its ok, nuthin great but its a different feeling than madden because I'm getting sick of playin by the rules.

The story-line is great and I love it. Your team basically sucks in the Blitz league so your head manager of the team decides to change everything , even the actual team. This is where you come in, you get to create your own team from picking between differnt starter players and even coaches and how you come about things. Then its your problem to win and as they say "at any cost!" Throughout the game you see cinematechs which is great because it keeps you entertained. I give the story-line a 5 out of 5.

The gameplay has a few problems but its alright. First off when you do a campaign before every game you can do a number of things. You can buy equipment for your players or enhance there abilities with drugs or check messages that people have sent you, like the coach and other players from different teams, and hey you can customize your cheerleading squad "cha-ching". Anyway on the field is were the problems start to occur. The gamepay is fast and fun and never slows down unless if you use the special power where you can slow time down and do specail moves like didging other players and run really fast. There is a prroblem with this however, the opposiong team uses it just as much as you do and you'll find them catching a kick-off and using the slow motin power and dodgin all your men and they just run straight down for a touchdown and there is merely nothing oyu can do because you cant tackle them once they are in it, but you find yourself getting tackled when you use it. The game does get frustrating but I love how the injuries work in the game. Once you injure say and opponent it will slow down time and show the opponents insides where you are causing the injury and you see a bone break or a tissue tear. Then, say its your man getting hurt, oyu can choose to juice him, which is basically giving him drugs to not feel the pain which can cause his injury to get worse but it never does, or you can choose to treat him. Another cool thing is that you can do dirty hits where you will perform say a back suplex or rip off his helmet and hit him with it and once you do enough to another team you can have a brawl. This gives you the chance to fight your opponents. I would have liked to seen an actual physical fight mini game but you can only run and tackle the guy and perform dirty hits. Still its awsome. Once yuo advance far in the game it gets amazingly hard though. The teams are like top notch and your team is still the same as it was in the beginning so its basically skill you need. There is another cool thing in the campaign. Right before you verse a team it shows a little clip of there best player and a man talks about him. Its so cool. It will show say a wide reciever and a guy talking will be like "dont let this guy touch the ball cause when he does, things happen." And it will show the guy jumping and catching the football and sometimes tackling guys and talking trash. Its a cool little thing. ITs a good game experience and its a much differnt gameplay from madden which is good because its something different and cool. I give the gameplay a 4 out of 5

The graphics are good. You know, normal graphics of this time, nothing amazing nothing bad. Not much to say. The fields look great and so do the players. I would give it a 3 out of 5.

Theres not much to say about the sound, and the controls are good and are eaasy to get into. It does feel a little wierd from always have your hands used to madden contrls but you get used to it after a while.

I defenitely recommend this game, just because it is different than most football games and gives a cool no rules and brawl element. Its a good thing to keep in your game library if you're a football gamer because once you've had enough playing by the rules in madden you can brawl it up in Blitz. I tell you another thing too, its a great game to take out your anger.

the games fun bone crushing passing and running gain and hurting wining losing and fun unleash and dirty tackling .madden 06 is hard and stupid and freaky.please buy this and say madden sucks.40 bucks is decent and fine and or ok or maybe your save up money for other cool games [no offensce] this game is the best darn game out there.

This game didn't exactly go "over and above" the predicted expectations, but it does have a couple of addicting parts. I think the only reason kids like it alot is because this is the only Mature rated video game they could purchase. If you're considering whether or not to buy Blitz: The League, please read this!
PROS:
Crisp and realistic graphics during gameplay
Videos on the team you're playing
The injuries are mesmerizing to watch
Awesome stunts you can perform
CONS:
In the late Division 2/early Division 3, it starts to become nearly impossible to throw to any reciever without the computer getting an interception
The 'roids don't really enhance your gameplay
You can't have fun with the game after you've beaten it
Horrible soundtrack- they didn't put any artists I've even heard of on it

Well, there you have it. I hope you make the right decision.

This game is awesom because it has no rules and it has a story and it's just plain good. I see so many people complaining that this game is to hard or the controls are bad. When I play it I'm disapointed when I don't win 157-0 if not better (is the game that hard or are you just that bad). I love the controls in this game I like them better than madden's. I find it more enjoyable to do a dirty hit and break their neck and give them hardcore painkillers like morphein and cortoson and they are back in the game the next play than hurting a guy in madden and he's done for his career. This is also the only football game I know that has a story in it which also puts this game head and shoulders above madden... did I mention you can use steroids too. It has LT ripping some guys thumb off ,man, what's better than that. the only problem I have is that the campain mode is too short. I HOPE TO GOD THAT THEY MAKE A SEGQUEL.