Backyard Football 2002

"New Version, New Low"

Backyard Football 2002 is the second in a series of games created by Humongous Entertainment. This game is different than the original in some ways but in terms of gameplay the game is the exact same. You can do point and click and the opposition will intercept it three out of five times. When will they intercept it, who knows? The play calling is the same with power ups that are simply just special plays that do stupid things. One example is Hocus Pocus in which one of your wideouts suddenly disappears and reappears farther up field. There is one where you cause a fumble on defense called Cough Drop; it is much like the Madden card that one obtains from completing the Chase and Tackle drills.
This game disappointed me most based on the lack of a decent collection of NFL licensed players. Gone are Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Barry Sanders and others, in are Junior Seau, Ricky Williams, and some others. The worst choice of the licensed players is Cade McNown, is he even playing in the NFL anymore? The game does feature fictitious players such as the amazing Pablo Sanchez and Dimitri Petrovic. The fictitious part and the fact that the players are kids makes it fun for children but also makes it extremely annoying for those wishing to have any realism with easy gameplay. You do have the option of creating players yet they are limited in their ratings. The thing is that there are ratings but they don't really work very well in terms of changing gameplay. You have pretty much two tiers. Pablo Sanchez and the other good players who are great like Junior Seau and then the others like Cade McNown and the specialists in that group like Drew Bledsoe.
The gameplay can be keyboard or with the mouse. Both of them don't work very well. The mouse is the easiest and when you can play a game fully with just the escape button, to pause, and the mouse and 1 button then you must have a very boring game. It lacks excitement and only 5 players on the field at once also make it more boring.
The game seems to be aiming for an arena football feel, and aimed at kids, but with the much too limited gameplay and a small selection of NFL players, let alone NFL stars you have a boring game. Only one main improvement in the move from a 4 to a 10 point rating system differentiates this game from its predecessor which has all the same features. This game is not a good game for any reason except if you really are desiring a game that only needs a mouse and is easy enough for a monkey to play. A better idea would simply be to purchase Madden and play on Easy Mode using the no penalties and simplified passing system. Save your money don't buy Backyard Football 2002, and especially don't get it if you own the original.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/05/04