NFL Instant Replay

"Repetition of questions dooms it"

NFL Instant Replay

Philips and CapDisc, for CD-i, requires digital-video card

PROS: Clever idea, good production values, one- and two-player modes

CONS: Does not use player memory to reduce repetition

CUT TO THE CHASE: Penalize the designers five yards for unnecessary repetition

It's so obvious an idea, it's surprising it hasn't been done sooner -- adapt those ''you make the call'' football commercials to a game format. Well, after many delays, the finished product, NFL Instant Replay, is out, and it's a questionable call.

The game gives you a chance to make the call on a database of 300 plays captured in digital video by NFL Films. Was that a flagrant face-mask penalty (15 yards), an incidental (5 yards) or no foul? Did the runner have possession of the ball before he fumbled it, and who gets the ball as a result? It probably doesn't speak well for the sport of football that its rules are so confusing, but it does make for an interesting diversion.

In the one-player game, you goal is to achieve a minimum percentage of points for each of three rounds -- the 16-question ''regular season'', the 6-question ''playoffs'', and the ''super bowl''. In the two-player version, of course, you're simply trying to outscore your opponents. Points are awarded for each second left on a 20-second clock when you answer the question correctly. No points are awarded for wrong answers. With a 65% minimum threshold in the first round, you need to either answer every question correctly with 13 seconds to spare, or make a few bad calls and answer considerably more quickly elsewhere.

The layout and design of the game are nice -- game rules are explained by an onscreen ref, the plays are narrated by NFL broadcast stalwart Pat Summerall, and you can ask for an explanation of calls after the correct answer has been revealed.

In many ways, the game resembles CapDisc's earlier NFL Football Trivia Challenge discs, and that comparison holds true for its biggest flaw: like its predecessor, it makes no effort to reduce repetition of questions. Getting questions you've already seen is a big bummer, especially in situations where the game's owner is given an unfair advantage over a guest by having seen many of the questions before.

The problem is more acute here, because the huge data and research demands of asking questions via archival films makes for a small database. 300 questions, in fact. If the game used the CD-i player's memory to log the usage of questions, as do the CD-i game shows Jeopardy and The Joker's Wild, you should be able to get through about 13 - 15 games without repeat questions. But in my third game, about a fifth of the questions were repeats. This raises serious long-term playability concerns. In fact, it's kind of bizarre, since the game updates its entry in the player memory after every game, even if you don't get on the high score list.

NFL Instant Replay is an impressive title, one CD-i football fans will want to show off to their friends, but in terms of game-play and value to the customer, CapDisc did better with the NFL Trivia disc.
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©1995 Chris Adamson

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 04/01/01, Updated 04/01/01