NFL Quarterback Club 98

"Boring The Boar. Slow."

The NFL Quarterback Club series has been around for a long time, almost as long as the Madden football games. For such an old series, you would think that the newest QB Club games would be good since the developers have had so much time to make things better. The Madden football games are improved upon every year, but the QB Club games are not. In fact, the QB Club series appears to be getting worse as the years roll by. NFL Quarterback Club '98, while vastly better than some of the newer games (QB Club 2000 I'm looking at you), it's still not very good.

NFL Quarterback Club '98 offers many of the things you would expect from a football game during its time - there are season, tournament, playoff, and exhibition (called ''preseason'' in the game) modes. However, QBC '98 offers something unheard of for its time - a ''simulation'' mode.

In this simulation mode, you are presented with 50 classic game scenarios from modern NFL history. Many classic super bowl and playoff games are utilized in this mode, placing you in the role of the team trying to come from behind and win, or the team trying to thwart the opposition's comeback wishes. You are basically given the ball with a certain amount of time left on the clock to repeat or re-create history. If the 50 premade scenarios aren't enough, you can also make your own scenario. While the custom scenarios are limited in terms of options, the idea is a good one.

Since I'm currently praising the game right now, I might as well mention the few other good things QBC '98. For one, there is a neat little option on the menu to read biographies of a select number of NFL quarterbacks. While it is ultimately useless, it is a nice bonus.

Another good thing about QBC '98 is the fact that you can change the clock speed. You can change the speed to normal, accelerated, or turbo. My personal preference is to play under an accelerated clock - it makes the games go by faster.

The third (and unfortunately final) good element of QBC '98 is the clean graphics. The trademark Nintendo 64's blurry textures are nowhere to be found here - everything is as clean and clear as can be.

Okay, that's all of the good. Now let's dig into the bad stuff...

If a person walks in while you are playing NFL Quarterback Club '98, he/she might think they are in a zoo for a second. You see, every time the player presses the turbo boost button, the correspending athlete on the screen will make a barking noise similar to that of a seal. The barking will be frequent as you will be pressing the turbo button a lot. Without the turbo button, the game is ridiculously slow.

Scratch that. Even with the turbo button, the game is embarrassingly slow. It seems every player has the same speed - real life speedy guys like Desmond Howard and Barry Sanders are as slow as big 300+ lb. defensive linemen. Crazy.

Another annoying problem in QBC '98 is the horrible running game. Even while using the best running backs in the game, you will struggle to gain yardage on the ground. Although a big gain is in store every now and then, most runs turn out to be losses or at best 1 yard gains. As a result of the poor running game, you will be forced to pass a lot. Passing is the only real way to gain significant yardage in the game.

That's not to say the passing game isn't flawed though, because it is. The quarterbacks will often throw some bizarre passes. Let's say you see a receiver wide open downfield. You push the button to throw the ball to him, but instead the ball goes somewhere not even close to him. Thankfully (or not), the computer AI is too dumb to intercept the ball and will merely knock it down instead. The passing game, much like the running game, is a frustrating experience.

QBC '98's awkward control system doesn't make things any easier. The control setup prefers to use the D-Pad and not the analog stick, which is a big ''no-no'' in my book. Since many of the functions the buttons are assigned to are not the usual ones found in football games, it will take a while to learn and efficiently use the controls.

It will also take a while to get used to the graphics and animations. While the visuals are clean like I mentioned earlier, they are also bland. All of the players look the same, aside from their team colors, and the stadiums lack any real detail. The animations are even worse. When a receiver gets hit while attempting to catch the ball, the receiver goes flying backwards from the hit while the ball goes a good fifteen feet in the air for no apparent reason. During tackle animations, both the ball carrier and the tackler go down extremely fast. Every tackle looks the same. The animations and graphic detail could definitely be improved.

As for the audio, well, it's just as bad. Marv Albert is the play-by-play guy and his commentary is even more boring than Pat Summerall's. At least Summerall says something interesting now and then; Albert doesn't. Albert mainly mentions the score, down, and how many yards were gained on the last play. Just the bare bones of the game. Apart from Albert's boring commentary, and the aforementioned zoo-like sound effects, there is a poor-quality music track played while messing around with the menus. There just isn't anything good to say about the audio.

All in all, there really isn't much good to say about NFL Quarterback Club '98 period. I frequently see the game in used-game stores and pawn shops. That's understandable considering the game is not much fun to play. There's no reason to spend any amount of cash on QBC '98, especially since there are better games out there just as cheap. Definitely take a pass on this one.

4

Best Feature - The simulations mode.
Worst Feature - Game's speed, control system, passing/running games, etc.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/02, Updated 11/12/02