Blitz: The League

"Its Déjà Vu All Over Again"

I will probably say what every other reviewer of this game will say about it, it is the same exact game as the X-box and PS2 versions. This being said, if you never played those games, you really NEED to pick this game up, it is a solid solid football game, and a great way to channel primal male aggression.

So what did change?
There are very small differences really. Bill Romanowski does the voice of Bruno Battaglia (one of the players) and to be honest he does a worst job than the original Battaglia voice over. I never really liked Romo in the NFL and I am not a huge fan now. One of the positives that changed was that long menu times (especially on the PS2) are now cut down considerably, and the game loads a lot faster and that is less annoying. The achievements are fun because there are so many of them. There are a few new clips when players talk smack (after sacks, turnovers, big plays, ect.) some of them are really funny. The AI is also smarter (it seems) and makes better decisions.

The story line has not changed what-so-ever and everything else is the same too. Same magazine covers, same cheerleaders, same outfits, same soundtrack.

What is Blitz: The League all about?
Ever since 1997 or so when the first Blitz game came out, it has really been all about going over the top to shock people. This game does not fail there. The introduction itself will leave you shocked.

The league is a fictional football league that started in the 1800s, and as you play the league becomes more and more real. Everytime you start a game it gives you a history lesson about some event that happened. It is run like the European soccer league. There are 3 tiers, the worst teams going in Division 3, middle teams in Div. 2 and the best teams in Div. 1.

It is 8 on 8 football, which for this style of game play, it kind of has to be. If it was 11 on 11 the field would become too crowded and it would take away from the game.

This game is kind of based around trying to hurt people, as it becomes a joy to watch the X-ray of a guy's bone being broke every time you do it. You can choose to land a 'dirty hit' on someone, and with every dirty hit there is a chance he may get injured. If he does, the play goes into super slow motion and an X-ray is shown of the injury occurring (and it also does this with ligaments.)

And with these injuries and dirty hits, comes major trash talking in the game. My favorite is (after a sack) the defender says "Hey QB, you might want to get up, I think I just pee'd there." But to be honest, it gets old after awhile because most of it isn't funny and it kind of slows the game play down a little bit. But my guess is, is that it is closer to the real game talk than Madden has ever showed us.

What is there to do?
The main mode is called campaign mode. It is a story of a team starting from nil and is expected to win the league championship. You pick a rookie (QB, HB or WR) along with a captoin/veteran leader (DE, LB, CB) along with the coaching staffs you will use. The rest of the team is pre-set for you which I don't really like, but its only a small complaint.

One of the most fun sections of the game for me is the challenges you receive nearly every week in this mode. These are tasks usually to shut down the other teams best player. For example, one might be to hold so and so to under 100 yards receiving. If you do this you earn a reward These include new cheerleaders from FHM that actually appear on the field, FHM covers, cheerleader outfits and game modes. These are identical to the ones used on the PS2/XBox version which is disappointing.

Maybe my biggest complaint is there is a complete lack of a scouting system. The user is playing teams that are fictional, and all you get shown is a tape of the teams captian, which does not really tell you about the team that much. You can't look at rosters and players are not given an overall rating so you kind of have to guess.

Online is okay but there are usually few players on and that does get annoying.

Overall
I would give this a thumbs down as far as a sequal to the games put out last year, because its hardly an improvement. But if you have not played it, it is worth a shot, because the game is a blast.

Final Score
First time player: 9/10
Second time player: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/11/06