"Arcade perfect and fun as hell"

Anyone who spent time around any arcade from 1997 until about 2003 should be familiar with the NFL Blitz series. In the tradition of NBA Jam, High Impact Football, Arch Rivals and other "in your face" arcade sports titles, the series tries to be as intense as possible. Blitz features players who deliberately try to injure the ballcarrier, taunting, excessive amounts of 'roid rage, and basically all the things that make today's NFL great.

Graphics: 8/10
By 2001, the PS2 was out and this game pales in comparison to the first Madden game on that console. However, it still looks pretty much identical to its arcade counterpart. The players all have that musclebound Blitz trademark look to them, even little guys like Warrick Dunn. The fans have that cardboard look to them that was common in a lot of sports games those days, but I'd rather have cardboard fans and sweet looking rendered players than the other way around. Sometimes, a minor graphical glitch might pop up like a guy running through a teammate or something, but it doesn't really detract from gameplay.

Gameplay: 9/10
This is Blitz like you remember it: crazy secret codes, big hits, Defensive Tackles that chuckle after they piledrive you, it's all here! Really, the best way to experience this game is to play it against a friend. My best friend is a big Broncos fan, and I've always loved the Bills, and we worked up a pretty heated Blitz rivalry. The AI is pretty bad, aside from the fact that it magically gains the ability to force fumbles on almost any hit in the 4th quarter. The running game is much improved from earlier editions of Blitz, IMO, I was even able to do pretty good with that bum Antowain Smith. The deep ball is always where it's at as far as Blitz is concerned, though...

Sound: 8/10
The player's taunts are crisp, the announcer comes through fine, and Blitz's faux-Monday Night Football theme is quite clear. If you have a good speaker system, the hits in this game sound great. Like someone crashing a motorcycle in your front yard.

Replay Value: 9/10
If you have friends that like video games and football, they will play this with you. Seeing as how people that like those two things make up at least 50% of the male population in the US, I'm guessing you know someone who would play this game with you. It can be found online for under ten bucks easy, so what are you waiting for? Cop that!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/21/07