NFL Tour Review

Written by: Darren Cartledge Posted: 28th February 2008

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The NFL goes on tour but does it make it the cut.

NFL Tour Details:

	Sports
	PlayStation 3/Xbox 360
	EA Games
	EA Games

Out Now

N/A

I’m not going to pretend to understand the complexities of what we call “American football” here in the UK, but what I do know is that EA’s Madden NFL games have often been seen as the benchmark gridiron games! So you should expect a great game from their latest NFL title right? Not quite!

NFL Tour is one of EA’s pick up and play, arcade style games. In the game teams of seven players are pitted against each other on small pitches enclosed with padded walls. There are no penalties, no helmets, pads and no field goals. In fact there’s no kicking at all and kick-off have become throw-offs. It’s stripped down football to make it more accessible and all action.

Games in NFL tour are a simple affair, with you only making use of three buttons, these allow you to pass, switch players and perform a dash to escape an opponent’s tackle. You can also shake off tackles if timed right by pressing the A button on the Xbox 360 version or the X on the PS3 version. This can allow you to make a dash for the end zone to score a touch down. Keeping inline with the games simple theme, the number of plays is also limited probably in a bid to increase the pace of the game, which is essential to arcade sports games like this unfortunately the game just feels sluggish.

AI also seems slightly questionable as it’s far too easy to best the computer controlled teams. I was able to sack a quarterback almost every time he tried to make a pass! Keeping attacking teams at bay is easy, even at the goal line you can force a turnover.

The main mode in the game is Tour Mode, in this mode you take up the role of an upcoming player looking to earn an NFL contract. You have to create a player choosing his position and skill points and then assign him to a team before playing through a nine week tour. In the tour games you have to win each game in order to progress, each week on the tour has a specific objective you need to achieve, however these are kept extremely simple and include things such as being the first to score 24 points in a series of matches.

Other game modes include the standard exhibition match or quick start match with the addition of Smash & Dash and Red Zone Rush. In these two modes you choose one player from the team of your choice and pit him in one on one challenges against another player.

In Smash & Dash, one player runs with the ball in a circular enclosure while the other player tries to tackle him. Once he loses possession of the ball it’s the other players turn this switches back and forth until the timer runs down, the player who had the most possession wins. Extra points can be earned by running through various markers on the ground throughout the contest.

In Redzone Rush as before you choose your player and try and score a touch down whilst the other player tries to stop you, if you get tackled it’s the others players turn, if you score it’s the other players turn! Redzone Rush can also be played as two on two contests, but in all honesty both mini-games feel like they’ve been tacked on at the end as they are far too easy and have no lasting appeal whatsoever.

In addition to the single player modes the game features online ranked and unranked matches, with leader boards and lobbies that cover most skill levels. You are also able to create sessions in which you are able to define several game options. The online mode runs pretty well with little to no lag, however prior to writing this review, I found I was unable to play the online game as were other gamers due to a glitch, this was my experience for the entire day.

Graphics in the game are ok, but nothing exceptional. Some of the animation looks a little strange but for the most part is good and fairly realistic. Character models are good as are environments. The game does feature a nice slowdown effect that is used when players perform hard tackles and it’s nice to see several players crumbling to the ground.

Sound in the game is pretty good, except for one thing. NFL Tour probably features the most annoying commentary you’ve ever heard! Why somebody thought it would be funny to have someone repeating themselves about repeating themselves over and over and hardly talking about football is beyond me and after listening to it for two games, I couldn’t take anymore so turned it off. On a brighter note other sound is pretty good, players grunt and moan when they get tackled and you get a nice fireworks display whenever you score. The game features a pretty decent soundtrack which includes Lupe Fiasco’s Superstar.

While I can understand what EA were trying to achieve with NFL Tour, it just doesn’t work, there’s no pace, the games modes lack depth and it’s just far too simple and unchallenging. If you already own Madden 08 stick with it, if not you should probably consider it over NFL Tour.