Most sports gamers now know the story of Electronic Arts’ sole possession of the NFL video gaming license. They know how other studios and producers were forced to discontinue their NFL game franchises, even when they were wildly popular. They know that EA’s NFL game franchise, the Madden series, has undergone a thoroughly tiresome mediocritization with every passive year.
One of the NFL series that was crushed under EA’s monopoly was Midway’s light-hearted and simplified take on football- the Blitz series. Forced to avoid the NFL by the exclusive licensing agreement, Midway has produced Blitz: The League, a game somewhat similar in concept to the old Blitz games that takes football in a bit of a new direction. What is the result? Let’s just say that if THIS is what Midway does when freed from licensing contracts, then they should hand the NFL license over to EA on a silver platter with their compliments. If you had to choose between any Madden game and Blitz: The League, I’d recommend Blitz: The League.
The first thing you should know about Blitz is that, of course, it does not take place within the NFL’s boundaries. Instead, it invents an alternate league with different rules (pass interference is legal, 8 men are on the field on each side), cities (Orlando has a team, for instance), teams (New York Nightmare, San Diego Cyclones), and even its own rich and storied history. The game goes through great trouble to make the alternate reality of this other football league a convincing and persistent universe. This universe really succeeds in drawing the player in- personally, I started identifying more with such stars as Julius Williams of the Dallas Aztecs rather than Peyton Manning or Michael Vick. With the Blitz League, you’ve got interesting and engrossing stories, with the NFL, you’ve got thrice-hashed celebrities who actually aren’t all that interesting once they’re off the field. The best thing about Blitz is that it succeeds completely in its concept of an alternate football league, one that is in fact better than the NFL. (For instance, the Blitz league has three divisions- I, II, III. At the end of each division’s season, the champion moves up to the next-highest league, and the worst team gets bumped down to the lower league. They do this sort of thing in English soccer and I wish they’d do it with American football).
Evidence enough of this is the primary play mode, the single player campaign. This is not a franchise mode or anything else you might find in an ordinary football game, though you do get to design your own team and such. The campaign mode has a STORY, complete with its own characters, players and personnel that you draft for your team. Cutscenes and story developments have on-the-field consequences. Basically, your goal is to take your Division III wreck of a team and make them the Division I champions. Along the way, you’ll play through the stories of the various characters and play some football as well.
Speaking of the actual football, let’s get to that. As mentioned before, there are a few rules changes- first, there aren’t really any penalties. It’s impossible to go offsides or to commit a false start, delay of game results in you snapping the ball immediately rather than being penalized, pass interference is legal, personal fouls and unnecessary roughness are encouraged, etc. There are also only 8 men on the field, and you need 30 yards for a first down rather than 10 (offenses have a big advantage in the Blitz system). Also, there’s a “clash” bar that you fill up by gaining yards and making big plays. This bar allows you to bullet-time the action and perform jukes, stiff-arms, interceptions, etc. with greater ease. If you perform six “clash-powered” actions, you get an unleashed move, which, ironically, works somewhat like one of EA’s gamebreakers- make an unleashed move, and you’ll throw a perfect pass, force a fumble a lot of the time, etc. Nevertheless, the game feels, strategically, much like football does. You have to run to set up the pass, maintain a pocket presence, call the occasional heavy blitz, etc. In this respect, the game is every bit as enjoyable as any standard football game, and even reminds me a bit of the old Mutant League games for the Genesis. Fun times there. Of course, the game has its problems. The passing game is ridiculously overpowered, one of the playable teams (the New York Nightmare) is ridiculously unbalanced compared to the rest of the teams, etc. None of these flaws quite prevent the game from being fun, though, but these are things to think about (along with expanding the league with more teams) if Midway wants to create a sequel, which I hope they do.
Another major difference from your average football game is that Blitz is considerably rougher and coarser. You get a pretty serious array of profanity and rough/loose behavior, but that’s part of the game’s dynamic. The whole idea, Midway says, is to show those parts of football that the NFL covers up or glosses over. Thus, you get swearing, partying, fights, etc. Even on the field, the game is rougher. On the defense, for instance, a big part of your gameplan has to include making dirty and rough hits on the offensive players in order to either slow them down or injure them. Further, if someone does get injured, the affected team has the choice either to treat the injured player safely, which is better for them long-term, but slower, or to use illegal drugs to heal the wounds more quickly- this gets the on the field faster, but might affect their performance or make them more susceptible to a more serious injury. In fact, illegal performance-enhancing or injury-healing drugs play a rather large role in the game as a whole.
What really makes this game work is just the feeling of immersion in the game’s dynamic that you get from playing it. You really do get drawn in, and even if the football itself was of a lower quality (and it wasn’t!), the game’s universe would compensate.
Graphically, the game is solid. Player models and cutscenes are about average, but the stadiums are simply beautiful to a level no other football game has ever managed. Your campaign team’s home stadium is beautiful, and there are other complete standouts, like the snowy home of the Minnesota Reapers, the gothic-feeling stadium of the New York Nightmare, or the aquariumesque nature of the San Diego Cyclones’ abode.
The audio is fine, but certainly not exceptional, this being a football game. Crowd noise is good, voice acting is acceptable, and the best aural part of the game is probably the sickening injuries noises. Whenever someone gets injured, the game focuses in on a X-Ray or MRI of the affected body part, and you get to watch and hear as that body part proceeds to be snapped, broken, crushed, etc.
The replay you get out of this game depends on how much you like the gameplay itself. You CAN get sick of this game eventually, but it takes a while. If the game had a better multiplayer dynamic, there’d be more replayability, but sadly gameplay flaws (like a certain passing play that ALWAYS works, or the overcharged New York team) prevent multiplayer from really working, except for one mode- co-op. This game allows two players to control different members of the same team, and the result is fantastic. Go long on a slant and have your buddy hit you right in the numbers. Organize better blocking schemes. Double-team an offensive lineman. It’s a LOT of fun to play this game (or any football game, I’d imagine) co-op, although you do have to unlock co-op play.
On the whole, I hope Midway never makes another NFL game again. Blitz: The League is its own universe now, and this Blitz far exceeds its NFL-based predecessors. I hope to hear from Midway and the likes of superstars Quentin Sands, Chad Longstreet, and Kwazi Mbutabe again very soon.
