Review by: Dave Kozicki
There are some games out there that are so freakin’ awesome, the controller literally flies into your hands as you press start and a crowbar and pallet of lube could not pry it out of your hands. Too much of it is never enough, and after five minutes you know this is going to be a classic. Then there are others that are painful. Games that make you want to hurl…twice. Games where you find yourself thinking please don’t let me play this again…it hurts…bad. See what I'm getting at here? You guessed it. NFL Tour favours the latter and has taken a little shine off the usually dependable EA line of NFL inspired games.
Where does one start? Graphics wise, there’s not a huge leap in the eye candy department from the previous NFL Street titles, with NFL Tour looking a smidge above last generation, which ain’t good. Remember all the crazy, outrageous moves they threw into the series? The momentum shifting Gamebreakers, those crazy aerial and acrobatic manoeuvres, wall runs, somersaults, backspins…they’re all gone, replaced with some really awesome button mashing and SIXAXIS shaking…very ordinary.
Remember those crazy stadiums, ramps and street arenas…they’re gone too. Instead, the matches take place in an indoor field, which is a cross between a hockey rink, and football field, without a ramp in sight! It’s almost like EA forgot what made the series so successful in the first place, and has given us a Brady Bunch watered down version that barely resembles it’s predecessors.
Your main task is to create a character and assign him a look, build and position (quarterback, running back etc) and take him through an exhibition tournament. Make sure you choose wisely young Padawans, for you cannot change any aspect of your guy once the first round begins.
Count off 44 offensive plays, 20 defensive plays, a football field, two teams, a ball, and it all comes down to monster mashing the buttons. Tiburon has really broken the mechanics down to basics (to its own detriment) and the result is callused thumb and RSI wrist injury. Whether on offence or defence tapping X when the opposition approaches triggers a “reversal” (spin move or takedown) and shaking the SIXAXIS...err shakes off or slips you past defenders. It sounds slicker than it is, and the game reverts to a simple button-bashing affair with none of NFL Street’s trademark flair.
Once you take the field, the flaws become ridiculously apparent. It’s easy enough to navigate through the plays, but once you snap, your options are R2 for turbo and X for a pass or “reversal”. That’s it. Oh you thought I wasn’t finished? So did I. Occasionally to mix it up you use the SIXAXIS to shake free of a defender, but this feels tacked on and lacks any real impact on the state of play.
However the worst offence takes place defensively. Instead of using the time honoured “play the game from the same view” mechanic, they opted to switch it on defence, so you are actually downfield running towards your opponent. I can’t even put into words how wrong it is reversing the defence…it’s a deal breaker. It feels like EA cut every corner and produced a bare bones rehash of the NFL to be quickly produced and cash in on the “Madden” fever that grips the US. It’s poor form, and frankly, EA, you should know better.
NFL Tour is the TV dinner of gaming, momentarily satisfying, yet will ultimately leave you sick to your stomach if you sample too much.
Verdict:
Pick any other game with “NFL” in its title over this.
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