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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Rushed out for the 360's release, 25 Jan 2006
This is, put simply, an ok-ish game.If you have a 360, and you desperately want an American Football game, you have no choice, thanks to EA's long-term exclusive deal with the NFL. This is the only pony in the stable. On the upside, the graphics - particularly on an HD screen - are lovely. Not as good as the previews led us to believe, nor even as good as EA Sports' NBA title for the 360, but very pretty nonetheless. The gameplay itself is what you'd expect: smooth match sequences and with much the same interface as previous versions. However, remember that that same interface is pretty impenetrable to the newbie. And, in common with other EA Sports titles, there is no tutorial and minimal written instructions, so you'll have to work out what the "Truck Stick" does by trial and error. When you consider that there are six different controller layouts, one for each phase of the game, you'll see that this could be a long learning curve for the neonate. But Rookie level is so easy that you should be able to work it all out in an hour or so. On the downside, and it is a big downside, plenty of features didn't make it into this version of the game, most noticeably the star system and call challenges. These, together with a woeful lack of "atmosphere" in the way of cut scenes and the like, really reveal that EA were in a *big* hurry to get this game out of the door as a launch title for the 360. Even if you win the Superbowl, there is no difference in what you see from if you lose a pre-season match. In many ways, you're better off with the old XBox version. But bear in mind that EA crippled it not to run on the 360, to force you to upgrade. While EA Sports titles have a reputation as being very small increments over the previous year's version, this one, other than the graphics, is actually *less* feature-rich than before. One little thing for all those who chase achievement points: you can get all 1000 of them for this game in a few hours at rookie setting (much of which is spent in franchise mode simulating seasons). They are ridiculously low-hanging fruit. In summary, if you really must have an NFL title for the 360, then you know you're doomed to buy this anyway. If you're just wondering what game to buy next, then don't encourage EA by sponsoring spot-the-difference-from-2005 stuff like this.
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