Between NBA Jam and the original NFL Blitz/Blitz ‘99, my junior high/high school years were filled with glorious arcade sports action. The simplified team size, the straight out of an 8th grader’s locker attitude and general lack of respect for the way the sport was meant to be played kept my friends and I busy after school for years.
Then Madden happened. Consoles got more powerful, sports could be simulated to greater accuracy. Blitz and NBA Jam both lost their way with misguided sequels trying to live up to modern standards, and eventually, Midway folded. It was dark times for those of us who enjoy arcade sports action. Despite promising titles like the NBA Street series; the glut of Maddens, 2K Sports, etc. left little room for the subgenre to survive.
Eventually, EA (who now owns the rights to both NBA Jam and Blitz) decided to revive these old franchises, first with NBA Jam in 2010, and now with a revival of NFL Blitz.
The good news is that the new Blitz plays, feels, and looks like the old Blitz. The graphics, with their nearly complete lack of lighting and shader effects appear just as I remember, but with considerably more polygons. You can still jump pass. Tim Kitzrow still doesn’t have enough lines to keep the commentary from becoming repetitive, but that doesn’t matter!
The cheerleader is right: the juke button is your co-op passing friend.
Rather than include a traditional season model, Blitz chooses to have you run the Blitz Gauntlet, which is essentially set up the same way as a Mortal Kombat ladder, with several teams standing in your path to glory. Mixed in after every few games with the regular NFL teams will be “Boss” teams made up entirely of fantasy characters such as Gladiators, Robots, Pirates, Cowboys, and even Horses.
Boss battles play out like a normal game, with the addition of powerup icons spread throughout the field. These icons offer such bonuses as speed boosts and even a miniature earthquake which causes the ball carrier to have a high likelihood of fumbling the ball. Beat a Boss team and you’ll earn the right to add that character to your team (or make them your entire team) via a cheat code.
Players may input cheats before Gauntlet and Play Now games, and work exactly like they did back in the day (and in Mortal Kombat). Choose a known combination of three symbols and lock them in to activate as many effects as you and your teammate can hammer out before the game starts. There’s even an achievement for punching in 10 cheats before a game begins.
My two biggest criticisms are carried over from previous games in the series. You can jump, stiffarm, and spin while carrying the ball, but doing so greatly increases your chances of fumbling, and if you’re playing on higher difficulties (or online), getting fancy is a quick path to getting beaten. This ties directly into my next grievance: the rubber band AI.
Zombies. They're frick'n everywhere.
In all but the lowest difficulty, running up the score against a computer opponent is a good way to set yourself up for throwing interceptions, fumbling the ball, not being able to recover an onside kick, or your opponent’s ball carriers suddenly being able to shrug off eight tackles in a row. It’s not a huge problem since the CPU AI is largely brain dead, but it’s very transparent.
The routes your AI players run on offense vary greatly in intelligence. Sometimes you’ll pitch the ball on an option only to have your running back gracefully step out of bounds. This could also be a control issue, but until I got better at calling plays, I had a harder time keeping my offense running smoothly.
Other game modes include Blitz Battles, which is your standard online versus mode as well as Elite League - where you create a fantasy team from packs of cards you buy using your Blitz Bucks from the Blitz Store. You’ll earn Blitz Bucks by playing online. (I’m pretty sure this is the most I’ve typed the word "blitz" in succession since my high school papers on World War II.)
Setting up a co-op game is fairly simple. You can either hit “Play Now” and set one friend to your team (local only), or select “Online Co-Op” and do the same. The game supports four players locally, but with only two players on a side. Unfortunately this means the local co-op is limited to just two.
Realism is for chumps.
While playing in co-op, the lead profile will start out as quarterback and handle all play calling, then continue to do so through the next set of plays on defense. After that, your partner takes over for a set of offense/defense, and so on. You can change this behavior via a cheat, but only after you unlock it in the Blitz store. Whoever isn’t leading the charge can use their player to run more effective routes, or be more aggressive on defense. I had a lot of success by having one of us take safe coverage on defense while the other took pot shots at the opposing quarterback.
Playing Blitz with a friend is just as fun as it ever was. The following house rules are key for having a good time while playing co-op:
Never punt Field goals are for quitters That free extra point? Ignore it. Always go for the two point conversion. That play you selected? Ignore it. Your partner is better than any AI player. “F the Steelers” - Andrew ‘Cubninja’ Gaskill
Pretty much every mode will allow you to bring a friend along for the ride, but Blitz Battles and Elite League require you to be playing against other players. I was disappointed that we couldn't play co-op with a fantasy team. The more robust game modes are versus human players, only.
NFL Blitz is a solid package with a wealth of competitive modes and wackiness to keep things interesting. I wish more of the game were playable in true co-op, but as is, there’s very little I could ask of EA. I’m pretty happy with this revival, and being released on the download services was a very good idea. Hopefully the next entry can expand on things a bit.
Editor's Note: The Co-Optimus Co-Op Review of NFL Blitz was based on the Xbox Live Arcade version of the game.