ESPN NFL Prime Time

ESPN NFL Prime Time Reviews

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ESPN NFL Prime Time Feature

• * Excellent presentation and stats tracking
• * Probably the best franchise mode available
• full team descriptins

ESPN offers up its own NFL coverage on the occasional Sunday and Thursday nights. It's not as wacky as Fox's nor as staid as CBS's--and it isn't as prestigious as ABC's Monday Night Football--but it is a recognizable name to mainstream fans who might notice it in a field dominated by other football video games. ESPN NFL Primetime doesn't outdo the other titles in rushing and passing, but its gameplay holds its own in a crowded market, plus it has a franchise option that can't be touched.

The graphics are quite good. Although not as flashy as NFL 2K2 or Madden NFL 2002, they at least offer a great deal of speed. All the animations are performed quickly and with little of the slowdown that's plagued many a first-time sports game franchise. The result is slightly faster-than-normal gameplay that's quite exhilarating, but makes the game somewhat more difficult to get into. It doesn't help that tackles are performed from a bit too far away, and too many tacklers seem capable of stretched out 5-yard leaps.

The running game is a bit frustrating at first. Basically, only the best backs in the business can gain even 2 to 3 yards per carry; the rest get stopped in the backfield by the defense. Passing isn't much more realistic as long bombs are a bit too easy to catch, even in traffic, but that same complaint can be leveled at every football game this year.

Primetime's extensive franchise play is as deep as the competition's, but offers a hard-core NFL fan's attention to detail when it comes to stat and scouting reports. Stats even include such real-life minutiae as a player's 40-yard-dash time and how much he can bench press. Combine that with the excellent use of ESPN's visual style and commentary from Chris "Boomer" Berman and Tom Jackson, and the game really does look and feel like a Sunday night broadcast. This one is recommendable to true football fans--even if they're already playing with the competition. --Andrew S. Bub

Pros:

• Excellent presentation and stats tracking
• Probably the best franchise mode available

Cons:

• The running game isn't perfect
• Neither is the passing game

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Jul 26, 2011 19:12:05