Legends Football '98
by
Accolade (1998)
This was the first football game I bought for my computer. Previously I had been limited to nes and snes games. So I naturally had some high expectations going into this game. Especially since the game boasted of being able to play different era teams (hence the legends part in the title). So the belief that I would be able to pit some of the great packer teams against say the 98 Steelers, was quite enticing. Furthermore, the graphics looked to be leaps and bounds above the those offered by nintendo games.
Unfortunately, I was extremely disapointed when i loaded the game. I managed to play a whole season, but it was definitely not worth the money that I spent on the game. Almost immedeatly there were bugs evident in the game. One of my personal favorite bugs is the fact that when you go to kick off or attempt to kick a fieldgoal, your kicker will suddenly turn around and face the opposite way. Yet miraculously, your kick would go the correct direciton. Another interesting glitch was the fact that Jerome Bettis managed to put up some pretty impressive kicking numbers, considering he was never the kicker!
Another problem I had with the game was its "realism". The game was just too easy to score on. This occured for human players, and even the computer could break coverage a little too easily. I realize this is a problem with a lot of football sims, but it was ridiculous in Legends Football '98. There was also a way that you could get your kick returner to run back a touchdown on every kickoff too. All I needed to do was send my returner down one of the sidelines, and as long as I made the first guy miss, it was a touchdown. I eventually got so good at this, that I had to let the computer tackle me just to make the game interesting.
The only part of the game that did not really disappoint me was the graphics. They were pretty good. Although not outstanding, they were a vast improvement over previous games I had played, as well as pretty good for the time that the game had been created. The control of the characters was another good aspect of the game. For the most part, the characters reacted according to the buttons you pressed. Sometimes they would do weird things like run backwards, but that was only occasionally.
Unfortunatly, these positive aspects were simply not enough to outweigh the bugs in the game. I was very disappointed in the game.
Rating
Graphics 8.9
Gameplay 8.9
Realism 6.2
Overall 8.0
Summary: If you want to buy a football game that is sort of fun, but fundamentally flawed, then this is the game for you. Otherwise, spend your money on a real football game like Madden 99.
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