Gameplay Overview

So many buttons, so little time

Microsoft's system recommendations say you should use an 8 button game pad for this game. I'd say that it should have fallen under requirements rather than recommendations. No matter what mode you're in, you're going to need almost all 8 buttons. As the ball carrier you can speed up, spin, lower the shoulder, stiff arm, juke, hurdle, or even pitch the ball back to the nearest teammate. On defense you've got speed boost, dive, switch player, jump, spin, and swim move to worry about. Passing uses up all your buttons as well, with 5 needed for receivers out in the pattern. You can even pump fake or throw the ball away to avoid a sack. It took a while for my withered old brain to comprehend all the options and get the buttons straight (I still use a post-it as a cheat sheet on my monitor) but once you get it down, all the buttons become useful.

Terrell Davis lowers the shoulder...

...makes contact...

How effective are the moves?

The real question is how realistic are the use of these moves? Some football games make stiff arming an unbeatable maneuver while others make the running game altogether useless. Microsoft does an admirable job at "keeping it real." Players do have varying sizes on the field (though not as dramatic as in Madden) and these sizes seem to be taken into account during collisions. I tried to take down big fullback Tommy Vardell with a tiny cornerback and was promptly squashed like a cockroach under a Mack truck. Touchdown Tommy simply lowered his shoulder and obliterated the scrawny defensive back. Then I tried the same thing using the Raiders' tiny halfback, Napoleon Kaufman, at full speed against the Vikings' All Pro defensive lineman John Randle. Predictably enough, the 5' 9" Kaufman bounced off the big lineman and landed flat on his back.

...and bashes a DB out of the way!

Catching Corey Dillon from behind

Complaints

While Microsoft did a great job of modeling true collisions and tackles, I didn't like the way the juke move was implemented. The ball carrier seems to slow down and shake left and right several times. This pretty much makes him a nice fat target for a streaking strong safety without faking out anyone. Might as well put a target on his chest with the caption "hit me to get on Sportscenter." What I would have liked more is a context sensitive button that stutter steps the other way when running east/west on a sweep, or one that shakes left and right just once when running head on with a defender. Well, at least all the other moves work well and realistically.