Offense

Keeping the ball on the ground

One of the most annoying things about the old football games I used to play on console is that the running game was impossible to pull off. I mean, rushing in some football games sucks more than a Hoover in your little brother's sandbox. You always get smacked down at the line, and you're lucky if you get 15-20 yards on a pitch out, let alone ripping off a long TD run. Try to run it up the middle? Forget it. Microsoft seems to have not made those same mistakes in NFL Fever. The running game here seems to be very realistic, with most runs covering negative four yards to positive ten yards just like in real life. Only occasionally do you rip off a big run. If you get really good down field blocks from your wideouts, it is actually possible to go for a long touchdown run.

Scope the line of scrimmage

Press C to remember the play

The air attack

Let's face it, this is not a hardcore simulation and you're still better off throwing the ball than running it in NFL Fever, provided you have a decent QB. The running game's for eating up clock, but when you want to chew up some yardage, it's time to go airborne. As mentioned before, there can be up to five receivers in the pattern, and the normal camera view allows you a wide angle view of the field so you can see which men are open and which are covered. Like the real game, you're not likely to have all day to throw, particularly if your QB has a weak arm (anything over 15-20 yards and Rich Gannon's passes always get batted down). Receivers are marked with their respective buttons, but if you come under pressure you can pump fake or throw the ball away to avoid the sack. Throwing to receivers will paint a target on the spot the ball will land on - you can help your cause by steering your receiver to that spot. Overall a pretty good simulation of the passing game based on playing a variety of different quarterbacks with varying skills.

The passing interface

Tony Martin burns the Niners

One thing I appreciated about NFL Fever is that the computer does not "cheat" when you catch a ball behind the defense. In older football games, it was hard to score long TDs because the computer defenders would get suddenly get super speed and always catch you from behind. Doesn't happen in NFL Fever; more often than not, if you get behind the safeties with a speedy receiver, then you're you're gone. The best was when the Niners had me (the Vikings) backed up on my own 2 yardline. I threw a 15 yard post pass to Randy Moss and he turned it into a 98 yard TD after leaving R.W. McQuarters in his dust. The only thing that would have been more realistic is if all the Niner DBs quit running after Moss when he passed midfield. You just don't catch a guy who runs a 4.1s 40 yard dash.