Good game but it misses being a classic.
I think the character creation is very cool. I mean you started in the first Blitz with set characteristics. In this game your guy plays offense and defense.. it's interesting. And being asked questions in an interview is cool, and it tells you before you chose which ability is changed.
So you make your own team.. and pick from the various color schemes and symbols. pick a city and then you can train your team, or you can have the computer do it.
the drugs you can take are cooler... but you can get busted and lose the benefit of the drug AND YOUR STATS, so be careful.
what's cool is there is more interaction, with your agents and with women. They give you bonuses to equipment.
as for gameplay, it's arcade style, so if you are in love with Madden, you won't dig it. the gameplay isn't flawless, but it's not supposed to be... clash effects it, the addition of alot of injuries, and unleashed mode. There are some slight things like the screen moves a little, like you do a juke or block and you move out of bounds when you weren't even close. On the other hand in the first game, if you didn't run down the sidelines, a hit would guarantee a fumble, now it's a bit more fair. The action is certainly different than the first, with many varieties of plays. I do like that weather really shows in the game, in Blitz I there was rain, and snow, but it didn't show on the field, where in this one it does.
I'm liking it so far, but I like beating opponents up and winning as well. So I like the unconventional aspects of the game and can overlook the flaws in the game, but it's those flaws that keep me from rating it higher.