The bad brother of Espn 2k5 (updated)
Lets start with the visuals: They are extremely well done with really good textures and quite solid modelling. Alot of attenion has been put into lighting creating a really good style ala "Any Given Sunday". It must be said, that neither the models nor the animations are on par with 2k5 but they are easily better than Madden. AND everything runs without stuttering or slowdowns. After playing a lot of games now I must say that Blitz offers one of the best set of visuals out there. It is clearly better than Madden and rivals 2k5, not because of the models (they look a bit basic) and the animations (the look better in 2k5 too) but because of the texturering and lighting. Blitz offers the best texturering of all the football games out there. The grass, the stadiums, it alls looks so great you wonder how this is possible on an XBox. Graphics wise Blitz is clearly second behind 2k5.
Lets go to the Audio: Nice selection of music that fits the darker theme pretty good and the sound effects like vicious hits make you feel the takles. The massive amount of smack talking adds nicely to that adult game.
Lets go to gameplay: Well what do you say here? It not realistic for sure. But Madden is neither. Only 2k5 is. It plays pretty much like Madden, long passes, pretty easy run etc. But its fun to play. You don't need the time you need with 2k5 to be really good at it. Midway did a great job without the liscence. Most of the time, devs tend to use real names and screw them up. "M. Vick" suddenly becomes "M. Vock". And this is getting on my nerves. Here you can create a team from scratch that fits your style inclusing uniform and stadium etc. - very nice touch. The very different gameplay may cause you headaches at the biginning (sure did for me when you need to get 30yards per 4 downs and not 10 and there are only 8 players on the field). But once that learning part is over (which is aided by some really good tutorials) the fun starts. You start to evade takles and sacks and you start to do it in a stylish way using the "clash" slomo making it look like a remake of "Any Given Sunday"
The famous final words: If you want a sim, ESPN 2k5 is the best and anybody knows that. If you want some nice different action Blitz is great. I actually prefer it over Madden (Madden is way too flawed in respect to gameplay). If I wanna play a liscensed NFL Game, 2k5 with updated rosters is the one. So there's no need for Madden. Blitz fill in nicely when it comes to play with friends and have a good time. Its still the game of football but aims for fun over realism and thats great. The choice not to compeat with Madden and 2k5 was a good one since they can't win against 2k5. That way Midway built a really nice alternative that reminds me very much of movies like "Any Given Sunday" or "The Longest Yard".
One word about the M-Rating: Blitz has an M-Rating and that is good. Its violent and uses swearwords non-stop. But who cares? That's supposed to be the dark side of football. What do you expect? And for sure it is way over-the-top as much as Madden and 2k5 tend to be childish in that respect. The truth lies somewhere in between. If you don't like the style of Blitz (only because of brutality and profanity) just don't play it. But that doesn't make it a bad game at all. I cannot understand those low user reviews that are totally without sense. Why score a 1.0 or a 4.0 and give no reason for that except "you will burn in hell if you play it".