In the wake of EA's
Madden football game stealing the NFL license, football games have generally lost out. Midway has set out to change your mind about non-licensed pigskin games with
Blitz: The League II. In some ways, this game is entertaining and ridiculous enough to be fun, yet in the same way, the ridiculousness is also what makes this one a bit of a disappointment. Aside from the over-the-top and graphically explicit animations, the gameplay feels a bit broken.
Blitz: The League II is an arcade-style football game, without question. It serves to say that many elements, like tackles, jumping, and many others will be exaggerated, and they absolutely are to good effect. However, this year's game tends to focus a lot, too much in my opinion, on the Clash Meter. This meter fills as you do well on both offense and defense, and the power that lies within is essentially used to increase your chances of breaking tackles, catching a tough pass, or delivering bone-crushing tackles. As such, normal moves don't amount for anything, which is a disappointment because the amount of "football" being played sometimes feels like none. If you don't master the Clash Meter (and I still don't fully get the hang of it), you can count your team out a good portion of the games that you play.
It is through this Clash Meter that you can perform an Unleashed move as well, and it is here where you can dish out some serious damage by pinpointing exactly which body part/area that you would like to attack. On the other side of the fence, when you get injured you will have to play one of two quick mini-games to either shoot the player with a syringe or re-set his bones. These are entertaining ways to prevent being out for the game as your success rate directly affects the number of plays that the injured player will have to sit. To add insult to injury, literally, you can also mash your controller over downed players to inflict more damage and increase your own power-up moves.
Blitz: The League II really doesn't have a whole lot of depth in the way of gameplay modes, unfortunately. You'll be able to play a single game, enter a Tournament, or play through a Campaign in the main Modes of play. There are also some Bonus games for multiplayer games, in which they do add an interesting twist to the standard game. It's unfortunate that these cannot be played against the computer though.
The heart of the game is in the Campaign Mode, where Lawrence Taylor and company develop a story revolving around your character (dubbed "Franchise"). In this Campaign (Season Mode), you'll get to see the shady side of professional football, beginning with the use of both legalized and illegal performance-enhancing drugs. You can use your earnings from on the field to do some extra "Juicing," as they call it, by giving up to three players added attribute abilities with these drugs before the next game. The added bonus varies, but can be anything from reduced damage to increased stamina.
Throughout the Campaign, you'll unlock numerous things, from sponsors to new videos, and you'll be able to add attributes to your player during press conferences by answering questions in different manners, which is a cool and interesting way to spice this common part of most games. Once again, however, the Campaign proves that Blitz: The League II has definitely earned its Mature Rating, with themes like hooking up with the ladies.
Tournaments are pretty straightforward, as you (and other friends, if you choose) can take on other teams in a bid for the title. Here you will be able to choose either stock teams or your team from the Campaign Mode. You can also take Blitz online through Xbox Live, but I actually was unable to find match-ups when I tried to connect. There were teams with stats on the Leaderboards, but I was unable to try this feature most likely due to a lack of players at the time of this review.
