BLITZ: The League II - Finished!

[RJ O'Connell]

After two weeks of not being able to play very often, with me being in the university's performance of Spring Awakening, I finished a campaign in Blitz II.

It is a much improved effort from the original, with the biggest improvements coming in the player training (it is now in 1-week cycles instead of 3 and injuries don't completely ruin your chances of building a team with perfect 6 ratings), play selection which is catered to "The Franchise" and his positions on the field (so if yours is a running back and linebacker like mine, you can expect to have a lot of run plays and screen passes on offense, and lots of blitzing on defense) and weather presenting new challenges (you can actually slip when trying to tackle the ball carrier, and if you fumble the ball in a large puddle of mud or snow pile the ball will bounce around frequently).

However, the AI is excessively hard in Division III and II (I have been known to try and bite into my control stick out of frustration during games against he Miami Hammerheads and Cleveland Steamers) then much easier in Division I against the league's best teams, and overall it is much harder to pass because the AI picks you off every time.

Not to mention the lack of custom soundtrack support, which means after you get through the really awesome (though explicit) selection of rap music, you get stuck with mediocre alternative rock from bands fronted by 20-year-old males with ovaries (whereas in the original KoRn and P.O.D. were included in the soundtrack).

Midway has taken two huge gambles by creating two games that push the envelope with steroid use, violent injury close-ups and enough swearing to make a nun explode - and both times they have stuck gold. It's not the shock value that attracts me so much as the fact that they can make a non-licensed football game in a day and age where having league licenses is everything, and is much more interesting as a result because of the fictitious teams.

If you have XBL, play me sometime. Just be in for a challenge ;)

[JABBERJAW]

I loved the original blitz, and all of the sequels up to the last xbox version in around 2003 or so. Blitz the league just didn't feel right in comparison, no hitting after plays, and the control of the players was nowhere near as tight as the old games, which were incredibly balanced against another person when you turned off cpu assist as far as offense vs defense in concerned. How does this fare in this regard.

BTW blitz was no doubt my favorite game besides wipeout

[RJ O'Connell]

Late hits have returned, but they're a bit different this time around - you need to walk up to the player you just hit (or just get near them), hit X or A (depending on your console, for me it's A) and then keep hitting it over and over. A successful beatdown will earn you a clash icon, beating down the team captain will earn another icon.

As for the controls...it's about the same.

[JABBERJAW]

I'll have to download the demo and check it out. The League one just didn't feel right in comparison to the older games, but if this one does it will give me two games to play instead of one. If you come to the tourney in june, we can have a blitz mini tourney as well.
can you turn off cpu assist like in the older games?

[RJ O'Connell]

There is no CPU assist option, but making manual catches and interceptions is not like pulling teeth.

[JABBERJAW]

In the old games, the computer gave an advantage to the person behind, either by having the defensive player out of position, harder to tackle, fumbles, ect, so it was imperative to have the disable feature. You had to enter a code to do it though instead of the intelligent way of having it OFF, and then enabling it through an option. I'll check out codes online

[RJ O'Connell]

Ah. I know that to be called "catch-up."

In that case, no, it's not there really. If you're really good at it you can blow out opponents in mind-blowing fashion.

It just occurred to me this conversation needs a third party...

[Lance]

At least you got lucky that it wasn't just OEM. :)

[JABBERJAW]

I just got the game. I loved the old blitz games, very balance offence defense schemes, and crazy plays, not to mention fast playing. This game is good, but plays like madden. I am very dissapointed in it. I am guessing the guy who programmed this game, was not the guy who programmed the old blitz/jam/rumble/hitz games. It just does not feel like the midway games that I like. The late hits are nothing like the old games (which were just for fun), and there is none of the crazy laterals that used to be in the game. Also, it doesn't really have spin (that blocked the tackle unless you used it too much), and the nice stiffarm that you would use right after that. I am definitely biased on this to be sure since I played blitz from the beginning. It's kinda like playing XL, then playing HD, meaning it is a good game, but just not as good physics wise. Although, I consider HD to be closer to the old wipeout formula than the league is. I'm going to play through it though, and see if it grows on me.

RJ, if you have an old xbox, give blitz 2003 a try. It plays like the nice dreamcast version with way more options.