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PSX REVIEW: KURT WARNER'S ARENA FOOTBALL

I don't know why, but I love the Arena Football League. I find it so much more exciting than "real" stadium football. Why? I guess because it's even more fast paced than the average football game. For those of you unfamiliar with the sport, it's almost like watching NFL Blitz but with real people. The rules are different and make the game a bit more out there and "extreme" if I can borrow that tired buzz word. The game of Arena football is played on a 50 yard field, which is half the size of Stadium football, the sides of the arena are cement and if the ball bounces off of it, it is still in play before it hits the ground, no punting is allowed and the ball is still "live" once it comes out of the net after a field goal. So there is a lot of action going on.

"You've played better versions of this game engine already."

Kurt Warner who used to play with the Iowa Barnstomers before going up to the "big leagues" and joining the St. Louis Rams (earning them the Superbowl and him MVP) is your main man who actually doesn't even play Arena Football anymore. Hmmm... "Is this dump truck filled with enough money, Mr. Warner, and if so should we just dump it on the lawn?" Now I'm not chastising Kurt for selling out and putting his now recognizable name on a license of a game he doesn't even play any more, but, hey wait a minute, I guess I am. Anyway, he actually got lucky (not Tony Hawk lucky) but definitely more lucky than if he would have slapped his name on an NFL Arena game using the NFL Extreme engine from 989 Studios. Shudder...You see, this little Arena Football game uses the NFL Blitz engine, which in it's own right, is pretty good. However, the graphics took a bit of a beating for some reason as the look of the game isn't as sharp as recent Blitz games on the PSX.

There are a ton of plays and the gameplay is fast and exciting expecially if you actually understand and enjoy Arena Football. There is some definite gameplay glitches and the CPU does some odd things over and over especially when on Offense. My concern is that if you are a Blitz fan there may not be all that much here to entice you, that you haven't already experienced. As in the Blitz games everything is over the top: violence, commentary, music and speed. But you've played better versions of this game engine already and with it's lack of visual polish and AI troubles, you might just want to sit on the bench with this one.

System: PSX
Dev: Midway
Pub: Midway
Released: May 2000
Players: 1 - 4
Review by Angel
OVERALL
2.5
GRAPHICS
2.5
CONTROL
3
MUSIC/FX
3
VALUE
2