NFL 2011

NFL 2011 – Football (American Football) as it should be

Now I know that here in the UK we are pretty occupied with our Premier League football and rugby but our American cousins seem to struggle with the off-side and forward passing rules so have been playing their own cross between the two sports and called it American Football (or just Football to them).

I am not here to mock the sport, as to be fair despite all the adverts and stop-start play, it has got a lot of skill and has graced us with some interesting sporting highlights. It may help to know all the different meanings and phases of the game but it’s not essential and as long as you can avoid being caught and either blast a hole through the opponents defence or throwing and receiving a pass, the chances are you will score a touchdown.

The commentary on this game is really pretty good and it feels like it’s more like you’re watching the real deal but you happen to be in control of everything on the pitch.

The game uses just about every feature found on the iPhone/iPod. Whether it’s the touch screen to select the tactic and start the move, control the run using the joystick control to picking the receiver and throwing or kicking the ball, to even using the tilt facility to shimmy and sidestep tacklers.

In defence, it’s a little bit of a madcap scramble to sack their quarterback (the guy who throws the ball) or intercept and turnover the ball control. I would say it’s a little more of an exact science, but the default setting seems to withstand most of the opponents tactics.

If you are a fan of the sport there’s nothing you’ve not seen or heard before, but it just seems to run a lot smoother and behaves more like the way you’d wish it to – making this game very special indeed! Of course, if you’re new to this game then within minutes you’ll get the basics learned from the comprehensive tutorial and even without these skills, you could probably score on the easy setting. Speaking of settings, you have three to choose from, easy, normal and hard.

If I was to niggle about anything, the hang time with all the loading is quite a pain but it’s not the worst thing in the world and as mentioned before, is nothing compared to the usual commercial breaks!

So does this beat the staple that is John Madden Football? Well it’s just about the same but more modern (than the 2010 version) and as with Pro-Evo and Fifa, you’ll find you prefer one over the other for whatever little reason.

Rating 88%

Positives

Great graphics

Good controls and gameplay

Just about everything you would wish to find is there for you

Negatives

Long waiting time whilst loading

Kicking the ball is hard to miss

The computer does everything e.g. jump to catch the ball automatically