EA Sports Arena Football Video Game Review
Randy Snow
Thursday March 9, 2006
The boys attend just about all of the Grand Rapids Rampage home games with me and they have been drooling over the video game’s release ever since they heard about it last year. So naturally, they told me we had to go out and buy the game the day that it came out in the stores, which we did.
My sons, Adam (16) and Aaron (11) have been training for this video game for several years now. They have several Madden NFL video games dating back to 2000 as well as a copy of the first Arena video game that was released in 2000, Kurt Warner’s Arena Football Unleashed by Midway Home Entertainment Inc. The boys also have a couple of NCAA college football video games in their collection. Their gaming platform of choice is PlayStation 2, but the new EA Sports Arena game is also available for XBox.
The boys were more than willing to show me all the features and nuances of the game. Because the game is from EA Sports, it has many similarities to the Madden games.
"The receivers are primarily the same," said Adam. "With the motion (towards the line of scrimmage) it’s a little different because you have to push ‘X’ button on the control twice before you get the snap. One thing I don’t like is that when you score a touchdown and (the player) is celebrating, a lot of times a player from the opposing team comes over and takes him out. One thing I do like about the game, is when the ball hits the iron on the rebound nets, it makes a unique sound. That’s cool. You can also take control of a receiver right from the snap and run your own routes. I’ve never see a feature quite like that in a video game before."
Aaron also liked the "Be the Receiver" feature. "That’s how I helped Adam unlock the Toronto Phantoms," he said. Aaron was also impressed with the 32 logos that are available when you want to create your own team. "I created a team called the Kalamazoo Reapers and I used an executioner logo on their helmets." (I need to have a talk with that boy)
It didn’t take the boys long to master the game. In just a few days they had unlocked all the historic teams available. There are 39 historic/defunked AFL teams that can be unlocked and added to your list of teams to select for play. Some are unlocked by winning an event in the "Challenge Section" while others are unlocked when you reach a certain milestone during game play. For instance, win the "Jack Linebacker Challenge" and you will unlock the Buffalo Destroyers or complete a 40-yard pass in a game and you will unlock the Minnesota Fighting Pike. The New Orleans VooDoo, a team that did not compete this year due to damage at their home arena by Hurricane Katrina, can also be unlocked.
A major disappointment to me was the one that you unlock by winning the ArenaBowl. As it turns out, the 40th team is the Champs Sports All-Star team, which is nothing more than a generic team wearing helmets and uniforms with the Champs Sports logo on them!
And what about the two newest teams in the league this year, the Kansas City Brigade and the Utah Blaze? How are they portrayed in the game? "The Utah helmets and uniforms are very realistic but Kansas City just has the initials KC on the helmet and the name Brigade is not mentioned at all," said Adam. I’m sure that that is a result of KC being a last minute addition to the schedule during the off-season due to the suspension of operations by the VooDoo.
We also discovered that a couple of historic teams are not available to unlock. I’m not sure why, but they include the Detroit Fury, the Miami Hooters and the Carolina Cobras. Neither are the Indiana Firebirds, but you can unlock the Albany Firebirds, who use the same helmets and uniforms as Indiana.
Another disappointing aspect of the game was the fact that there are no player rosters associated with the historic teams. It would have been nice to see Kurt Warner with the Iowa Barnstormers or George LaFrance with the Detroit Drive or Tommy Maddox with the New Jersey Red Dogs. Again, I assume there were probably some legal issues involved with this as well. There is also no option in the game to drop kick a four-point field goal or a 2-point extra point.
Overall, the game has a high quality look to it and will make a nice addition to any video game enthusiast’s collection. Adam rates the game an 8 out of 10 and Aaron rates it a 9 out of 10.
So there you have it. Two thumbs up from a couple of video game veterans who have years of experience playing football video games. Thanks, guys, for taking time out of your busy schedules to assist me with this article. Unfortunately, the PlayStation is now officially off limits to you two until the garbage gets taken out, the dishwasher gets loaded and your homework gets done!
Rampage Cameos
One interesting feature of the game is a collection of introductions that appear each time you boot up the game. There is a menu option that allows you to play all of them in succession. From a Rampage perspective there is Jess, a member of the Rage Dance Team who was part of the All-Star Dance Team at last year’s ArenaBowl, FB/LB Chris Ryan, who was with the Philadelphia Soul last year but has since resigned with Grand Rapids, former Rampage QB Michael Bishop, who is now with the Chicago Rush, and DS Damon Mason, who is now with the Austin Wranglers.
Randy Snow covered the Grand Rapids Rampage of the Arena Football League for ArenaFan from 2003-2008. He also covered the Fort Wayne Fusion of arenafootball2 in 2007. From 2004-2008 and in 2010, he was a member of the Arena Football League Writer’s Association and, since 2011, has been a member of the Professional Football Researchers Association. Randy lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan but will travel just about anywhere for a football game or a great football story. He runs the web site www.theworldoffootball.com and hosts a podcast with his son, Adam, called “This Week in The World of Football.”
