Playstation Reviews N

They're not so easy on the eyes but I still love to play these old Playstation football games. NCAA Football 2000 uses real college footage in its musical intro - something I haven't seen in a while! The sound of the band playing on the title screen always gets me pumped. The game contains all 114 division 1-A teams, and 26 division division 1-AA teams. And if you're school isn't represented, guess what? You can create your own damn team! I'm always glad to see a quick-start mode, but you can't even change the teams! Choose exhibition mode instead. The players on the field the players look comically thick and blocky. It's like a bunch of Transformers doing battle out there, and once they get a head of steam they're like a runaway freight train. That's a problem when you're trying to stay in bounds! It's easy to select plays and formations and helpful hint boxes are displayed between plays (turned off via select button). The passes tend to be extremely slow and floaty. When running with the ball L2 and R2 will juke and stiff-arm, but don't confuse them with L1/R1 which pitches the ball! It's hilarious how wide receivers never turn around; they just run down the field with both arms straight up and catch the ball anyway. The kicking meter might be the best I've seen, with intuitive controls that require both skill and timing. The instant replays are kind of lame because you can't adjust the camera at all. The crowd looks like ugly wall of static pixels and there are only three cheerleaders on the sideline. The fact that there's no halftime show makes this feel like a lazy effort. Still, there are some nice touches. Nets rise behind the goal posts during kicks and referees take some shots during plays. I was a little surprised when the band played the correct Maryland fight song! The PA announcer says some amusing things too. Overall NCAA Football 2000 isn't a great game but it's quirks and rough edges actually give it some personality. © Copyright 2019 The Video Game Critic.

I owe of debt of gratitude to the reader who recently brought this to my attention, because NCAA Football 98 is truly a joy to play. The intro features video footage with computer "enhancements" that actually make it much harder to watch. I like hearing a band play over the main menu, but I think they would sound better if backed by crowd noise. The game contains 112 teams over 10 division 1A conferences, along with a slew of modes including season, dynasty, scouting, and tournament. The extensive list of options lets you adjust weather conditions, penalties, fatigue, injuries, and play-calling modes. Rounding things out is a create-a-player feature and the ability to save highlights to memory card! On the field I was surprised (but also pleased) to see the players rendered with 2D sprites, not unlike NFL Gameday (Sony, 1995) or any of the 16-bit Madden titles. The graphics can be hard to discern at times, with pixelated players, grainy grass, and a crowd that looks like colored bricks. The player animation is stiff, so you'll see funny things like the ball bouncing square off a receiver's back. The stadiums are fair renditions and you can make out the turtle statue in College Park (barely). The old-school gameplay is remarkably solid. Play-calling screens are simple to navigate, although it can be difficult to determine how deep your receivers will run. It's easy to scan the field for an open receiver, and you can really wing the ball. The running game is no slouch either, as you can usually burrow up the middle for a couple of yards. Executing option plays (press R1 to lateral) is great fun, and the kicking meter is the most sensible I've seen in decades. Defensive controls include the ability to leap high into the air to bat down passes. A slick replay feature allows you to view plays from multiple angles. There's a PA announcer but no color commentator, and where is the halftime show? I have to laugh when I see the players remain in the huddle after the game clock expires - as if they need to be informed the game is over! But what really won me over was the brisk pacing. You only need to wait for is the referee to return the ball to the line after each play. Do they only have one ball in this game? Unintentional humor aside, NCAA Football 98 delivers first-rate college action with old school charm to burn. © Copyright 2018 The Video Game Critic.

Coming off the sprite-based NCAA Football 98 (Electronic Arts, 1997), you'd expect the series' first polygon-based edition to be slow and clunky, but you'd be surprised! With commendable graphics, a brisk tempo, and simple controls, NCAA Football 99 could stand up to most modern college football titles (if there were any). I love the spirited intro with its rapid-fire footage of hard hits, high-kicking cheerleaders, and fans going nuts. The college game has a certain intangible quality lacking from the pros. NCAA Football 99 contains 112 schools along with 80 historic teams. The inclusion of team-specific fight songs and chants details did not go unnoticed! The players don't look jagged at all and execute natural-looking wrap tackles. Granted, the game occasionally shows its age with its awkward animations and pauses. After each play all the players stand at attention and pause for a second as the ball softly drops to the turf. After a field goal you have to wait for the referee to run the ball all the way down to the other end of the field. Are you telling me they only have one ball?! The kicking controls are right on point as you must aim on the fly while applying the proper power. The passing game is kind of weak because you just can't get much zip on your throws. The running game on the other hand feels very much downhill, with runners bouncing off-would be tacklers to occasionally bust a big one. One oddity is the "play notification" feature which displays the name of the plays both teams have chosen before the hike. You can turn this off, but the fact that it's on by default is bizarre. There's no half-time or post-game show. NCAA Football 99 is a little light on the pageantry side but for head-to-head action this one is hard to beat. © Copyright 2020 The Video Game Critic.

Playing this 20-year-old college football game can be pretty enjoyable provided you know what you're getting yourself into. If you're looking for realism and pinpoint control, you might hate this. But if you're looking for some fast arcade-style football action, you won't be disappointed. NCAA Gamebreaker was one of the last football games to use sprite graphics, and the players appear small and pixelated. The surface of the field is textured but in this case it appears grainy and not particularly pleasing to the eye. The opening kickoff meter comes up really quick so be ready for it! The camera is pulled way back, giving you a nice wide angle for passing plays. During running plays you might get lost in what looks like pixel soup. The players appear to move slowly but advancing just an inch up the screen will effectively pick up a few yards. The so-called "speed burst" move is lame but the stiff-arm is no joke! I enjoyed running the wishbone offense and executing various option plays. Open receivers usually catch the ball but defenders often dive in and jar the ball loose. That dive move is lethal. If you take control of a safety on defense you'll be able to break up all sorts of plays. One negative about the game is how if you don't take control of your player, the CPU immediately assumes control (why?). The play selection is limited but that "flip" option sure comes in handy. The crowd looks like a splotchy wallpaper but I like the fact that there are cheerleaders and a chain gang. There's even a real halftime show with a band marching in letter formations. There's no play-by-play but you do get a PA announcer. The season mode incluces extensive statistic tracking. What makes Gamebreaker appealing to me is its pacing. It's one break-neck play after another with few lulls in the action. Gamebreaker's graphics may not have aged very well but gamers with short attention spans will appreciate it. © Copyright 2015 The Video Game Critic.

As the first football game to grace the Playstation, NFL GameDay is a pretty sweet! It was certainly a step up from the 16-bit football games of the time. Ironically, what makes this game so cool is its 2D sprite graphics, which seem refreshing compared to today's polygon-based games. GameDay took the tried and true Madden formula and elevated it to the next level. Players on the field look pixelated up close but perfectly fine with the default camera view. The action on the field unfolds slowly but that gives you more time to survey the field. Unfortunately passes tend to be soft and floaty - you can't just zip it in there. Passes can be tipped, and I was amazed when I saw a defender dive after a tipped pass and pick it off! The extra buttons on the Playstation controller are effectively used to facilitate directional stiff arms and jukes, adding a new dimension to the running game. The triangle is the "catch" button. I don't know if it makes any difference on offense, but on defense it's very useful for breaking up passes. Diving is incredibly effective on defense, as you can often "pop" the ball out of a receiver's hand. The kicking meter moves up and down too fast, which is likely to frustrate beginners. Contests tend to be quiet affairs except for the understated crowd noise and crisp player grunts. When someone finally scores and that official NFL music booms out of your TV speaker, it will scare the hell out of you. I love the halftime show that features dancing cheerleaders and a helmet-shaped car that putts around the field. Thanks to a fast-moving clock and minimal lulls in the action, a game can be played in under a half hour. Surprisingly fun and oozing with old-school charm, NFL Gameday has held up extremely well over the years. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

GameDay 2000 delivers fast-moving, hard-hitting pigskin action, but often at the expense of realism. There are some interesting new features, but many come across as annoying or even comical. The new coin toss sequence takes forever to get started as the players slowly drag their asses to the center of the field. Does anybody want to play football around here?! The game's engine has been tinkered with, and I'm not sure it was for the better. The players look chunkier and collision detection is loose. The runningbacks appear to be sliding on ice at times. It's easy to break away for the big run, but when stopped short the game fails to account for forward progress! One new feature that rocked my world was the use of the "telestrator" during instant replays. It's so awesome that I wondered why it wasn't in Madden, considering John Madden pioneered the freakin' thing. I also enjoyed GameDay's first-down chain measurements, which are inexplicably missing from most football games. Vibration is supported, but your controller buzzes too often and frequently for no good reason. GameDay 2000 has its share of unintentionally funny moments. A lot of passes are tipped, and the commentator is always astounded that these aren't interceptions. The triangle button can be used to initiate a celebration animation after any play. Yes, only in GameDay 2000 can you make your quarterback perform an elaborate break-dance move after throwing an incomplete pass. During one play my kick returner pulled up lame, and it looked like he was trying to pull a monkey out of his butt as he struggled up the field. Some of the new tackle animations look more like body slams! What is this, professional wrestling? During a two-minute warning, my quarterback remained in place under center even after his teammates had walked away. The two-man commentating team is back, but this year they sound like crap! Not only is the dialogue filled with static, but the volume is all over the place. It's really irritating. Music was licensed for this game, but it's mainly a bunch of tired oldies like "Wooly Bully", "Respect", and "Working for a Living". That rendition of Moni Moni sounds awful. GameDay 2000 has a lot of entertainment value, but the franchise seemed to be slipping into mediocrity. © Copyright 2012 The Video Game Critic.

This game generated some incredibly favorable reviews in its time, including some of the highest ratings ever awarded to a sports title. In retrospect, it's hard to argue. NHL 2000 has a polished, arcade style that anybody can pick up and enjoy. Its motion-captured animation appears smooth and natural, and the action moves at a break-neck pace. This may be the fastest hockey game I've ever played! The analog controls are responsive, but you can't pass the puck through a crowd as you can in other hockey games, which limits your one-timer opportunities. The "world famous" wrap-around-the-goal shot seems especially effective though. NHL 2000 has a few special features that make it more exciting that your garden-variety hockey game. The highlighted puck is easy to follow, and hard shots leave dramatic streaks behind them. When holding down the shoot button, a nifty "power meter" appears under your player. You can deliver some serious blows on defense, and it's even possible to knock an opponent through the glass! The play-by-play commentator has got to be the most enthusiastic I've ever heard ("Great save!") This guy gets so worked up that he sounds like he's going to have a heart attack! It's pretty hilarious. The color commentator, on the other hand, is so quiet you might not even notice him. The energetic music soundtrack features the hit "Push It" by Garbage. NHL 2000 is definitely a good time, but some may find it too chaotic. Also, the rink is wider than most hockey games, and your limited view makes it hard to keep track of your teammates. The instant replay system is awfully choppy, which is surprising considering how smooth the game moves at normal speed. You'll want to turn the fighting off, because these idiotic brawls consist of both players simply throwing lightning-fast jabs at each other with exaggerated sound effects. It's like a bad martial arts flick! The loading screen takes a while, but at least you get to view a photo of the arena you'll be playing in. It's easy to nit-pick, but pound for pound NHL 2000 is probably the best hockey game you'll find for the Playstation. © Copyright 2008 The Video Game Critic.

To be honest, I didn't expect the original Need For Speed (NFS) to age nearly as well as it has. When first released, NFS set a new standard for realism in a driving game. Granted, this was before Gran Turismo came along! NFS incorporates eight real-life "super cars", including the Lamborghini Diablo, Chevrolet Corvette, Dodge Viper, Ferrari 512TR, Acura NSX, Porche 911 Carrera, and Toyota Supra Turbo. The game emulates the cars' performance characteristics (allegedly) and there's an interesting "showcase" for each car, composed of narrated slides and stylish videos. I've never been a car nut, but a few of my friends were absolutely enthralled with all of this. Need For Speed earns an "A" for presentation. The attractive menu screens are well organized, and crystal clear photos of the cars are displayed during loads. One dead giveaway that NFS is an "older" game is the fact that almost all of the tracks are unlocked from the start (yes!). In most modern racers, you begin with only one lousy track and have to painstakingly unlock the rest! Need For Speed's locales range from a desert road, to snowy mountains, to my personal favorite, a gorgeous coastal highway. The races are exciting, and even the two-player split-screen mode is respectable. There are no CPU racers in the split screen mode, but at least there's oncoming traffic to spice things up. For the solo player there's a challenging tournament mode, and unlike modern racers with their "rubber band AI", if you fall too far behind the CPU cars you're not likely to catch up! The CPU drivers are aggressive too, running you off the road at every opportunity. One area where Need For Speed suffers is its stiff control, and it doesn't help that the analog stick is not supported. The frame-rate is fair, but in terms of sheer velocity, the game falls short of its title. Also, the boxy cars and seams in the scenery never let you forget you're playing a 1996 game. The audio consists of generic beats and guitar jams - nothing to get excited about, but still preferable to the "extreme" soundtracks of more recent games. In the end, Need For Speed isn't the showpiece it once was, but it's still worth pulling off the shelf every now and then. © Copyright 2005 The Video Game Critic.

It's true - you can't stop Mr. Domino - that little bastard just keeps going and going! This game stirred quite a few emotions in me, from confusion, to frustration, to obsession. When first released in 1998, Mr. Domino was overrated by game magazines who were desperately searching for something original. Mr. Domino is certainly one of a kind, but it's also gratuitously difficult and frustrating. It's a puzzle game in constant motion. You guide a running domino man around a "track" strewn with obstacles and targets, leaving other dominos in your wake. The idea is to situate your dominos strategically so during the next lap you can knock them down onto target squares, triggering amusing (and often bizarre) animations. The problem is, if you don't set a domino in front of a target during one lap, you know it'll take at least two more laps to hit it, and that's demoralizing. Mr. Domino turns gray in color over time, and he'll eventually die unless you can refresh him by moving over a health square. If it sounds complicated so far, you also have to factor in a demanding obstacle course of barriers and moving hazards that spell cheap hits galore. But by far the worst part of the game is those "reset" squares that completely wipe out all of the progress you've made. It's very easy to accidentally run over these things, especially after hitting a speed boost. The control is responsive, but there's little room for error. The stages are interesting in a Micro Machines kind of way, and highlights include a convenience store and an amusement park. The electronic music is nothing short of amazing, and the game saves your current stage and high score. As tedious and maddening as Mr. Domino can be, I can't deny that I was intrigued enough to play for several hours straight. Once you "get it", it's an absorbing experience. © Copyright 2003 The Video Game Critic.