TV Sports Football

~ TV SPORTS FOOTBALL ~

Cinemaware / NEC

HuCard

1990

The tragedy here is that I was actually psyched for this game when it first came out. The PC version had a good reputation, and VG&CE gave the Turbo port high scores. (I think this was before I realized that VG&CE regularly gave console ports of popular computer games generous scores, probably the one bad thing about their reviews.) As I quickly discovered, and as everyone now knows, the game is a dud.

Everything on offense is busted. The passing system is the most unintuitive that I've ever experienced in a football game. You need to point the quarterback's arm in the direction that you want him to throw the ball. They had nice intentions with it (they wanted you to "lead" your receivers like a real quarterback), but it just feels horrible. I ended up exploiting the play where a receiver crosses over the middle of the field, since I could just leave the QB's arm pointing straight ahead, and the computer couldn't defend the play well anyway. Rushing isn't a valid alternative as your running back can't push forward and create his own holes in the line. You have to wait for your OL to open up a hole, and even if you sneak through one, you won't get far before a linebacker decks you.

Defense controls well enough, and I like how the players grunt and growl with every tackle. But the computer-controlled offense is inept, so there's not much you actually need to do on defense. And the gameplay is far too slow to be much fun anyway.

There's the typical Cinemaware cutting-corners stuff here. You don't kick the ball off, just like you don't participate in tip-offs in TV Sports Basketball. These are such stupid omissions. EGM claimed the game had a good halftime show, but I don't ever recall seeing a halftime show in my copy. And while I'm certainly not the kind of gamer who demands real players and teams and whatnot in his sports games, I do like some individuality among the fantasy league's players. World Class Baseball was one of the best for this. Even TV Sports Basketball had its speedy guards, deadly shooters, slow benchwarmers, etc. The players in this game just seem like generic bums waddling around a field.

The one good thing is the field goal kicking. In fact, the best way to have "fun" with TVSF is to shun the regular game modes entirely and head to practice instead, and just keep choosing to attempt field goals. The close-up field goal screen actually looks pretty good, and the attempts they have you make can be tricky sometimes, depending on angle and distance. Yeah, this will get boring relatively quickly, but it really is about all the chip has to offer.

Needless to say, Cinemaware didn't quite get an official NFL license.

Wow, feels like watching a real game on TV, huh.

There isn't much to the playbook, but on offense you should stick with just one play anyway, the Pro-set crossing pattern...

Just keep your QB's arm pointed straight and let your receiver cross over the middle...

...for an easy completion almost every time.

Yes, I think I actually did play through an entire season when I first bought the game as a kid. Maybe even more than once. The things we'll do to convince ourselves we got our money's worth...

Kicking is definitely the coolest looking and most enjoyable part.