Arena Football is well suited to multi-player gaming, but the lack of depth takes away from any solo replay value.
Don't get me wrong, Arena Football is a blast to play, keeping you excited about throwing deep touchdown passes, and cringing at bone-crunching hits... for about 4 games. After playing these few exciting games, you have figured out which 3 offensive plays you like, and which 1-2 defensive plays are effective, and the game no longer presents any challenge eliminating much of the replay value it might otherwise have.
Multi-player is the strong point of this game, since late hits and trash talking add to the "in your face" mentality experienced when throwing touchdown after touchdown against a close friend. However, this mode also has several fun-draining flaws.
For example, after playing 4 games of Arena Football, I challenged a friend of mine to play against me. He had never played or even seen Arena Football before, but was a veteran of NCAA football like myself. That being said, after we each picked teams based on how cool the name sounded, he proceeded to beat me by two touchdowns. His victory was a result of the fact that he had one receiver that was faster than my defenders, and that player was therefore unstoppable. Even using the "everybody get him" button that swarmed his receiver, he always ran right past the defense on his way to yet another lobbed TD pass. Also, his use of a zone defense against my slower receivers caused one interception, hence the two touchdown win. We each scored a TD on every other drive, but that one INT that took a TD from me and gave one to him decided the entire game. Disappointing considering he used a grand total of 1 offensive play against me all game. The same was true on defense.
In spite of that frustrating mismatch, the big hits and miraculous catches kept us yelling and cheering the entire time, and I have never enjoyed a loss more in my life.
So, in conclusion, if you regularly have friends over who love pass-crazy football, this game can provide lots of rowdy fun. But if you are looking for a football game you can enjoy on your own, stick with NCAA or Madden.
Look for the Arena Football series to improve significantly in the years to come.