NFL Quarterback Club 2002

Acclaim's Quarterback Club franchise has seen both the mansion and the shack. Once heralded for its gameplay depth and wealth of options, Acclaim's NFL game made quite an awkward transition to the 32- and 64-bit generation of hardware. Looking to get the series back on solid ground, the company refrained from pushing another mediocre sequel out the door and instead took a year off to make sure the next installment received some much-needed TLC. Acclaim is finally ready to talk about the labors of its work, and lead designer Dan Baker was more than happy to supply us with all the details for NFL Quarterback Club 2002 for the PlayStation 2.

As with any licensed game, all the NFL teams, stadiums, and players are included in Quarterback Club 2002. In addition to the rudimentary modes like season, playoffs, and practice, QBC 2002 will bring the series' heralded challenge mode out of hibernation for the first time since it last appeared on the Sega Genesis. "The QB Challenge is definitely something we are excited about. It's really turned into a great feature, and we'll also have a few hidden retired quarterbacks that the user will be able to unlock after they accomplish certain tasks," Baker explained. The QB challenge features four events: speed and mobility; accuracy; read and recognition; and distance. In addition to boosting your quarterbacking abilities, Baker claims that the QB challenge is a blast to play all on its own. Similar to Madden's challenge mode, the simulation mode will let you create your own predicaments and then attempt to resolve them. While statistics will carry over from one season to the next, QB Club 2002 will not include a career or franchise mode. Players may be created and signed, but they will never suffer career-ending injuries, and they will never break career records. You won't have to worry about your stud players asking for more cash after a solid season, either. Baker also stated that Acclaim had counted on including online gameplay but is currently evaluating each platform to ascertain if it's viable.

Inhibitors to QBC's success have varied with each year of its release. In 1998, it was impossible to run the ball; in 1999, there were too many money plays; and in 2000 and 2001, the AI was simply woeful. Baker stated that Acclaim is trying to rectify all these problems at once with the PlayStation 2 version. "This year, we are focusing on three major fundamentals for our football game: artificial intelligence, gameplay, and user control. All three of these are needed to create a good football game and have been our primary [focus] since the game has been in development," he explained. Acclaim's Austin branch has shown its commitment to these goals by rewriting the game's AI from scratch. Baker believes that this will in turn create a more balanced blend of the run and pass. "Solid defensive artificial intelligence has the ability to slow down the passing attack, which means people will try to mix things up and run the ball, as well as pass," Baker stated.

But he admits that there's more to making a great-playing football game than just slick AI. It also takes a good understanding of what's enjoyable to the player, regardless of whether it exceeds the confines of what would be considered simulation. "It really comes down to how you tune the game. The actual NFL rushing average is right around four yards per carry. If users pick up four yards every time they run the football, they will most likely abandon the running game and start throwing the football--especially if they know they can pass at will and pick up 20 or more yards each time," he explained.

Acclaim is also addressing control issues by including enough manual influence during all facets of gameplay to make sure that playing QBC 2002 isn't a passive experience. "User control has been an area for improvement, and we are working very hard to correct this," Baker admitted. "We want to empower the user to make plays, and it's a lot more fun to be able to make a play than it is to let the computer knock down a pass or catch the ball for you." From a gameplay standpoint, the franchise has undergone just as many changes for its PlayStation 2 outing. Both the offensive and defensive playbooks have been completely rewritten. There are 300 offensive plays that may be executed to the strong or weak side of the defense and almost 250 defensive plays. Calling defensive plays is a three-step process. First you select a 3-4, 4-3, nickel, dime, or goal-line base formation to get the right personnel on the field. The second step is to designate how many safeties and corners you want in deep coverage. The final command issues blitzes, stunts, and underneath zone coverage. This system facilitates a mixture of defensive schemes so that you're not specifically committing to just the run or pass with each play call. Calling offensive plays is more traditional in that you choose a formation and then a play. The confusing-yet-thorough hyper audible system used in past installments of Quarterback Club has thankfully been simplified: Up to four plays can be mapped to a pop-up menu and then selected with one button press. Audibles may also be saved to your user profile so that they won't have to be entered every time you fire up the game.

From a visual standpoint, Quarterback Club 2002 has all the pieces of the puzzle. It's just a matter of Acclaim putting them all together. Assembled in C++ for the first time in the series' history, QBC 2002's game engine has been built from scratch for the PS2--allowing the spastic Dreamcast engine to limp off into obscurity. Acclaim Austin's new engine is capable of mip mapping to ensure texture clarity during close-ups, environment mapping for real-time reflections in the helmets, head tracking for every player, morphing meshes, multiple real-time shadows around each player, and depth blurring. Included in the game are 1500 animations that are triggered depending upon location, momentum, and player ratings.

Baker claims that the polygon counts have improved significantly as well. Each of the four different player models is composed of 3200 to 3300 polygons, and they are covered in details like finger tape, sleeves, and gloves. The textures are clear enough to see wrinkles in the pants of players, and Acclaim is currently working on implementing dirt maps that will give the uniforms a weathered look as the game wears on. There are 350 impressively realistic facial textures of real NFL stars included in QBC 2002, as well as a host of generic mugs to fill in the role players. Polygonal coaches stalk the sideline barking instructions, but due to licensing issues, they will not resemble their real-world counterparts. While the players have a detailed and rounded look to them, Baker stated that he is especially proud of the stadiums. "The artists have done a fantastic job on the stadiums. The detail and lighting look amazing. For example, if you take a look at the New York Giants end zone, you will actually see the faded Jets logo behind the Giants logo just like you would if you were really at the stadium," he exclaimed. Other graphical nuances include quarterbacks competing in the QB challenge dressed in shorts and baseball caps, snow getting piled up and shoved around, and natural fields gradually deteriorating into mud during games played in the rain.

The first step to recovery is realizing there's a problem, and Acclaim has proven that it's done this by purposely addressing pointed complaints about past games in the series. It remains to be seen if the execution will ultimately live up to the vision. Baker explained Acclaim's design philosophy quite well when he concluded, "At the end of the day, it's all about one thing: gameplay. Our goal is to make the best football game available for consumers, which strikes a fine balance between fun and fantasy. We're confident that players will find our game fast and intuitive, and most importantly, fun." From all initial indications, Acclaim is on track to do just that. NFL Quarterback Club 2002 for the PlayStation 2 is scheduled for release near the end of this summer. We'll have more on Acclaim's pigskin game when we receive a playable build.