It has great features that the other Blitz games did not have, but it lacks in the true Blitz feeling.

User Rating: 5 | Blitz: The League PS2
Blitz: The League has half decent graphics (for PS2), and the addition of a whole bunch of features was great, but the fact of the matter is, the bad things out-weighed the good things. The new addition of a story, the x-ray style breaking of bones, and creating your own team was very cool, but the incredibly long load times, bad animations, and below-par graphics took me out of the game experience after too long.

The story was solid, and the acting was pretty good. I liked the humor and I liked the addition of foul language (for realism purposes). The new features with the steroids and other various drugs was pretty cool too. There was also a new system for breaking bones and such, I cringe in pain every time I break someone's hand or something. The create a team feature was extremely cool, I love making my players look like they are from ICP or something.

The problem with this game is that Midway tried to make it more realistic than the previous games. The fact of the matter is, I loved the super hero looking players, I thought that was part of the Blitz play experience. The load times in the game were god awful, it would take me as long as five minutes to load before and after every single game. At first I just thought it was my PS2, but all of my friends were having the same problems. The lack of faces and hairstyles hurt the creating a team feature, half of my team all had the same face and hair styles. The terrible animation was also a downer; the movement between running and tackling was just absolutely awful, it was like going from slow motion to fast forward. Then the transition in difficulty between Division III and Division II was way too big. It felt like I was going from playing against elementary school kids to full on NFL players.

Overall, the game is a little fun for a small amount of time. But in the long run, the game lacks the true Blitz feeling, you can't even get a real late hit (those stupid brawls were a terrible idea, Midway! Shame on you!). I have to say that it's worth renting for a week, but beyond that, I would have to give it a thumbs down.