Outstanding! A ticket to a pro game!
The intro with Chis Berman of ESPN Sports. is kinda cartoonish, but when the game was on, it was out on the field, it had a sense of realism to it. The players for the most part (not all of them) looked like thier own. The play-by-play announcers are colorful (funny). They announced the game well although sometimes it did get a little redundant/repetitive.
ESPN did a great job, panning the sidelines ,showing the coach's reaction, or showing a player on an excercise bike. On the field the plays were good but, there were not enough plays. It was very nice to see that if a player did get hurt the coaching staff would be out there to assist the injured player. Not like some of these newer games where they leave the players alone.( Which is not realistic.)
It seemed that the harder the setting from say, pro and up, the less fun it is to play it. It seemed like the computer would cheat. You would get intercepted, or there would be a fumble. The field conditions were realistic, if it was a defensive struggle and you were playing in real grass, then you would see the field get worn down.
There were always referees around and you would actually see the yellow flags thrown from a penalty. You could actually challenge a bad call, and you would see the coach throw the red flag. For more realism you would see the refs watch the replay in slow motion. From time to time they would scan the fans and you would see the wave, or fans wearing the big foamed finger, or fans with faces painted, fans with no shirts on.
At half - time it was fun to watch Chis B, from ESPN do the highlights in video format, not just stats. So if you had a friend stop over they would see how the game had progressed. That is very cool. They would have the sideline reporter Susy Kolbert giving reports of the injured players, or interviewing the star player. That part is cartoonish. At the end of the game , again , postgame show with Chris Berman doing the video highlights.
This game is a masterpiece and its too bad they did not make one for the 360, although the XBOX game is backward compatible to play on the 360. Which is how I play it.
When you compare this game to the newer football games out there today, this game blows them off the field, as far as details and realism are concerned.