Bottom-Line
I have invested 35 actual playing hours in this game. It took 28 of those in the front office to get to my first pre-season game. Ok, I know, I am a stats guy. So that wasn't so bad for me, but some may find it daunting and obviously, the ability to simulate any and all details of this game will benefit many of you. I found it necessary to attend and micro-manage every aspect of my team. Now, I have played 4 pre-season games and 2 regular season games. I have won them all. They were all intense and thrilling, albeit, too short. They really need to give you the ability to modify the length of quarters. Secondly, they should use the replay cameras better (you get a 3 or 4 second clip of the last part of the play. If it is a long play you will miss the best moves). On the positive side, I liked that my rookies would blow assignments, run the wrong way or just all in all make "rookie" mistakes. But, they progressively got better and by the first real game of the season, performed adequately. My question is this, did I just prepare well or is the actual game too easy. It seems after reading other reviews, that everyone seems to be winning. This hurts my ego, and the game. If someone sims through the entire front office time and has the same winning percentage I have, then the game has failed at being a true simulation. Only time will tell on that one.
All in all, this game is enjoyable and will give us stat guys many hours of playing time, but it's a tie at the end of the 4th quarter and we are headed to over-time!
Pro: Innovative and unique game-play
Cons: Missing adjustable quarter length; Poor replay function; AI glitches (sometimes in practice, guys can't get tackled or during a timeout in the game, I couldn't access my navigation tools. Finally the timeout was over and everything returned to normal, but I missed the opportunity to motivate my team.)