New Blitz Game, Same Blitz Fun

The Blitz series has had a bit of an odd history.  Starting in 1997 as a bit of a novelty game to act as a counterpart to Midway’s NBA Jam, the first run of Blitz games were a bit of a mess.  Then, with Blitz 99, Midway refined the game, extracted all of the fun elements, did away with all of its issues, added a bit of competitive potential, and created a game that would later become a staple in the arcade sports genre.  The franchise continued, maintaining more or less what made the 1999 iteration of the series so fun, until 2005, when Midway lost the ability to use licensed NFL teams in their games.  Two mediocre, hyper violent games, and one company bankruptcy later and the Blitz franchise falls into the hands of EA sports, and once again has the ability to feature licensed NFL teams.

The result, simply called NFL Blitz, is everything that a fan of the original 1999 cabinets could ever want from a modern Blitz game, and more.  Despite the graphical upgrades, one could be forgiven for mistaking this Blitz game for its classic predecessor at first glance.  All of the wacky, unhinged changes Midway made to the series post-NFL license loss have been reverted, and at its core, the gameplay of NFL Blitz is different from classic Blitz games in ways that only an avid Blitz fan would be able to notice.

The Blitz 99 cabinet was a big player in many Arcades back in the day.

The game is broken into several game modes, and offers a surprising amount of content for a moderately priced XBLA/PSN game.  While the core gameplay doesn’t differ that vastly between the modes, the changes are interesting and entertaining enough that one is able to enjoy each without questioning its reason for existing.

Gauntlet mode lets you square off against a series of teams of increasing difficulty, eventually reaching that group’s boss team in hopes of unlocking whatever wacky costume they may be wearing.  Ever want to play high-contact football wearing a hot dog suit?  Blitz is the game for you.

The Blitz Battles, Online Co-Op, and Elite League modes allow you to play against or with other players online, but all three modes are heavily gated by the fact that the teams you have access to pale in comparison to the teams anyone who has been playing Elite League for an extended period of time has access to.  In Elite League you gain “Blitz Bucks” by playing against and defeating other players.  This currency can be used to buy cards that will allow you to unlock players of varying degrees of skill, increase your effectiveness and ease of play within the league.  There doesn’t appear to be any sort of intelligent matchmaking system in place, so as a brand-new player with one of the poor default teams, I was being put against veteran players with teams filled with high-skill, hard to stop, hard to unlock players.  As winning games against these players is the easiest way to make your team better, this lack of intelligent matchmaking creates a pretty large barrier of entry for anyone looking to play Blitz online (players can also use their Elite League teams in Blitz Battles and Online Co-Op).

It's nice to be able to play other players online, but the lack of any sort of matchmaking makes the experience underwhelming.

The last mode of play is the Blitz Store, which is essentially a copy of the store available in the Elite League mode with a few added options.  As well as the option to buy players and full teams for online play, the Blitz Store allows you to purchase essentially anything you’re able to unlock through playing the game: silly characters and teams from Gauntlet Mode, new Cheerleaders for your loading screens, and the like.  It’s a nice extra addition to the game that is slightly undermined by the difficulty inherent in obtaining the currency used to purchase any of the items.  Not including any sort of intelligent matchmaking in the game was a seriously large oversight.

The Final Verdict

While it’s a shame that the online modes are difficult to get into, and the Blitz Store is a bit underwhelming, both of those elements aren’t essential to the core Blitz experience.  In the end, the game is a refined, finely-tuned arcade sports experience that hearkens back to its being pored over by kids and adults alike in arcades around the world.  The experience isn’t exactly substantial for anyone who isn’t a giant fan of the genre or franchise, but you’ll find that whatever limited time you’re able to bring yourself to devote to the game will, in the end, be very fun.

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