NFL Tour Review
Jan 7, 2008
After a full season of developing great sports games (i.e., Madden, NCAA, Tiger), you have to wonder what EA Tiburon was thinking when it sat down to create NFL Tour. It's the next-gen successor to the NFL Street franchise, and fans were probably expecting bigger, better and, at the very least, harder-hitting. Instead, NFL Tour is a bland arcade sports title devoid of any defining feature other than the NFL license, but even that isn't used very well.
Don't get me wrong - NFL Tour is not a "bad" game. It's just a step backward from NFL Street and a disappointing effort if EA is in fact trying to create a new NFL franchise. In Tour mode you'll take on each NFL team and a variety of regional All Star teams. There's a pair of average mini-games. Other than that, this is a pretty shallow package.
On the field, Tour does take a few small steps forward, at the very least. The most notable gameplay element of this seven-on-seven game is the new tackle reversal system. Outside of huge tackles, ball carriers usually have the chance to hit a reversal button and break a tackle. It has to be timed just right -- too early or too late and you'll go crashing to the turf. Where the game gets interesting is when you string together these reversals to create some truly spectacular sequences. Defenders too can reverse broken tackles with a button prompt of their own and trip up ball carriers at the last possible moment. This makes ball-carrying a game-within-the-game as you literally fight for every yard. Going for that last inch at the goal line is exhilarating, and your thumbs will ache because of it.
That's really the extent of the innovation. The rest of the game plays like the original NFL Blitz without the over-the-top trash talk and unnecessary roughness. No, this is a kinder, gentler arcade experience that doesn't feature mid-air collisions that flip players onto their heads. Don Beebe would be sad.
A notable flaw is the defensive AI. Quite simply, there is none. Defenders assigned to a zone will let receivers run right by them on a streak pattern even if they know there is no safety help. Exploit these situations. There will be many.
NFL Tour games are not played in the streets but rather as part of a sort of traveling road show. You'll visit cities around the country and play in outdoor arenas that are surrounded with notable landmarks, although the games are always played at night and every city looks almost the same. And for a traveling road show, there's terribly little to do.
EA is clearly trying to create a simple, pick-up-and-play football experience, and in that, it has succeeded. Multiplayer games are tense and engaging. The single-player Tour mode is somewhat challenging. Unfortunately, this casual approach alienates anyone over the age of 12 that wants something more than a button-mash-fest. There are no real lineup decisions to make other than deciding to sub a tight-end for a wide out, not a bad idea if you want to get Antonio Gates or Jeremy Shockey involved. There's no play creator, no audibles, and barely a hint of customization. You can "create" a player by choosing from some pre-set heads, bodies and uniform types, but that's the extent of it. While NBA Street Homecourt featured the entire line of Air Jordan sneakers and a ton of gear to unlock, NFL Tour features, well, NFL jerseys.
Even the player likenesses are bland. Tom Brady, the poster-boy of the league, looks like an animated UPS delivery driver. Still, Tour blazes along at 60 frames per second and has some excellent animations, utilizing much of the branching tech we saw in Homecourt. Unfortunately the stadiums, crowds, players and backgrounds are all dull and lack significant detail.
Trey Wingo is a bright spot, as the ESPN personality hosts single-player Tour mode and calls the action on the field. He adds much-needed comedy relief to the audio booth, offering factoids about each city you're playing in and constantly screaming "Laces out Dan!" Hey, it's better than yet another hip-hop DJ, right?
The good news is that you'll have some fun with NFL Tour, especially with friends. But the joy will be short lived when you realize that the feature set is comparable to the original NBA Jam -- just pick a team and play. It's a thin package that comes off as more of a $30 budget title than a full-fledged effort. If EA isn't going to pay its dues to create a great arcade experience, why should you have to pay full price?