NFL GameDay for Playstation (1995)
here are 4 original reviews of the Playstation's game NFL GameDay from 1995. Enjoy :)
Review 1
Ok ok. First off, I am a DIE HARD football freak and I have done all the Maddens, all the Sega CRAP, and every other football in between. I have always felt Madden was the best football sim not due to a favoritism for EA sports titles, but the game was always, simply put, the best (With the exception of '95. YECH!)
Now here comes Sony talking about this so-called great football sim that will put all others to shame. Myself, like most others, was sitting there going "Yeah, right. Like Sony is actually going to beat EA in a sports title war". Well, I can't say whether they will beat Madden for the Playstation or not, because Madden isn't out for another 2 months or so, but I will tell you this:
NFL GAMEDAY IS ABSOLUTELY &@#%ING INCREDIBLE!
I will be fair and say what the game doesn't have.
A. Commentary
B. Custom team creation or create-a-player option
C. Needless fluff that takes programers time away from concentrating on gameplay.
Fair enough.
What this game has is the most realistic gameplay I have ever seen! I mean, you can do everything in this game. And the playbook is awesome too! Don't worry about finding a play to fit a particular situation, because it's there (You may have to spend a little time finding it, but it's there).
I could go on forever on cool stuff in the game, but I want to get back to playing (Hey, you would cut it short too if you were playing this AWESOME game).
Sony, congratulations. I must admit, I had doubts, but you guys pulled through. Great game.
And EA, you guys are still tops in the sports arena, but watch out, the first real competition for you guys just made a serious touchdown.
Brian Lee.
Review 2
Ok I bought Gameday yesterday and my friend and I started a season today I'll start off with some problems
- If 2 people are on the same team and your on defense it's very difficult to pick a man. Ex. We're playing as pittsburg and i'm on woodson as my friend presses the circle button to pick his man i get switched off woodson. This happened throughout the whole game, if one of us tried to switch to another player before the snap the other guy would get dwitched off. Sometimes if we were both switching at the same time one of us would have his highlight disappear and you couldn't control anyone. This would also happen on kickoffs. My friend would recieve the ball and I'd try to switch to someone to block and there would be no one on the field that i could control.
- Passes get picked off almost everytime from tips. We threw 5 int's each in a 5 minute quarter game and picked off about the same amount.
- The stats keeping SUCKS!!. Sure you get the stats for the team after the game but they aren't saved for the season. You can look at the Top 20 in the league for offense (Passing, recieveing, Rushing, Kicking) and defense ( tackles, sacks , ints, punting) Madden 95 for SNES had about 10 times as much stats. I was hoping for stats on kick returns, punt returns, blocked passes, blocked punts and kicks, etc but there wasn't any.
- As someone mentioned before there aren't any first down markers on the field so it's tough to judge a first down if you're running on the sideline. Also it doesn't always tell you how far you ran/passed for after every play.
- One of the biggest problems in 2 player cooperative mode is that you have to run the exact route on a pass play if you want to catch the ball. The best thing about Madden 95 was that my friends and I would pick receivers and run different routes to get open and the quarterback would throw the ball to the person. In Gameday the quarterback already has the exact spot on the field picked out for him to throw the ball to and if the receiver isn't there you can bet that a defensive guy will be there to pick it off. I understand the need for timing and routes but if you're covered doesn't the quarterback look for someone to get open?
I'm sure the rest of the posts on here will be all about how great this game is so I don't need to include anything about the graphics etc Although it's true that Miami is a dark green rather than aquamarine and that there are only 2 stadiums grass/stadium or turf/dome .
Overall I'm very disappointed with this game and will probably take it back in exchange for FIFA which come out today and wait till Madden comes out
Paul Pompetti
Review 3
So far I've played 4 games, working on #5 right now. :) Here's what I think...
Graphics
The graphics are great, basically. :) The animation is wonderful, and everything just looks really nice... Not much to say here, you've probably read the other reviews that tell all about this.
I give em 9 outta 10.
Sound
The crowd noises and grunting are cool. The music in the menus isn't bad either... The "BOOOOOOO" is great. :)
Now for my big bitch. There's no announcer, and I don't care! And you shouldn't either. Know why? If you're eating up your RAM with some hefty speech samples, you have less room for the graphics. Which means you're going to get some nice, crappy animation. Personally, I'd rather have fluid animation than a stupid-sounding announcer who says totally inappropriate things half the time.
I give it 7 outta 10, for lack of variety. No biggie.
AI
The AI is pretty good. I've heard the complaint about the slant play.
I haven't tried it, but I believe it. No AI will ever be perfect...
Even in the best PC football game (FPSPro95) the AI doesn't account for some things, like shifting so that a previously inelligable receiver can now catch the ball. If there's one or two AI busting plays, just don't use em. You still have plenty of others to choose from.
I give it 8 outta 10, so far...
Gameplay
This is the reason this game rocks. The control you have over your player is immense. You can juke, spin, dive, leap and stiffarm your way to that 99 yard TD return. On defence, you have forearms and "swim moves" to help you out, as well as the diving. And you have speed burst on both of them. There are tons of stats, etc.
It IS pretty easy to get ints on Rookie level, especially against crappy teams. 10 minute quarters, playing the Cowboys, I had 4 ints in the second half alone against the giants. Playing against decent teams (Vikings, Broncos) I had a total of 1 in 2 games.
The running is a bit slow, yes... But at least it's not like in some other games where the people have 5 yard strides. In the NFL, people usually take about 2.5 yards a stride (if I'm remembering correctly) and in gameday it's around 1.5. Mainly beacuse the running animation cycles a bit quickly. Well, anyway, it just allows for more strategy while running -- fine with me. :)
I give it a 9.5 outta 10.
Overall, I'll give this game 9 outta 10... Madden will have to be
*real* nice to beat this...
Oh well, I'm going to go play more. :)
- - -- - --- -- ----Mitch Burton---- -- --- - -- - -
- - -- - --- -- ----bwizard@bga.com--- -- --- - -- - -
Review 4
I never thought I'd be saying this (I have played and beaten every Madden game since the original), but there's a new king of the gridiron hill on this fine day, and its name is Gameday. Simply put, this game rocks! It has virtually every aspect and nuance of the game I've been looking for all my life. I picked it up earlier this afternoon (for $9.99+tax at EB after trading in 5 SNES games) and have been playing it all day (I called out from work sick for this, he he). The following is my semi-full review.
Some of the main options include whether or not you want injuries (think about this carefully- I lost Aikman in the first quarter against the Jets (?!?) due to a separated shoulder-he didn't return and I lost the game. It was a post pattern pass play and everyone was covered so I decided to run Aikman upfield. He was leveled by Marvin Jones and that was that), the type of weather (snow, wind, rain, sunny), quarter length (2 minutes, 5, 10, 15), and sound on/off. You can customize the game controllers to your own personal specifications if you like (I didn't).
All of the NFL teams are here with complete and up to date rosters (yes, Deion is on Dallas). Some of the rookies and lesser players don't have pictures under their bio screens (it just says "rookie" or "photo not available"), but the vast majority do. You can even make trades on a player for player basis. You can make substitutions throughout the game on a position by position basis if you like. This means that if your safety is being blown away by his coverage man time after time, you can bench him and sub someone who has a better chance. The possibilities are endless.
Graphics: simply outstanding! From the t.v. like rendered intro to the fact that each player faithfully approximates his real life counterpart visually, this game has it all. Each stadium is fully rendered and complete with banners hanging over the walls. If you select rain the field actually begins to become muddy and you see more dropped passes than usual. There are about four or five camera angles, but I really didn't experiment with any beyond the default one. You have a clear field of vision and can pretty much see everything unfolding around you.
Sounds: Wow! Every pop, grunt, whistle and cheer is there. If you're playing at home and find your defense getting backed onto its heels, the crowd actually tries to motivate you with chants of "Defense! Defense!". After you score or if you're driving offensively, you can hear the crowd bang the drums to the intro of "We Will Rock You". During the rain, you're treated to occasional booms of thunder and flashes of lightening.
Gameplay: This makes or breaks a sports game, and Gameday delivers. The controls and overall gameplay actually seemed a bit sluggish at first, but then I realized it was due to the damned Sony joypad. I used my Mad Catz pad and the control improved (for me at least). Gameplay was still relatively sluggish compared to Madden on Genesis, but it was nothing that took away from the game. You control every aspect of your offense and defense. You can set three audible plays (ala Madden) and cycle through a variety of plays on offense and defense. Each offensive play is designed for a particular player (the info is given onscreen) as the primary receiver. Each of the buttons on the joypad correspond to a different receiver, so passing is pretty much dropping back and looking for the open man to throw to. Once the ball is released you have the option of pressing the "catch" button, which enhances your player's ability to catch the ball. If you take control of your receiver before the ball is caught, you must turn him toward the ball in order for him to be able to catch it. Otherwise it ricochets off his back (just like real life).
I had a helluva time figuring out how to kick field goals and aim punts, but this is a skilled aspect of the game and I'll no doubt improve as I play more.
This game totally rules! I might have forgotten some stuff, so if there's anything you want to know more about, just email me and I'll get back to you as soon as possible. So far, this is THE must buy PS game of the year.
- MTB Freak
