Tecmo Bowl Kickoff NDS Review

Tecmo Bowl Kickoff - Nintendo DS Review

The original Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl for the NES were 2 of my favorite games ever. Especially Tecmo Super Bowl. When Tecmo Bowl Kickoff came out for the DS, naturally I had to play it. Here's my review:

The Good:
1. Same fun Tecmo Bowl gameplay.

2. It has a player and team editor. (which is nice since there is no NFL license)

3. Fun old-school style cutscenes.


The Bad:
1. No NFL license. This really SUCKS. I would have loved seeing all those classic NFL players again. Instead we get generic players who often have really weird names.

2. The passing cursor is hard to distinguish when choosing receivers. The cursor is white, and when you switch receivers, it changes to a different white. Whoever designed it can blow me.

3. Dodgy AI and game logic. Players will sometimes run AWAY from the ball carrier before making the tackle etc... The AI seems to call random plays.

4. The game is just way too easy. I win nearly every game by a huge margin, and have never LOST a game.

5. Really questionable catches, interceptions, incomplete passes, and cheap feeling special moves.

Yay: Big Nostalgia trip. +1

FINAL BADASSIAN SCALE RATING: -1 NOT SO GOOD


CONCLUSION:
It's fun to play for a season or two, just long enough for the nostalgia to wear off. It's probably one of my favorite games on the DS, but that's not hard to do considering how much shit gets shoveled onto the DS. (and the Wii for that matter) Ultimately though, I ended up feeling diasppointed. Perhaps it has more to do with that old saying "you can never go back" than any fault with the game.