Nintendo Okie

Howdy:

• Simple Controls
• Huge Rosters
• Varied environments

See Ya’:

• Hit detection and boundaries can be frustrating.
• Commentary is terrible.
• Needs more create a player options.

The Backyard series of sports games has been around now for a number of years and covers a number of different sports.  This year’s version of Backyard Football ’10 has more real-life NFL players than it’s ever had, all imagined as if they were elementary versions of themselves.  Backyard Football is aimed at a younger generation of football fans, but don’t be fooled by the kiddie appearance and quirky commentators, there is a lot of depth to this game for those that are willing to look.

Backyard Football ’10 features many of the options you would expect to find in the “big boy” versions of Madden.  You can elect to jump right into a game, hit the practice field to hone your skills, enter a bracketed tournament or play a full season.  Each of these options have their uses, but you’re probably most interested in the season mode so we’ll head straight to that.  You begin by choosing your team, any one of the 32 current NFL teams or a team created specifically for the game.  You can throw out the rosters that you know because they don’t matter in this game.  Each season begins with a draft.  You can choose up to 7 players that will play both offense and defense, with no subs.  It’s iron-man football rules in the schoolyard.  You have three boys or girls on offense that will be your offensive line, 3 specialty players that can play running back or a receiver, and your quarterback.  There is a roster of pros, some of which must be unlocked by achieving certain in-game milestones and a large selection of custom made players.  Pick your team and hit the field.

You’ll play a full schedule season of 16 games plus the playoffs, with up to four human players on a team, to determine who the best team in the backyard is.  At any point between games you can make trades among the teams, or even create a custom player that you can add to your roster.  The create a player mode is fairly basic and there aren’t a lot of options outside of clothing when you first start.  You can adjust your created players star ratings in a few categories or go with a pre-set archetype for whatever position you want to play.  You can upgrade these custom players by performing well in games and you’ll become better and better as the season goes along. 

As far is the on the field play there is a ton of depth in the play calling, and power ups that you can use to alter the course of the game.  The rosters are seven on seven, but there are more than a half a dozen different formations you can choose from each with around 8-10 plays.  You have the ability to have the computer choose the play for you or you can control everything yourself.  The difficulty mode you choose will determine how complex the control scheme gets.  Easy mode means you just have to snap the ball and flick the controller to pass.  The computer will choose the best open receiver to throw to or you can up the difficulty where each eligible receiver will be assigned to a direction on the D-pad.  Simply hold that direction and flick the remote to throw.  You have all the expected moves while running with the ball like stiff arms, jukes and spins, many of them mapped to a motion.  It was pretty intuitive and almost always responded like I expected. 

There are some issues with the on the field action that can be frustrating.  Hit detection was not always understandable and many times I felt I was being tackled by a phantom.  There was someone in the area, but it wasn’t always apparent they were tackling me.  This might have just been because the tackling in the game is pretty rudimentary.  Simply running into someone will usually cause them to fall over ending the play.  The other big issue I had was not knowing exactly where on the field the out of bounds was.  There were way too many times I felt a ball was caught two or even three steps in bounds only to have the play whistled incomplete.  I also had a number of times where I felt an opposing player was tackled at the two yard line only to have the computer credited with a touchdown.  It’s very frustrating when these issues happen and something that really needs to be addressed in the next version of the game. 

The voice acting in the game is also less than stellar.  The play by play commentator, Sunny Day, was nice enough to listen to and would add some insightful comments to the game, but the color man, Chuck Downfield, was at times downright awful.  They play him up as a Madden type of character, but his ramblings are worse than anything the hall-of-famer could come up with.  Here are a few examples.  “I don’t know how many times I’ve said this.  You’ve gotta use your hands if you want to catch the ball.”  “They just scored a touchdown, which usually results in six points.” When choosing plays for you, “You can’t go wrong with that one and I oughta know.  I’m wrong all the time.”

As you would expect in a Backyard Sports game there are a large number of unusual play areas.  You have the traditional backyard, or school yard, but mixed in with that you can choose to play in the courtyard of a castle or on a construction site.  Aside from a different view, the fields don’t change the game play in any way, but it is nice to have a variety to choose from.  The players themselves are colorful and have different animations to express their emotions during play ranging from back flips to moonwalks.

Backyard Football ’10 is a competent alternative to anyone looking for a sports game to play with their younger gamers in the house.  The controls can be picked up quickly and they have the ability to grow with the player so as they become more comfortable more things can be added.  The game play is solid and who doesn’t want to know what it would have been like to play football with Tom Brady during elementary school.  He’s the quarterback for my Carolina Panthers and I catch touchdown passes from him all day.  If you’re looking for a good sports game that the whole family can enjoy this might be one to take a look at. 

Final Score: 3/5 Average

Review copy of the game provided by Atari.