Drink a Beer and Play a Game Present: Touch Down Fever (NES) Review
17Drink a Beer and Play a Game bring you Touch Down Fever!
#TouchDownFever #NES #Football
Touch Down Fever
Our original goal was to release this review on the last day of the NFC and AFC championship rounds, but due to some technical problems we had to delay this release. With that said we have our second to last football review for the NES. Today's game is Touchdown Fever.
Touch Down Fever falls into place with many other games of the time. For one, this is another case of no licenses to either the NFL nor NFLPA, so you won't be seeing team or player names. There are 12 teams, represented by the cities of real teams. Besides the city names, there are a few steps they took to represent the teams. For one, the color scheme closely (but not exactly) matches those of the teams. Also, each team has a unique halftime show, with the mascot for the team in the center. This makes sense for some, like the Cowboys or the Lions, but for others, like New York, it makes no sense. I am not sure how the Giants are represented by robots, but to each their own.
This game is a lot like many of the other games of the time. It was a game where the enemy A.I. was unfairly hard, and turnovers are very common. Back in this time, you were normally only going to score easily by either running or passing, rarely does both work. In this game, neither really works. You get 4 plays to choose from, similar to Tecmo Bowl, with the 5th set being available once you are in the red zone or 4th down. The running game is almost non existent, as the lines always get crowded and breaking a decent run is very tough. The passing game is much easier to score with, but has its own problems. For one, targeting a receiver is hard as hell. There is no auto aim, you need to put it in an area that the receiver will hopefully get to. Another problem is with the responsiveness of the controls. Half of the time, the ball will not go where you think you are throwing, leading to easy turnovers. There are punts and field goals, and field goals are done automatically in when you select it, there is no control over it.
Presentation wise, this game leaves a lot to be desired. The graphics are weak, especially for 1991 standards. While the sprites and grass are crisp, everything barely looks more than slight upgrade over 10 Yard Fight. The opening video is nicely done, and the halftime show retains the sprites of the game. The crowd is very basic, but that is common for the time, and you only see it once you kick the ball through the uprights. The music is another issue, and is a real mixed bag. The opening song is awesome, probably one of the best 8 bit tracks you will find, especially in a sports game. In game, you only get one short track, which loops over and over. It isn't bad, but it isn't good enough to not get sick of. You get crowd noise and beeps representing voice, but you don't get sounds for tackles, throws, or runs.
You get only 4 game modes: PvP, PvC, 2PvC and the tournament (season) mode. Playing against a friend or computer is an exercise in frustration, because of the terrible controls, but the 2 player vs computer mode is where the game "shines."
Overall, Touch Down Fever does a lot to try and make you like it, but fails because of the control. No game works if it isn't playable, and this unfortunately falls into that place. The presentation doesn't do it any favors, and the only saving grace is the Co-Op mode. We would recommend Brooklyn Winter Ale (review coming soon) for this, since it matches the perfect amount of smooth drinking and enjoyability the entire time.
While playing this game we enjoyed some Pumking.
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