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Genre: Sports
System(s): PSP
ESRB: Unknown
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Blitz: The League (Formerly "Blitz: Playmakers") is a football game by Midway as an unlicensed extention of their NFL Blitz series, based on the life of Lawrence Taylor and released after the NFL signed an exclusive licensing deal with Electronic Arts. It was released in October 2005 and is currently available for purchase for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.
Since they can no longer use the NFL license, Blitz: The League (which is also a play on words, Blitz: The League = attacking the NFL) focuses on a fictional league (known simply as "The League") of 18 teams [1]. The game also brings back the hard-hitting and "violent" gameplay of former Blitz games in a ramped-up manner. Former NFL star Lawrence Taylor is in the game as Quentin Sands, captain of the New York Nightmare.
Game developers have been able to take the game to an entirely different level. For example, players now engage in troublesome off-the-field activities, such as partying and sending prostitutes to visit opposing teams before a game to affect their performance during their next game. Players are able to take performance-enhancing drugs. The game is also excessively violent, with gamers able to perform "dirty hits" on their opponents. The NFL would never allow its players to be portrayed in this manner, but now that the game is made up of fictional players and teams, Midway can make a game of this nature. A website has been created for Blitz: The League[2] that acts as if The League is real.
At the center of the game is "Campaign Mode," where gamers create their own League team and try to advance the team through the 3 different divisions in the League.
The game is criticized by some for its controversial features and by players of the game because of something called "catchup A.I." Most gamers simply refer to it as "the computer cheating." This means that if a gamer builds up a large lead, even against a much weaker team, the computer-controlled team usually finds a way to come back and win the game or at the very least make it close. This usually happens through repeated, unrealistic turnovers (a player is touched and he fumbles the ball or the ball is tipped several times and is intercepted) or the injury of a key player of the gamer. Other times a gamer can drive all the way down the field at will and the computer will somehow come up with a big play to stop the scoring drive. According to the game's developers, this is a result of the A.I. receiving a bonus to their stats if the gamer repeatedly runs the same play; however, the A.I. seems to catch up no matter the playcalling by the gamer.
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