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Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff
Publisher: Tecmo
Developer: Tecmo
Genre: Sports (football)
Release Date: November 18, 2008
Platform: Nintendo DS
ESRB: E - Everyone
Reviewer: Eric
 Madden
owns the rights to the NFL, literally. Instead of waiting it out, hoping the
Nation Football League comes to their senses; Tecmo went ahead and did there own
thing. Tecmo dug deep and pulled out a classic. Kickoff looks and sounds great
but it has more than enough problems.
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff was designed to make fans of the NES and SNES games happy.
The Tecmo Bowl series has been one of the most popular sports game. Even to this
date teenagers, young adults, and adults play the original Nintendo version.
Kickoff is just like the old game but there are a few draw backs and that’s
thanks to EA Sports and the NFL.
We all know by now that EA Sports owns the rights to the NFL. That means nobody
else can use anything related to the NFL. No teams, stadiums or even big
players. It is completely unfair but some companies have gone out and made their
own fantasy leagues. Tecmo took the path of the fantasy league and Kickoff was
born.
The teams in Kickoff are made up; however they do use cleaver ways to make you
think you’re actually playing as the Pittsburgh Steelers or the Miami Dolphins.
This part of the game really doesn’t bother me at all. My biggest problem will
be revealed shortly.
Since the Tecmo series started out on a basic console the DS was the perfect
fit. The controls work great. Everything is just like it uses to be down to the
handful of plays you can pick from. Tecmo didn’t try to spice things up and I
give them a lot of credit for that. Just make sure you don’t use the stylus
controls, they are beyond bad.
I only said good things about the game so far. Here is my biggest problem about
the game. I had to go through three copies of the game just to find a working
one. Kickoff has major errors with it, most of which make the game unplayable.
If you decide to close your system while playing it your Nintendo DS will go
crazy. One time my system actually made noises, something I never heard before.
Other
times I would get to the last quarter and the game would lock up. This happen
way too often. Thankfully I found a working copy and I don’t have these problems
any more. I tried to get a hold of Tecmo about this issue but they have yet to
respond to me. Is Tecmo trying to hide something?
With all of those downers I am going to end this on a good note. The Wi-Fi
Connection opens up a whole new world to Tecmo Bowl. Once you share codes you
will be able to enjoy football games with no slow down. You never have to
contact your buddies to dig up your NES now, just plug in the game into your DS
and you’re ready.
Final Verdict
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is a blast from the past. The experience I had with this
game was great. I felt like I was playing the original game. Madden might be the
king football but Kickoff is the game fans will play for years. Pick this one
up, even if you have to go through a few copies to find a good one.
Rating
7.50 out of 10
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff Trailer
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