Lost in the shuffle with the announcement of NFL Blitz‘s return is the fact the game is actually rated more strictly than its Madden counterpart. As the inaugural hype video for the game shows, it’s an E10+ for, among other things,”mild language”.
Didn’t the original NFL Blitz have comically censored cussin’? Maybe that’s what the rating is referring to. Still, as this trailer shows, it will be a more violent game than either Madden or Madden NFL Arcade. Cartoonishly violent, maybe, but still violent.
You couldn’t tell it from this trailer though. I’ve watched through a few times and can only spot three really big player-on-player hits, the kind of crazy pro-wrestling suplex tackles that marked the original. In one instance, it’s a Packer tackling Sasquatch, and in another, it’s a Buccaneer taking down a robot. Although, to be fair, at 0:20 is the Cowboys’ DeMarcus Ware plowing the Eagles’ Michael Vick out of bounds.
It’s worth pointing out because of the NFL’s skittish image-management of a sport whose appeal is based on the big hit, but shies away from marketing that because of obvious PR problems in so doing. The success of Blitz‘s return will depend on how much it makes people recall the original. The original was made in an era when the league was under different management and wasn’t facing the kind of publicity over concussions that it is today.
“We’ve worked hand-in-hand with the NFL since we got the idea to bring Blitz back to life,” Dave Ross, the game’s project lead, told Kotaku. “Blitz will still contain over-the-top, fast arcade action with big hits and guys catching on fire, first down and 30 to go, with pass interference encouraged.”
As far as the old-style big hitting action, Ross said: “Since we’re not done with development, the NFL is still approving aspects of the game,” he said. “But what we will deliver, and when we deliver it, will be a very engaging and nostalgic look back at what it was.”
The game will be available in January for 1200 Microsoft Points.
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