ESPN Sunday Night NFL

While better than its Genesis cousin, ESPN Sunday Night NFL on the SNES still falls short of the best football games. With plans for revisions next year, this game might be worth checking out. Next year.

That's not to say the game isn't playable; it's just a bit of a letdown after a big buildup. Once you reach halftime, it's back to the booth with Chris Berman, and this time you're treated to video highlights of "other games in progress". This is the kind of stuff I love - too bad they didn't include any cheerleader clips. Overall ESPN Football is just an average game, but I give it extra credit for presentation.

This game lacks the well-crafted execution of Madden '95 or any number of other football games. Save your cookies for those games - this one is just average football and average fun.

While ESPN Sunday Night Football isn't a total washout, it certainly pales in comparison to the majority of its SNES pigskin competition. Only the patient and forgiving gamer finds this to be anything other than average.

There's a good look down field before the snap and then the camera zooms smoothly in on the action, but the overall animation is rough. ESPN should consider yanking back its license before it becomes the laughing stock of the sports gaming industry.

It's just so broken and not worth the time to try to figure it out. I think more than just the confusing and bland play selection is that the basic engine for this game is pretty poor too. The field graphics are awful too! The "grass" looks like the fuzz on the TV turned green, and the lines on the field are way too thin. This game just really sucks. Is it as bad as Pro Quarterback? There is no way that it is, but it sure is an awful experience. Don’t get excited that this game says ESPN on it, just don’t play it. Don't even think about thinking about playing this game.

While I do not support the total dominance of sports leagues over video games, I do think that ESPN should have paid the licensing fee to get real NFL team names and real NFL player names for this cart. It would have been this game's only saving grace.