GameCube

Backyard Football

This is the perfect game for the non-sports fan... or the die hard sports fan as a guily pleasure. It's an incredibly enjoyable experience marred by only a few issues that keep it from greatness. It deserves to be updated on next gen consoles, EA's NFL exclusivity in place or not.

This title has lost something, which may be an intangible, but it gave the game its sense of style and distinguished it from other titles. Pablo Sanchez doesn’t look quite like the kid that is an athletic nightmare for other teams, and the range of facial expressions seems to have narrowed. This game will provide challenge, but is merely an average gridiron game.

During the past few months, GameCube owners have finally seen a welcomed selection of sports titles heading to the once sports-starved Nintendo home console. In the football arena alone, we've had our choice of Madden 2003, Sega's NFL 2K3, and even Midway's latest over-the-top Blitz entry. But what self-respecting videogame console could do without Left Field Production's brand-new, hard-hitting Backyard Football title? Apparently those of both Sony and Microsoft, as this little package of pigskin whoop-ass is exclusive to the Cube for some mysterious reason. Please note the sarcasm.