Mutant League Football

The Good
Oh man, where do I begin, this game is described in one word. Awesome. There was a whole hell of a lot to love about this game, I mean what game can you play that lets up control skeleton, trolls, supermen and aliens bashing each other, tearing each other apart, stepping on land mines and falling in fire pits or even destroy the ref.

This game had awesome graphics and very large sprites and the sounds were spectacular. I love this voices for each and the little fun things they would say once they decimated an opponent. The gore level was fantastic and the funny pokes at real NFL teams like the San Fransisco 49ers (or as the called refers to them as the Whiners).

To put it bluntly, there is hardly anything wrong about this game.

The Bad
Well, there were a few things, the one is some slowdown, but nothing you can't help, hard for the Genesis to process close to 20 different players, not including the ref, a ball in the air trying to follow it and three different players getting torn apart at the same time. It's nothing serious.

The one thing I was this game would have would be a field editor. There is a good bit of variety of fields to begin with, but I love to create a super death field, complete with land mines, fire pits and holes complete with the voids into space.

The Bottom Line
In the end, this is one hell of a game, I still wish they would bring this game back. There is a PSP version on EA's Replay Pack, but I love to see it redone on the consoles or even a retro release. If you ever get a chance, pop this sucker in and have some fun.

The Good
Mutant League Football is one of those storied games of yore - one that is well-remembered and considered by some to be a classic.

The whole concept is cool. An ultra-violent monster football league, with players (and refs!) that don't make it through the entire game in one piece? Awesome. Some of the players are modeled and named after great NFL players of the time (like "Bones Jackson" and "Reggie Fright"). Victory can be achieved through scoring more points than your opponent, but it can also be achieved by destroying all of the opposing team's players.

That's about where the good stuff ends.

The Bad
Some things are best left to nostalgia. Mutant League's play control is not very tight. Oftentimes, it seems like you are not really in control. The control simply is not responsive.

On-field action is also not very good. Against the computer, it is child's play to dominate the competition. All one really has to do is be slightly competent. Despite that, the football play is really awkward. There's really no "making plays". You simply can't control things well enough to, say, make quick cut-backs to use your blockers. Rather, you run to the outside, and you either get caught before turning the corner, or you don't.

Passing is similarly unintuitive. You don't actually see the pass routes unfold. Instead, you get little windows that show each receiver. You can see if someone's immediately covering them, but you can't tell if your pass is going to be thrown into traffic or not. It's also impossible to tell if a receiver is 15 yards downfield, or 15 feet. If you pay close attention to the play call, you can have an idea of where they will be, but it's still not ideal.

Audio is pretty sparse. Outside of the occasional "great hit!", there's not much to hear.

The Bottom Line
Mutant League Football is the subject of many tales of the Genesis heyday, but it is not a great game. The play control is shoddy, and the gameplay is flawed (partially as a result of the former). The cool idea basically goes to waste on a poor execution. The flaws may have been more tolerable in years gone by, but while some games hold up very well today, Mutant League Football does not.