Double Take: Joe Montana II: Sports Talk Football

[Melf]

Sega took the Joe Montana series in a whole new direction with the sequel, but what Sports Talk Football did with the commentary wasn't really reflected in the gameplay. While the game is a true evolution in terms of presentation, people play football games for the actual gameplay, and that's where ol' Joe came up short on fourth down. Read the full article for details.

[Baloo]

I agree, this game is terrible.

"I CAN'T BAY-LIEVE IT!"

[Benjamin]

Expected to be roasted when I clicked on the link as I was for my poor review. It's a poor game that suffers once the then cutting edge novelty wears off.

[Baloo]

The only two football games you'll ever need:

The original Joe Montana Football

Tecmo Super Bowl for NES.

Anything else is fluff.

[Bones Justice]

Ouch. Was this double-take really necessary? I mean, the original reviewer gave this a 3 out of 10 already. While it's not a perfect game, I think this game was scored too low in the first place. There are a lot of football games for the Genesis, most of them Madden-clones, and this game is better quality than the most of them. Based upon the Sega 16 review manifest, I'd give this game a 6 out of 10 ("Better than average and a decent game to be had for a cheap price."). I'd definitely score it higher than the first Joe Montana Football, which is average at best, with it's only real distinction being that it's the original Madden-clone, having been programmed by the same guys that created John Madden Football. They even admitted that they deliberately crippled the first Joe Montana game to make it worse than Madden (see Sega 16 articles for more). Usually when gamers claim one game is better than another it's opinion but in the case of the first Montana compared to Madden, it's a well-documented fact.

This reviewer gives Joe Montana 2 good remarks for graphics and sound but doesn't care for the gameplay. Looking at the specifics:

- Reviewer says that the players do not have numbers. None of the games had this feature then.

- Reviewer doesn't like that all of the players "look the same". Yet they all look the same in the first Joe Montana Football, too. In fact, this is true of every Genesis football game ever released except for three fantasy football games -- Cyberball, Mutant League Football, and Pigskin Footbrawl. At least the players in Joe Montana 2 are well-animated with more frames of animation than any other Genesis football game except it's own sequels.

- Reviewer says that gameplay on the field is too slow. It's actually the same speed as the first Joe Montana game that the reviewer likes so much! It takes two seconds for a player to run ten yards in either game.

- Reviewer says that the playbook is "shoddy". It actually has about the same number of plays as the original Joe Montana. The plays are typical pro-style plays. The playbook is original rather than a poor copy of the one found in John Madden Football.

- Reviewer says the most fun is that some plays (fake punt, halfback pass) work well. I'd probably actually say the CPU AI is one of the game's weaknesses. The CPU does play as well or better than the average Madden-clone, though, and is a tougher opponent than the CPU in the first Joe Montana game.

- Reviewer doesn't like runs up the middle because he can't gain yardage and trips over his own teammates. I'd call this user error. I played this game a lot back in the day and running the ball was not overly difficult, inside or out. I would say if you are running into your teammates when you are carrying the ball then you are doing it wrong.

- Reviewer says the game would be better with the NFL license. I agree but no Genesis game had the NFL license until 1992 when Sega released NFL 93 SportsTalk Football starring Joe Montana. Madden didn't even get the NFL license until the next year in 1993 with Madden NFL 94. The first Joe Montana Football didn't have the NFL license, either.

- Reviewer says the controls are bad because they are not like Madden. There is no rule that says what the A, B, or C button must do in all football games. I might agree if the directional pad didn't work in the usual up=up, down=down fashion but that's not the case here. There's simply nothing confusing and no button combinations required at all. There is nothing wrong with controls that are different from John Madden Football.

- Reviewer says sometimes you can't see the passing arrow. Again, I say user error because I have never had this happen.

- Reviewer says sometimes your player dives backwards instead of passing the ball. Again, I say user error. The "A" button passes the ball while the "C" button dives; the only way it could happen as the reviewer described is if the wrong button was pressed. Of course, the "C" button is used in passing for Madden and other games so the reviewer may have been confused. Again, user error.

***

You know, I never recommend Joe Montana 2 anymore because the sequels are better and just as inexpensive. But it's still a good game that's better than the average football game for Genesis.

[streetsofrage]

The only two football games you'll ever need:

The original Joe Montana Football

Tecmo Super Bowl for NES.

Anything else is fluff.

what about madden 93