August 13, 1999 Web posted at: 3:38 p.m. EDT (1938 GMT) by Andrew "Go Packers" Bub

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(IDG) -- I am sooo ready for some football. It's been a long off-season, and baseball just gets on my nerves after a while. I need to see some gridiron action, and soon. Given that the first entry in this year's pro football PC game race is likely to herald a completely new series, I was anxious to check it out.

Microsoft NFL Fever 2000 is, as I said, a rookie: it's got a new development team, it's a new contender, and again, it's probably a new franchise. Since the game will go helmet to helmet with powerhouses like EA's Madden 2000, expectations will certainly be high--perhaps too high for a rookie to surpass in its initial season.

Still, NFL Fever has a couple of things in its favor. One is its price ($19.99 MSRP); another is knowledge of everything that was still wrong with PC football last year. Football is a tough sport to model accurately in game form.

The real game is a mix of action and thinking, planning and bashing, luck and skill. The best team in the league can lose to the worst--it happens all the time, in fact--and modeling player morale is virtually impossible. Then you have the dichotomy of offensive, defensive, and special-teams play (all disparate and hard to master).

It's also hard to find the right balance between passing and running. Madden '99 had an excellent passing game but a dismal running game, while NFL GameDay '99 had something of the opposite.

There's certainly room for a new football game, and room for improvement in the genre, but will Microsoft be able to please fans of all aspects of the sport? And if they do, will they get noticed in an already dominated market? With a playbook and game beta in hand, I must say, I'm generally optimistic about the game's chances.

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Microsoft has opted for arcade-style gameplay, with a presentation and interface that follow suit. Naturally, the game's easiest to control with a gamepad, but you can use a joystick or a keyboard as well. So far, NFL Fever plays like the rest and doesn't stand out.

But the graphics are fluid and decent, and the action flows in a distinctly football-ish way. Due to a nice slightly recessed default camera angle, it doesn't feel like three-seconds-and-then-down-to-the-ground on a short yardage run: you have a bit of time to think here. Passes are very easy to lead and underthrow, adding that much more strategy to the mix, and targeted players are yours to control almost immediately.

As you'd expect, you have the standard single-game, playoff, and full-season options. You'll also get a handy practice mode that's useful for when you want to try out a new team's playbook (each team has its own). You can load and save games in progress, so if you're short on time, you can sit down and play a 15-minute quarter game.

In short, Fever doesn't do anything significantly better than last year's crop right now in terms of raw gameplay. (Well, then again, in beta form it works better than the boxed version of Sierra's lamented Football Pro '99, but you could say that about all the upcoming football games.)

If I had to pick out a couple of small boons, I'd say that the passing is a touch more realistic than Madden's, and that the running game seems well-implemented here.

As far as the interface, what can I say? It works, the keys all make sense, and most importantly, the designers didn't opt for GameDay '99's confusing scroll-through-every-play-in-threes-to-find-the-one-you-want gaffe. Hit a button or key to snap, hit another to choose a running back or receiver, tap a key to toss the ball, and then perform all the jukes, jives, and maneuvers to hit the endzone on offense.

Defense is the same, but you have a wide array of easy-to-access tackles and swim moves, and even illegal shots you can use to cause a fumble or hurt the other team. Hey, the ref isn't always looking, right?

Madden still wins in the graphics department: Fever's players are exceptionally blocky. The visuals are otherwise attractive and smooth on lower-end cards, but nothing like the beauty EA gave us last year, and will likely add to this year. Still, this is merely a beta, and one dated almost two weeks ago. Fever's graphics may get an overhaul before the game is released.

Commentary is very well-handled by Dick Stockton and Mike Millan: It's not as grating as Madden gets, and much easier on the ear than GameDay's Enberg. Play-calling was almost always dead-on accurate, and the color commentary didn't get repetitive for quite awhile.

I should mention one troubling area of the game: the highly questionable statistical model. Simmed games came up with ludicrous scores like 94-13 and 92-84 (now that would be a game to see!). Also, where the heck are the new Cleveland Browns?

Provided Microsoft makes the graphics slightly sharper, fixes the stats model, and sells the game at its rumored low price, NFL Fever will be more than just a rookie; it'll be a serious contender with the other football games out there. Since it looks to be the first game off the scrimmage line this year, let's hope it's also among the best.

Bring on the game--but only if it's ready!