Features

• Return of the NFL Quarterback Challenge mode, featuring 4 head-to-head events: Speed and Mobility, Accuracy, Long Distance Throw and Read & Recognition
• Play as active or retired Quarterbacks in Challenge Mode or create your own QB
• Unlock retired greats like John Elway, Dan Marino, Steve Young, Jim Kelly and Phil Simms by winning QB Challenge events and adding them to your team rosters
• All 31 NFL clubs and over 1500 NFL players
• All 31 NFL stadiums in full 3D with animated crowds and real-time field deterioration
• Play-by-Play from Kevin Harlan and color calls from Bill Maas
• TV style presentation for tight gameplay and player close-ups
• Player models feature blinking eyes, jaw motions, facial expressions and removable helmets
• Over 1500 motion captured animations like wrap tackles and player celebrations
• Real life player face textures for over 350 star players
• Sideline action features players and coaches interacting
• Player injuries, penalties and weather conditions affect season play and individual player performance
• Five modes of play: Season, Exhibition, Challenge Mode, Playoffs, and Pro Bowl

Gameplay
NFL Quarterback Club 2002 comes with the expected features and modes including Exhibition, Season, Practice, Playoffs, and Simulation (situation-based gameplay). However, it lacks a franchise mode, which hardcore football fans tend to appreciate even more than a season mode. A franchise mode adds a lot of depth to the single-player mode because it lets you take a team from rags to riches, so to speak. You will improve your stats, trade players, and take part in major drafts. With a season mode you simply spend your time vying to take the Super Bowl for that year. That said, the lack of a franchise mode really hurts QBC 2002's worth.

The game's lack of a franchise mode is hardly its biggest issue, though. The core gameplay of NFL QB Club 2002 just feels sloppy in comparison to the tight experience offered up by Madden NFL 2002. Football software often delivers two types of control: simulation and arcade. Usually arcade just feels a lot faster and most of what goes on seems less plausible, whereas simulation tends to feel slower and, of course, more realistic. QB Club 2002 is somewhere in between the two, but is overall more weighted towards an arcade feel. You'll be able to take sharp turns, spin in quick 360s, and a number of other moves that aren't really affected by momentum and real-world physics. However, there's something about it all that just doesn't seem to come together well. With a full NFL license and team statistics weighted by the real-world teams, you can't help but want a more true-to-life experience.

As a "football simulation with arcade controls", QB Club 2002 isn't all that bad. With the ball you can do stiff arms, spins and jukes, but they seem to be a lot less effective than just using your skills with the control stick (such as old-school jukes where you actually move the player and not have a button do it for you). The control is very responsive and you'll rarely be put into a situation where you'll feel that the onscreen player did something that you didn't want him to do.

However, even if you end up liking the control mechanics, the way the game plays out just feels flimsy. The advanced defensive play calling is one of the features Acclaim had been touting, as you can pick the formation of the coverage and the play, the overall calling setup is a bit clumsy. You are only able to see one play on offense and defense at a time, so regardless of the fact that you can see the names of three plays, you can only see an illustration of one of them. Once you learn your play book it's not so bad, but it does little to make calling efficient or even intuitive. Furthermore, the difference in offensive plays isn't particularly noticeable from team to team, which takes away from the idea of choosing certain teams.

Graphics
QBC 2002 draws from the same engine technology that Acclaim's All-Star Baseball 2002 ran on. As you may know, much of this was catered to the PlayStation 2. That said, QB Club 2002 is another PS2 port. It even features the same, almost blinding flickering textures. The crowds look especially horrific, a set of redundant, monotonous textures that could be likened to a sea of vomit. The overall look is also a lot less vibrant than Madden NFL 2002 in comparison. Textures lack color depth and just don't stand up to the competition. Oddly enough, the team took the time to implement reflective helmets, but they end up appearing out of place in the midst of a more blurry backdrop. The framerate is altogether unstable, dropping to 30 frames per second and below regularly.

Animations, though motion captured, are equally choppy. Nothing flows seamlessly, and even though a few of the animations flow somewhat smoothly, it's only momentary as they don't lead well into the next animation. As well, due to the increased speed of the game, many of the animations lose any fluidity they might have had. Again, compared to Madden NFL 2002 there can be little debate which features better animations.

The visuals aren't all bad, though. The developers have scanned the faces of more than 350 starting NFL players and most of them accurately depict their real-life counterparts. There are also a lot of nice little touches like blinking eyes, emotion shown by the players through their facial expressions, cool footprints that will fade away in the snow, and helmets that will get knocked off. Overall, it's acceptable, but if you've experienced EA's Madden 2002, expect to be very let down. Videophiles won't have the availability of a progressive scan or 16:9 mode either.

Sound
The game's play-by-play is handled by Kevin Harlan the color commentary work is performed by Bill Maas, who happened to be the first to break the news of Jimmy Johnson's planned retirement after the 1998 season for those interested. Even though their voices do show some enthusiasm and you'll here an occasional whimsical comment here and there, what you're getting here is pretty average stuff and what's said will often not necessarily reflect what just happened on the field. Harlan will sometimes comment on a great play by the defensive back when what really happened was a wide open received dropped a pass.

As far as the sound effects are concerned, it's quite reminiscent of what you'd hear in an old Madden game on the 16-bit systems. The crunches and hits have a very arcade-ish smack sound to them and the general football noises aren't something that one would describe as being realistic. The crowd noises are, again, standard with what you'd expect from a football game. Nothing obnoxiously bad, but nothing really special that makes it stand out or improve upon this area in comparison to past games.

created by da biszy