Troy Aikman NFL Football

Troy Aikman NFL Football
Cover art
Developer(s)	Leland Interactive Media[1]
Publisher(s)	Tradewest[1][2]
Designer(s)	Michael Hunley David Schwartz Gary Luecker Kevin Lydy Michael Abbot John Stookey
Composer(s)	Robert Atesalp[3]
Platform(s)	Super NES Sega Genesis Atari Jaguar
Release date(s)	Super NES: NA: August 1994[1] Genesis: NA: 1994[2] Atari Jaguar: NA: February 1, 1995[4]
Genre(s)	Traditional American football simulation[1][3]
Mode(s)	Single-player[5] Multiplayer[5] (up to 2 players)

Troy Aikman NFL Football is a multiplatform American football video game that was released for the Atari Jaguar, Super NES and the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis.

Troy Aikman is the first member of the 1993 Dallas Cowboys to have his namesake in a game, followed by Emmitt Smith in Emmitt Smith Football.

Gameplay

Players can play exhibition matches, season matches, playoff matches, make their own plays for use on the field, and even make payments to the salaries of every player.^[3] Each season schedule can either be customized (to the player's exact specifications) or the player can use the schedule from the 1993 NFL season. There is limited speech from the referee and announcer.

Players can either play or coach an exhibition game or an entire regular season (including the Super Bowl). Games can be saved, which prevents the frustration of having to play 16-19 games in a single sitting.^[6]

Reception

The two sports reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the Super NES version scores of 65% and 68%, criticizing the small characters, choppy graphics, and poor defensive AI.^[7] Reviewing the Super NES version, Quick-Draw McGraw of GamePro commented that "What the Genesis did for Joe Montana, the SNES does for Troy Aikman." He noted the large number of options and special features, the inclusion of all the real-world NFL teams, the money management features, and the ability to create your own plays as the game's strong points, though he criticized the graphics and audio as mediocre.^[8]

GamePro's Slo Mo accorded the same praises to the Jaguar version but was more vehement in his criticism of the graphics, remarking that it is impossible to identify individual players in large mobs. He concluded, "Despite some tantalizing innovations, Troy Aikman Football sits in favor of better-crafted 16-bit games, including Troy's own clones."^[9] Electronic Gaming Monthly's sports reviewers gave it scores of 6 and 7 out of 10, saying that though they were impressed with the Jaguar version's improvements, particularly the graphics and the new Play Selection Accelerator feature, the game is still so-so. Like Slo Mo, they found that it is difficult to keep track of individual players, and that the control "still isn't what it should be for a big-time football game."^[10] A reviewer for Next Generation, while praising the game's comprehensive content, NFL licensing, and realistic gameplay application of the nuances of football, said that the mediocre graphics and animation, though better on the Jaguar than in previous versions of the game, make it fall short of other football video games on the market. Assessing it to be more a game for hardcore NFL fans than for video gamers, he gave it two out of five stars.^[11]

References