Excited and over the top football sim, but shallow
The problem of ABC Monday Night Football is that it tries a bit too hard to simulate the actual TV presentation of a football game, more than it tries to actually create a gameplay experience that is worth basking in. I guess we're all familiar with modern AAA games to try and be, well, hip, to try and get the best of either live television presentation or to have some cinematic qualities in the way it is delivered. And that, when it doesn't outright take the focus away from the actual gameplay and interaction, subverting the game into a watching experience, it takes away from it in subtle ways. A wrong camera angle, or a zoom of the camera that is disorienting or a cut to a different camera angle that takes you out of teh experience. Well, given that ABC Monday Night Football is a 2D, overhead game, it didn't really have all the tools for all those tricks, but it sure tried! It fake zooms in and out of teh game, it cuts to superfluous animation only portions mid game, you know it just breaks the game down into interactive bits and many non interactive bits. Which might have been novel and interesting as a shtick, but it sure doesn't give you much in terms of playing the game. So, yap, these issues were common in games as far back as 89, for those that thought that modern gaming is where all these nasty intrusion happen! Anyway, I'm much more a fan of John Madden American Football which I definitely recommend you try.
