Block & Tackle

STUPOR BOWL

A Review of Block & Tackle

by Robert Coffey

As software sales continue to rise, more and more large companies are trying

to get on the bandwagon, not necessarily because they have anything of

quality to offer but just because they want to be a part of a growing

market. Figuring that their high name recognition factor qualifies them to

compete in this arena, Memorex has taken the plunge, dumping a bunch of

out-of-date, marginal product on a CD and selling it at a low price as

“value” software. Other companies, such as Electronic Arts and Interplay,

have been releasing older programs at reduced prices, but they’re selling

great games like Wing Commander II and System Shock. Perhaps someone should

have told the bigwigs at Memorex that there’s a reason many of the programs

in their Classic Series have been residing in cutout bins the last few

years, that while you might occasionally find a diamond in the rough, most

of the time you just find a lot of, well, a lot of rough.

Block & Tackle is a football themed CD-ROM and it comes with 3 programs: Tom

Landry Strategy Football (a game), Fantasy Football (a rotisserie football

manager), and Pro Football Stat-Master (a real team stats database).

Separately, none of these programs are anything special, but grouped

together…none of these programs are anything special. The CD installs

easily, just don’t expect to install Block & Tackle and run the programs off

the CD – everything is shoveled onto your hard drive, including the manuals

which, in the case of the non-game programs, can get pretty complicated.

Manuals can be printed, but for a disc this ill-concieved it’s hardly worth

the trouble or the toner.

The big title on the disk is Tom Landry Strategy Football. While this game

may have been something special back when it was first released (though I

doubt it), it really pales in comparison to the crop of more recent football

games. Gamers who enjoy passing, running, and tackling in other games will

not enjoy Tom Landry since this game only offers the chance to play as

coach. While some may enjoy this coach-only approach as a test of strategy

and general football know- how, most football games out there offer this

same option plus give you a much broader range of choices in your coaching.

Play in this game is pretty restricted. On defense you’re held to deciding

only your team’s formation. You’ll pick formation when playing offense, too,

though you’re given the bonus of deciding whether to pass or run, where to

pass or run, and who gets the ball. That’s it. It’s as simple and as

woefully limited as that. There is no library of set plays from which to

choose, and forget about designing your own.

What else is wrong with Tom Landry Strategy Football? Lots, but here’s a few

of the more obvious. The animated players are seriously dated and look like

something out of an arcade game from 5 years ago. There’s no 2 point

conversion.

Restoring saved games doesn’t necessarily start the game where

you left it. The music is maddeningly repetitive and only stops during the

animated sequences, during which there is no sound of any kind whatsoever.

All gameplay is seen from one camera angle, a scrolling side view that can’t

even be changed even during instant replays. Though there is a nice database

rating all the teams and players, all the players are made up since the game

doesn’t have an NFL license – you can play as San Diego, just don’t expect

to get Junior Seau on your team. Dropping to your knee with 16 seconds left

in the game doesn’t kill the clock – you have to run another play, maybe

two, before the game ends. The AI of the computer opponent is very

questionable, for instance, why is the computer performing goal line type

plunges on 1st & 10 on their opponent’s 45 when trailing by 20 with 1:10

left in the game? What is good about this game? Well, if you hate losing,

it’s pretty easy to beat the computer. That, and it does support modem play.

The other two programs on Block & Tackle are similarly unimpressive and, due

to their limited appeal, barely warrant mention. I can see Fantasy Football

being of use to anyone managing a rotisserie football team, especially since

it does support stat updating from the major online services. Nonetheless,

most people will have no need for such a program, or the third program

either, for that matter. Despite its name, Pro Football Stat Master is less

a compendium of stats than it is a betting guide, its graphs and reports

concerned only with pointspreads, Monday night records and like. Anyone

looking for a football encyclopedia or individual player stats won’t find

them here, though there is an adequate little trivia game included with Stat

Master. Though there’s nothing particularly wrong with either of these

programs, neither quite justifies the price of the CD-ROM, especially since

there’s probably shareware programs out there that do the same thing. Come

to think of it, both of these look like they were shareware. Hmmm…..I

wonder…..

In any event, I recommend that you do a quick end run around Block & Tackle.

Even at $14.95 it’s no bargain. Tom Landry Strategy Football is easily

bested by any number of other football games, games that are a only year or

two old and can be found in most software closeout bins. The other two

programs will appeal only to limited few and can probably be found as

shareware if you’re willing to look. Memorex is going to have to do better

than Block & Tackle if they intend to be a real player in the software game.

Gamer’s Zone Scorecard

Product:	Block & Tackle
Company:	Memorex Software Series P.O. BOX 4471 Lakewood, CA 90711-4471 (503) 639-6863

Cost:

$14.95

PC compatible 386/SX or better, 640K RAM, 10-20MB hard

disk space, CD-ROM drive, DOS 5.0 or better, VGA graphics, mouse, supports

AdLib or Soundblaster audio.