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Before you sigh and remember what a disappointment Unnecessary Roughness (UR) 95 was, try to picture this years version of Accolades football simulation as a whole new ball game. In a market that was well-saturated by other vendors simulations, Accolade was best thought of as missing the mark by 100 yards. UR96 is Accolades answer to the 180-degree turn that all the gamers requested. This years game has statistics that almost rival Sierras Front Page Sports Football 96 and UR 96s action game is quite playable.
With a tough contender like Sierras football simulation, Front Page Sports Football (FPSF), UR 96 definitely has its work cut out, especially with regards to statistics and coaching, where FPSF excels. In the action-gameplay arena, FPS Sports Football doesnt even come close to the Sega-type action that Accolades sim gives us this year. Though the action-gaming aspect isnt as easy to pick up as Electronic Arts Madden football series, it is as close as the other rivals on the PC have offered. The combination of an excellent statistics portion accompanying a good action game is something that no other football sim has done as well as UR 96.
Most PC-football jocks want one of two things in their games: strong coaching control, along with league and career play that displays accurate statistics; or action-gameplay that displays good AI and hopefully a savvy interface to play head-to-head. FPSF has the upper hand with respect to career play and drafting since UR 96 doesnt have these features. Those PC-football veterans, who enjoy playing career leagues, should shy away from UR 96. The other coaching features in UR 96 are most impressive though. Setting up a playbook was intuitive to create and easy to implement into gameplay. So, that secret weapon play that you save for Thanksgiving day football games can finally be implemented into an action football sim. Even checking the individual players statistics shows great detail, almost justifying the need to keep the CD in the drive while playing. One of the most attractive features in this game is its ability to let you incorporate your own plays into coaching or action gaming. The remaining coaching factors are about par for the course with fairly accurate statistics. You cant expect the defensive AI to learn from how often youve called a slant pass on second down. The computer opponent uses a statistical decision-making process based on down, yardage, and other outside pressures like the score or the period in the game. Overall, the AI is pretty good -and sometimes too good – if you consider the passing game and how easily the computer completes passes.
The biggest factor in this game causing the gameplay to seem lopsided is the passing game. Though you can change the degree of effort required in controlling your passing game, its tough no matter what you choose. Completing a pass is so difficult, that most players will give up on even attempting it. The biggest problem with no passing is that it limits your game to half its potential. I dont believe Steve Young or Troy Aikman would be big-name players if all they did was pitch and hand off. To make it even more annoying, the computer doesnt have any problem passing. Luckily the computer doesnt know its own advantage and will stick to the typical percentages of run and pass. Accolade had the right idea with having different difficulty levels to passing but needs to heavily increase the likelihood of completions for human players.
UR96 has made some good improvements over last years graphics. Utilizing high-resolution graphics and various user-controlled camera angles give us a good feel for the game of football. Even the players have a highly-defined physique along with detailed uniforms and distinguishable numbers. These high-resolution graphics come at a “hefty system required” price tag though. Unfortunately, this price tag doesnt tell you in the fine print that the frame rate is still too low to see a lot of the action. Even on a monster computer system the frame rate makes a tackle or other movements seem like you missed half the action. This frame rate is much improved over last years game but still needs enhancement to truly enjoy the action. The remaining graphics with the playbook and various elements like weather conditions are nicely done.
The sounds are appropriate and really place you on the field. Accolade has employed the help of two of footballs greatest to help. Al Michaels provides the sportscasting for the highlights and the referee is Jerry Markbriet, four-time Super Bowl Head Referee. There are plenty of whistle blows, crunches, oomphs, and audibles to draw you into the game. The only irritating thing about the sound effects is the effect of poor frame rate, which makes the sounds seem poorly timed. Having the referee calls is amusing but ends up ultimately slowing down gameplay. Though the sounds are more than adequate, I expected more from a game that requires you to keep the CD in the drive while playing.
The interface is what you would expect from a football sim. The field is made visible from various viewpoints but with the rear view of the quarterback being standard to see play development. A nice option is having a small portion of the screen display an overhead view with Xs and Os representing players while a play executes. Controlling your players can be done via the usual hardware choices, but using a gamepad is highly recommended. Using a joystick to play a game like this will certainly wear it down much quicker than you would like and will give you quite a workout as well. Once a gamepad is implemented, gameplay is only a few thumb strokes away.
The game installs into Windows95 without a glitch. Though the manual never mentions any software requirements, it is safe to assume the game will run in both DOS 5.0 and higher or Windows 95. The accompanying manual is a well-polished booklet. Areas of interest are nicely indexed and presented to clarify some of the more involved features of the game. If you are experiencing graphics problems, a patch is available from Accolade’s website. The only poor aspect of the logistics of UR 96 is that you are forced to keep the game in the CD drive while playing.
This football simulation has all the basic ingredients that a demanding gamer would want. Accolade has turned this years Unnecessary Roughness series into a game to be reckoned with. If you are looking for a good combination between statistics and action gameplay than UR 96 fits the bill well. If coaching and league play is your thing then sticking with the current champion, Front Page Sports, is a better bet. UR 96 just needs that bit of polishing to improve frame rate and its passing game and it will be the game to beat in football simulations.
| Product: | Unnecessary Roughness 96 |
| Company: | Accolade |
| Cost: | $49.95 |
IBM PC Compatible, 486/66, 2X CD-ROM, 8MB RAM, 29MB HD
space, SVGA video card. Preferred: Pentium 90, 16MB RAM, fast VLB or PCI
video card, Sound Blaster supported sound card, gamepad(s).
No Spam
Adult 
Gambling
Unfinished
Deception
Plagiarism
Not English
