Doug Flutie's Maximum Football - Dr. Dray

all right Europeans listen up there are a lot of things I like about your continent public transportation and cheap alcohol Chief among them but you know what sucks you don't have college sports now I get it you got Club system and relegation that's all great here's the thing college sports are way better than professional sports because you never know what's going to happen they're unpredictable and that's why they're so fun to watch and likewise the same holds true for video games don't get me wrong this is fine but this is way better there's a certain element of [ __ ] a helping of nonsensical fun in college sports games that make some ridiculously fun and infinitely replayable like many others I was deeply disappointed when these titles were taken away from us and I'm excited to be getting them back soon but I don't know next year just seems like so far away so with that in mind picture this I was existing at the local GameStop as I do when I noticed something on the Shelf Doug Flutie's maximum football I flipped the case over college football gaming is back awesome I love college football gaming surely there's no hidden meaning behind this game only being worth six dollars obviously I bought it on the spot and as I drove home I was certain that this was going to be one of my best financial investments of the Year let's fire this bad boy up oh uh hello there now this is a menu with some personality not only are we greeted by this strapping young lab but we also have a number of what I like to call options to start with one thing that immediately sticks out with this game is the amount of customization available not only are you allowed to change the team names info and uniform for all teams in this game but you can also design custom logos using the built-in logo creator and it is unbelievably clunky still the amount of customization available in this game is pretty cool and definitely appreciated alright let's go ahead and try the play now feature I want to get into a game already we have the choice of 16 different teams which clearly have no relation to any potential real world counterparts Doug quick question why are none of these teams rated higher than an 81 what's your agenda here we also get to choose between professional college and Canadian rule sets actually I think this is kind of cool and while I vastly prefer the correct sets of rules to my knowledge this is the only video game series to feature Canadian football getting into an actual game graphically it's not that bad looking the UI could use some work and the animation seed a hefty dose of WD-40 they are way too stiff but I think the player models look pretty solid especially for a game running in unity overall this is acceptable aside from the crowd they decided to go the Mario Kart 8 route on that one as for the gameplay itself oh would you look at the time it's goofy o'clock let's take kickoffs as an example so there's no power meter like in Madden instead you have to flick the stick as quickly as possible but that alone won't get you too far see the default kick angle is pretty low so if you want to maximize the kick distance then you also need to mess around with the kick angle and Direction on every single kickoff which more or less means lots of trial and error the setup is clearly less than ideal especially given the otherwise obvious resemblance to Madden a lot of this game's controls are like this similar to Madden but tweaked in ways that just don't really feel quite right also strange is how there's no tutorial to go along with these wonky controls rather the game forces you to sift through a multitude of menu screens just so you can learn that it's the x button that makes you sprint why come on guys you know most people would consider you an alternative to EA's offerings in fact it's something that you yourself recognize almost all of your users have played these games and are already familiar with its controls if you're gonna rip off EA's controls don't be wishy-washy about it just do it or if you have to be unique then provide a proper tutorial or at least come up with something more intuitive than this Jesus with this game's physics there are two major things that stick out to me first up speed maybe it's just me but everyone feels really quick in this game and I'm not just talking about sprinting either I mean the normal run speed it almost feels like a lineman in this game is just as fast if not faster than a sprinting running back in one of EA's offerings thank God the Sprint speed in this game is barely any faster or else I would be having way more trouble with the second major Quirk of the physics sensitivity the hit detection in this game it isn't bad but it's definitely not as robust as a franchise that's been around for I don't know 35 years or so it does come across as a bit touchy tackles are definitely more hit or miss pun not necessarily intended there's not really a lot of tackling animations I've never seen players get wrapped up or tripped up and half the time they just Ragdoll upon getting hit and that's just for tackles blocking on the scrimmage line is even more funky there's only one animation for engaging with the o-line and if you try anything at all then the game has no idea how to handle it I swear shedding blockers just doesn't work in this game but if I try to go completely around them then I either get stuck on one of them or I go zooming around and have no idea how to stop already same goes for interceptions you have to be lined up right in front of the ball to even have a chance at catching it it is so touchy I mean I've never been great at defense in these games but between the hit detection and the speed of the players I really struggle in maximum football of course the computer never struggles with any of this it can execute kickoffs and tackles perfectly every time what which is annoying but not nearly as annoying as it being able to shed blocks whenever it damn pleases meaning that if the computer ever decides for any reason that it wants to run a blitz [Music] none of this makes the game unplayable but it does come across as a bit rough around the edges and slightly harder to pick up than something like Madden it clearly hasn't had the time to be refined as much as it could be naturally you don't have to look far to find cracks in the game's design why was this field goal registered as a negative 25-yard run why is there no option for an on-site kick why are my players leaving a guy completely open in man coverage why does the computer take so long to decide on a coin toss how do you miss spiking the ball how is that not an interception why is the CPU absurdly difficult why do Canadians need their own football why am I even playing this game oh no my player was injured and he is just writhing in agony all right what oh come on ah man this game isn't going so hot I need a break a few moments later all right I'm back uh let's go ahead and finish this one out using our continue game option wait you can switch teams mid game wait what whoa you totally can hey guys look we won well now that I'm riding the high from a totally legitimate win let's check out some of the other modes on offer if you just can't get enough of play now then you'll absolutely love season mode rather than picking a team and playing through a season as them you instead get to play as many or as few games as you want for as many or as few teams as you want the game forces you to either play or simulate every single game in a season which is a pretty tedious process and since you can totally change teams mid game it removes almost all the challenges that one usually faces during normal season play there's still a big shiny virtual trophy to be one at the end but with all things considered it's pretty easy to set up a Surefire victory for any one team this is just an infinite Loop of playing now it definitely ranks pretty highly on the pointless game modes tier list there's the spring league mode which is essentially a practice ground for trying out different plays and situations it's a pretty standard game mode and something I would expect out of most football games but easily the main feature of this game is the dynasty mode it's what the back of the box just can't shut up about to start off you have to pick a team to coach and recruit for and this time you can't change teams in the middle of a season this game is just full of surprises there's a ton of teams to choose from here and it was actually pretty fun to go through all these options to see what fake teams they came up with bucks Phoenix parrots the Grapplers the rusting Grapplers now that's hot Huntington is is their team named the bass just because it's Huntington is that what is that what you're doing is that what you did there that's you're terrible you're you're terrible for that Silverback that's cool fighting foxes interesting dragons freedom freedom whoa whoa breed up yeah that's our team that's our team right there that's the team that's that's what we're picking this is great but here's the thing why aren't these teams available for the play now mode if you're advertising your game as a college football gaming experience then wouldn't it make sense to have these teams available in regular quick play matches or to at least have the option I don't know it just seems to me that there was a whole lot of effort put into these fictional teams logos and uniforms just for them to be limited to this one game mode after setting up our team we are greeted with this menu now for those who have played Dynasty mode in the past you may know what to do but personally I would find a tutorial to be very helpful right about now unfortunately tutorials are this game's mortal enemy so we're stuck figuring everything out for ourselves let's give this recruit a phone call and uh what the hell I'm gonna do it myself kind of guy let's see how he feels about the media Spotlight I mean everyone wants to be on TV right looks like our options are influence interest soft sell and Hard Sell well well I'm not really sure what these do but you know me I like it hard oh uh apparently he has different tastes this process of managing recruits and scholarships is complex and can be a bit overwhelming to someone who has little experience with this sort of game mode you know someone like me now look this is a game by an indie team I'm not expecting the world from their Dynasty mode but if this doesn't warrant a tutorial then I don't know what will at least let me know what each option does so I'm not completely in the dark it just feels unfair to have to Fumble around and go through more trial and error to even begin to figure out how the mode works on the complete other end of the spectrum playing each season's games is a process I'm already well acquainted with and I don't mean that in a good way remember when I said that you can't change teams in this mode well that's only the case for recruiting because once you get into the actual schedule this is just season play again it hasn't been changed at all you still have to play through or simulate every single game in a season except now there's hundreds of them it's even more tedious than season play and of course there's still that classic feature from season mode where you can just play as any team you want that means even if you completely [ __ ] up your recruiting your depth charts your team's reputation it's okay you can just sabotage every other team that dares get in your way and you'll win every single time what's the point of picking a team then I swear this game's design is so nonsensical that it makes me question the developer's ability to program in the first place because all in all everything that makes this mode unique is rendered completely irrelevant considering that this is otherwise the same as this which is just a repetitive version of this so what's the point of any of it what this game is is a glitchy poorly designed mess of a product that's way out of its depth this is a Dev team that either doesn't know enough about game design or doesn't know enough about programming possibly both the AI is simplistic the UI looks rough bugs are everywhere and the game is severely unpolished it wants to compete with EA's titles but clearly doesn't really know how or where to even begin it's a game that ultimately can't help but live in the shadow of that which it hopes to replace now by this point in the video you probably think you're seeing the bigger picture I've done little more than Mock and disparage in this game's design choices you might even think I hate this game and well critically yeah it sucks there's not really any way around that if all you want is a critical review of this game you can stop the video here oh you're still here awesome I'm glad to hear that because I certainly don't hate this game I actually kind of love it more so because of its faults rather than in spite of them yeah it's bad but it's the fun kind of bad this is the kind of game where you come in with absolutely no expectations and just bask in its Glory every bug every glitch every goofy design of our site is another surprise waiting to be found to me this is a game that's on the same level as something like ride to Hell retribution or big rigs it's the sort of game that really needs to be experienced by everyone but aside from that more than most other games in my collection this one truly fascinates me see I like to think that every game has a purpose no matter how grandiose or menial a game to play at a party a game to bring toys to Life a game to help people exercise a game to help you learn to fly a game that fulfills childhood dreams a game to frighten you a game to satisfy you a game to help remind you of a simpler time finding a game's purpose is usually pretty easy but here I was stumped for a while Doug Flutie's maximum football what is your purpose why are you here my initial thought was shovelware a term commonly associated with the Wii and DS While most game classifications like AAA double A and Indie only indicate the size of the studio and budget and not the quality of the game itself the term shuffleware indicates both low quality games made on the cheap to turn a quick Buck while almost all games are made with the intention of earning a profit this is shovelware's only purpose and rarely is it disguised as anything else these games are low effort low quality and most importantly soulless but it doesn't really feel quite right to call this game shovelware because say what you will about it but this game definitely isn't soulless and I wouldn't call it low effort either for such a small developer this is an ambitious project that tries to punch well above its weight class I don't think it succeeded but hey e for effort eventually I found an interview with the dev team from 2020 and I think it gave me the answer I was looking for to my surprise the developers didn't talk about the bugs or the questionable design decisions or even negative review scores to their last game they talked about their goal how they wanted to give people a sports game with more options to provide an alternative to the sports game Giants who have gotten so high off their own prior success they routinely ignore criticism and dwindling sales the team talked about their community and the features they wanted to add and all the progress they had made with the series to that point because this isn't a standalone title there's this one and this one and this one and all the while this tiny team worked constantly to add to to and improve this massive project of theirs they wanted to make these games customizable they wanted to add features that people have been missing for years they wanted to inject personality and love into a genre of games that people have come to expect the bare minimum for despite the results I find their effort really admirable and even though this game is incredibly problematic the developer's attitude and Outlook makes me want to track down the other versions that they released to see how this project has evolved over time I'd call this game a love letter but that implies that if it was a letter you'd actually be able to read it it's more like a 3am drunk text to your high school Crush who you've slowly Grown Apart from over the years but still have feelings for it's full of errors and barely legible many would be immediately put off by it and try not to give it a second thought but maybe just maybe someone will look at it and realize what's really trying to be said here this is the sports game made by people who love sports game games it recalls a time when EA and 2k's annual releases actually had some character and weren't just the same Bland game with an updated player roster being released over and over and over again this is a Dev team that despite its small size listened to its Community made promises and Then followed up on those promises by delivering on features that people really wanted this was a team that loved what they did and who they were doing it for which makes it all the more tragic that the studio went defunct in 2021 it's a shame that these guys who were genuinely passionate about what they did were forced out of business when these guys who consistently mistreat both their employees and consumers who come up with approximately one good idea every blue moon are still pumping out the same garbage as usual the video game industry is a cruel and unforgiving place this IP did end up getting purchased meaning that the new free to play maximum football should be releasing sometime later this year but who knows how its new developers will treat it personally I've got my doubts the fate of Canucks play breaks my heart and it's even tougher knowing that their story is far from the only one to end like this I wish all it took to stay afloat in the video game industry was to love what you make because at the end of the day this may be an objectively better game but this is the one I'm prouder to own it's completely nonsensical and full of [ __ ] and makes me laugh out loud at how utterly ridiculous it is which oddly enough are all the same reasons that I love this huh you know what maybe the developers were onto something when they advertise their game as the college football gaming experience maybe they knew what they were talking about or maybe they just got lucky [Music]

Channel: Dr. Dray

Views: 182

Keywords: with, the, boys, random, guy, 66, randomguy66, randomguy, dr, dray, comedy, music, dr., video, games, game, sports, football, doug, flutie, flutie's, maximum, madden, alternative, review, essay

Id: 1KSkz63xH1g

Length: 18min 24sec (1104 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 22 2023