Blitz: The League (Xbox 360)

Blitz: The League is the first football game with no NFL license in many years – because EA signed an exclusive deal with the NFL, Midway developed one without the license. The game has 17 fantasy teams all with their own look and feel – from personalities to logos.

The game differentiates itself further from official games by giving the players an off-field presence, often involving sex, performance-enhancing drugs and violence. The game has input from the writer for Playmakers, the football-based soap opera the NFL forced ESPN to cancel.

Blitz: The League has 8-man teams, and makes spectacular action-packed moves easier than in real life. Impressive moves boost your Clash meter, which allows you to pull off unrealistic moves, such as easier running due to Bullet Time, and some brutally tough defences tackles. If these tackles happen frequently enough the players will fight hockey-style, lunging into wild tackles. The team with the most tackles from this gains the Unleashed mode, which has even more gruesome moves, of a style the NFL would not allow to be associated with their product.

Additional features include multiplayer action with head-to-head online play and complete customization options of players, teams, stadiums and more. Lawrence Taylor appears as the poster boy.