Download Ultimate Football '95

Graphics and Sound:

Graphics:

The game has the same nice graphics and intro animation as their product of last year (Ultimate Football). The lack of SVGA isn't obvious due to the fine detail they used. The players are very close to "real" sized, unlike Front Page Sports Football where they are 3x's too large. The player uniforms are very close to their NFL counterparts. Player numbers on the uniform would have been nice. The fields are also fairly nice, but the stadiums are all identical except for the colorful team logos. Except for the stadiums and the player numbers the graphics are more then good enough to give that 'NFL' feel a football game needs.

Sound:

The game has decent sound effects, though they are a bit rough. There is some room for improvement there, but it's a minor flaw. One point in the sound that is annoying is the crowd noise. They randomly cheer for the home and away team. They will chant "go touch down" for you and your foe roughly equally. There is a slight bias for the home team, but I've been booed at home while driving the ball, and cheered on the road while winning. This is a minor flaw, but it should have been corrected. The analog music is both bad an annoying, I quickly turned it off. It would be nice if they used the massive CD for storing more then one song. Better still if the sound and music volumes could be adjusted seperately such as in DOOM, and Aces of the Deep.
Also the addition of an announcer would have not taken much room on the CD.

Animation:

The game has fairly well done animations. The players move pretty realistically, they fall down, get back up, run around, and move pretty well. But, in deep runs, unlike deep passes the runner will tend to not run away from defenders but veer towards them. I know they need to keep the stats believable, but it would have been better to just have the defenders take better attack routes. A bit of a nit pick, but it's so obvious as to be annoying. The only thing completely misssing in the animations is celebrations for sacks, TD's, etc.. The players are such consumate professionals they never get excited or angry.

Instant Replay:

Very nicely done. You ran the play from the wrong camera angle and didn't see it executed? No problem. Just call up the instant replay (temporarily stops the clock, so you can take your time) and view your glory or shame from as many angles as you could want. You can even program your own camera angles for both replays and game play.

User Interface:

Game Interface:

This game has the most solid interface of any sports sim on the market. It's easy to learn use, and offers a full range of control. Everything is nice and easy to get to, both inside a game and prior to game play.

Game Design:

The game like most MPS products is well designed. Elements reflect some thought and understanding of the game. The over all design is without flaw. It's easy to get from point to point, things are labeled with easy to see and understand buttons. All individual elements are organized logically.

Play Editor:

Play creation is nice and straight forward. It's easy to create new plays or modify old ones, or even copy plays from other teams play books. You can use default settings for most things, or get right down to the nitty gritty with reads, situations, line blocking, etc. It would be nice to be able to flip a play, so you can design only runs to the right or left, and just flip them for the other side to take advantage of some matchup you wish to expliot.

Player Editor:

The players stats are nicely detailed. For example Quarter backs have:
Height, Weight, expericance, position skill, passing, dealing with pressure, roll right, roll left, speed, quickness, athleticism,fumble, fitness, running, tough yards (running), injury prone level, as well as tackling skill (if bad things happen).

There is also a slot for special skill, which are holder, long snapper, punt return, kick return, or punt cover. The limitation is that a player can only have one special skill, and there is no provision for a player being able to play more then one skill. (Like Danny White who was once both a starting QB and punter). You can change a players position without them losing any skill which is unrealistic. Also it would be nice to be able to type in the number (0-99) instead of just using the scroll gadet to move it up one number at a time.

Team Editor:

The team editor is also pretty detailed, but in some positions there are too few slots. ie: Offensive line there is only tackle1 & tackle2, in case of a player leaving the game for a play or two, you won't be able to control who comes in, unless it is for more then one or two plays. You can change coaching style and play calling style, and special teams skills, etc here as well. (the 1st two only effect things if a computer runs the team for a game or more). You can also edit the team name, team city, default playbook, coach name, and which jersey to wear. But name changes aren't used in announcing the superbowl winner. Also this is either a big over sight in the team editor or the play editor. But you can't practise plays with any team but the original defaults.

Game Features:

The game has many features, but many don't work correctly either due to poor AI, or poor design. League setup, career mode, playoffs, lack of all time records, etc. But it does have some nice features as well. Such as a weekly injury report, and a injury screen which lists all players currently on IR. And a running total of career stats with a search feature to call up any player. It has a decent free agent feature, but sometimes crashes when it's used. It has a nice active roster and inactive roster and it's easy to move players from one to the other, but it only displays name and position from roster moves, unlike free agent where it shows a partial skill summary. The trade option is supported correctly by computer teams. They refuse nearly all deals, even if heavily in their favor. The only sort it will ok would be a trade like Barry Sanders for a 45year old RB with bad knees. (you giving the computer Barry). I've tried to help out computer teams doing real badly with some of my backups, and they refused. to trade 80's for 85's. Drafting is nice, but has no save feature, if you need to do some real work for a few minutes. But the computer drafts very poorly.

Game Play:

Computer AI:

The computer AI is the worst I've ever seen in any sports sim in the last 15 years. I ran the ball 77 times in one game (no passing attempts at all) and on the 78th attempt on 1st and goal from the 7 and computer is in a DIME defense again, for the 60th time in the game. And I did all my running from running formations.... I-Formation, Brown, Blue, and double TE I-form. The computer coach never has a clue, and if the computer players try to cheat up on the play like real NFL players would do, it never showed. They had a good enough Defense so they stopped me twice in the 1st quarter (on those rare occasions where they tried a 3-4 or a 4-3). The same is true of an allout passing attack, they may decide they like being in a run-crunch D and stay there on the off chance that you some time might want to run.

If you sack a computer player 12 times when then run this one play, they will continue to run that offensive play, even if they see that you are still in the same defense. It doesn't react to blitzes with dumb off passes in the flat, pass recievers don't make blitz adjustments either. Wide recievers will at least 50% of the time run 10-20 yards out of bounds if you let them run a route too close to the side lines. And your QB will then attempt to pass to them, and miss. In the end zone, recievers run out of the end zone, etc.

The computer will often not select his best players as starters. Even using QB's to return kick offs.

Exhibition Game Play:

There are two types of games exhibition which can only be played with the game default teams, and league games that can be played with the defaults or a drafted team. The stats aren't stored for exhibition games. The AI was so bad that I could take inferior teams and out game the computer by 800 to 100 yards, and typically score 35-50 points per half. Even if I only would run or only pass.

For example, no computer team in 28 games ever attempted to dominate me on the ground. Even when they were winning the battle in the trenches, or passing for only 30% or so.

The AI is so bad that I couldn't get a feel if the game even could simulate a real game.

Statistics

Several errors here. Safties aren't scored as either sacks or tackles. On the scoring sheet it lists the score as being a tacklefor a safty by someone improbable such as your QB. But no stats show up in the game stats.

A fumble return is scored as a negative run by the fumbler. If the fumble is returned for a TD, it is then scored as a negative run for a score by the fumbler.

The time of possession never adds up to 60 minutes, typically closer to 61. Punts that are fair caught are scored as a punt return of either 0 yards or sometimes 1 yard. I believe kickoffs have this same problem on touch backs. Quarterbacks have a fatique & injury stat, but even being sacked 12 times in a single half doesn't faze them.

Plays are almost always reported as one length and scored as 1 yard longer, but 1 yard less is marked off on the field... so a 5 yard run is reported, player statssay 6 yard run, but field position will be 2nd and 6. Game stats are unrealistic, in nearly every game I've played I could pick 1 or more NFL records to break.

Player Profiles:

The computer player profiles are more mistaken then correct. World class sprinters such as Michael Bates are given poor speed ratings, Slower even then San Diego's bruiser Natrone Means, who never even pretends to be a burner, While many possession recievers are given huge amounts. Tiny little scat backs are given the same stats, or better, as pro-bowl every down backs. Nearly all DB's are fast enough to make the olymics. Dalla's cowboy's new TE Eric Bjornson has rediculous amounts of speed and his weight is off by more then 10%.

In the default league, this years rookies start the game with as much time in the NFL (EXP) as 7-8 year vets. In many cases 12 year NFL vets had less. While in at the end of a season the rookies that then join your league have the correct EXP.

Most players have far too high a skill level. This makes stars less interesting. But in general they are at least fairly close. You can either spend alot of time on world wide web tracking down the stats that MPS should have, or you can just accept it as a new league with players with the same names, and only roughly the same skills. Not to over state it, in general the margin of error was around 5-10% per player, but that can eb enough to reduce a stud to a also ran, or more commonly they are elevating marginal players into all-stars. Raising the talent level even a little bit changes the game quite a bit, since you can ignore certain positions for quite a while in the draft to load up at other positions.

Computer playbooks:

Some mighty interesting plays they put in there. Like the 3 TE spread formation (passing, the 2 HB, 1 FB, passing formation, etc. Things never seen in the NFL. Some plays had obviosly never been tested. They have an end-around that gets 3 yards nearly everytime, and no more... typically it should get a big gain (6+) or a possible loss. A Blitz play where all 4 DB's cover the same WR (Quadruple cover??). MANY DEEP DIME defenses were listed as a high read call for 1st and 10... Only if you're playing Drew Bledsoe. Also they tend to telegraph the play to be run much more then the NFL would due to the limited size of the typical computer play books, only 3 dozen plays or so for Off & less for DEF. The biggest problem with the somewhat limited playbooks is that few teams play toward style. The Raiders seldom use a shotgun, since Hos' sees the ball better under center, but the 1st 12 offensive plays they tried were all shotgun passes. This makes an already rotten AI seem completely deranged.

Play Execution:

Play execution is fair. Players generally do something similar to what you'd expect. But outside runs will almost always turn back towards the middle of the field after gaining about 12 yards. The runner is typically trying to run at a defender who would otherwise not have caught him.

Inside blitzes work well, while the same player who got 8 sacks rushing up the middle will get 0 taking the easier outside route(reloaded a saved game). Defensive linemen typically don't penetrate at all. Running is moderately too easy, passing is too hard. Quarterbacks can miss a wide open reciever 4 times in a row (with no pass rush at all). And it's real streaky you can hit 9 in a row after missing 20 in a row. The worst thing is the QB won't even be throwing at anyone most of the time, they will typically throw it away, more often then they attempt the difficult pass. Not too realistic. Also medium routes work much better then short dumb offs (which almost never work). Recievers run just goofy routes, everyone will run off the field, out of the endzone, etc. Defenders never "sit-down" and maintain contain and wait for help to seal of a runner, but will instead charge and hope, and often miss. Zone's usually don't work well.

Defenders seem to often be confused by outside runs. But the players do act like they're blocking, hitting, scrambling, etc. It doesn't look bad, just the results are a bit improbable.

Play Calling

Play calling is fairly easy, just scroll up and down for the plays you want. You can break them down into series, etc if you wish to go through the bother, but there is no FAST way to get a play in. If you know it's 2nd and inches, and you know I'm going to run at you, but you just called a pass defense, you might not have the time to scroll to the play you need if I care to really rush matters. (like a 2 minute drill).

It would be nice to also have a spot to type in a play number or something like that. Also the playbook is moderately small. With a total of 79 possible plays for Offense & defense each. (same play, different formation counts as 2 plays). But these complaints aside, this part of the game works well enough. it's fairly easy to make subsitutions as well.

Special Teams play:

Another complete disaster. In 1 season I ran back 30 punts for a TD. I didn't have a very good punter returner (skill of 78), and he had a tough yards of only 80. I didn't do anything but use the default punt return play. Field Goal defense defaults to all sorts of goofy things, from deep zone, to punt return.

Starting STARS are used on special teams, typically the started RB also has to shag punts. Starting defensive tackles, corners, etc have to play on kick off, etc.. You can set your own kick off players, but not for the entire league. Even so, you then will do very poorly since they will be using their starting unit against your 2nd & 3rd unit.

The computer typically uses an offensive lineman, and a DB as the 2 punt cover guys. As if a 300lb OT could get down field fast enough to get under a punt. If the 1st two guys don't get the punt returner, then there is at least a 75% chance it will be a TD.

There is no way to teach your players a special teams skill. Either they come with it, or never get it. And if they have it, they can never improve.

Game realism:

There are several things that detract from realism. Timeouts don't work. If you as a defender see a formation you don't have the right people on the field for, you can't call a timeout and do a subsitution. You also can't use a timeout to give your unit a 45 second rest. All timeouts do are stop the clock.

The strange passing game detracts.
The odd running of RB's down field.
The goofy special teams play.
The fact that QB's never get hurt of tired no matter how much you beat them up.
Outside rush lanes not working right.
Injuries sometimes happen randomly AFTER the game is over. I had no injuries in the game, but when it was over my FB was out for a month. Lack of any "color" also detracts from the sence of "THIS IS THE NFL". It could be solved with just a few simple things.

• Have the players show some emotion.
• Have a post game summary ie: a fake newspaper story.
• Have a weekly "top preformers" screen.
• Keep records not just career totals.
• Have the computer players interact with you somehow, perhaps suggest the occasional trade for players or draft picks.
• Have the players be a little interactive. ie: free agents, perhaps occasionaly a player should quit your team, or another player offer to join. Only rarely, would be enough.
• Use some of the CDROM space for some announcers voice.
• Have the players both improve and degrade inbetween seasons, not just improve.
• perhaps introduce "niggleing" injuries where players can still play, just not quite as good.

And most importantly the rotten AI all impact here as well. A few well placed complete screw ups can effect many different elements in a game.

Modem Play:

After checking with MPS on the phone I wonder why they bothered to include this. It only works for exhibition games and only with the default teams. I foolishly thought I just didn't see where to select a league team, but MPS confirmed that modem play was exhibition only.

League Play:

Multiplayer support:

There is none according to MPS tech support. I called them to ask about it, since my computer football league was contemplating trying it as our new game. I asked MPS if there was LEAGUE modem play, and they said no. I tried to play 2 players in league on the same computer, also a no-go. What a waste. No AI, and no multi-player support. Who were we supposed to play with this thing?

Drafting: (Also free agents and roster moves)

From a human drafting perspective, the draft works ok, but it would be nice if it would organize your team in same way it did in the "roster move" screen (with two scrolling side by side windows). The problem is the on the DRAFT (Or FREE AGENT) Screen your team is not sorted, so you have to slowly find all the players you have at a current position. And they are scrambled in no order at all. Not even alphabetic.

One very nice thing about the draft is that you can either scramble the draft order, or do as I did and move myself down 15 places in the draft to make it somewhat of a challenge.

Free Agents work just like drafting, but you don't have wait for your turn, and can just continually select players from the available talent pool of undrafted and waived players.

Roster moves looks largely the same, but again functions differently. Since it is also two scrolling windows, but unlike free agents and it's on two seperate screens which you have to toggle back and forth (between active roster and inactive roster (injuried reserve, etc)). Roster moves doesn't aquire new players, but only helps you manage your existing team. Unfortunately it won't display even basic player stats, so you have to remember (or write down) the names of the players you wish to waive or send to your inactive list.

The problem here is this: On free agents & drafting it will show you side by side scrolling screens and display basic player stats. but it won't sort the players like it does in the roster moves. In Roster moves it will sort the players, but breaks it into 2 screens (instead of 1 with titles like the other similar pages) and it won't display any player stats. Notice a trend here? They figured out what we want, but only were willing to give it to us a piece at a time, forcing us to make liberal use of pens and notepads. The computer drafts very badly. At least 1/2 the computer teams will end up with a kicker or a punter, not both. They will frequently not draft the best player at a position when they do select a player. It's fairly random. Or they will draft players with NO TALENT AT all at their position, like I found 4 teams starting OL with a pass block or run block of 20 (or usually both at 20) even though there are currently free agents with a skill of 80 available. If they completely stink at a position, they don't seem inclined to upgrade it when they get the chance.

I drafted 15th and seem to have ended up with the best team by far in the league.

League Setup:

Has several nice ideas which don't work correctly. The default is to play with 1995 rosters and play the 1995 schedule with ALL computer teams (what a thrill). If you want a random schedule, you can get a 17 week or a 16 week random schedule, but if you select a random schedule The Panthers & The Jaguars never get to play any games.

You can instead select to toss all the players into a common draft pool, and everyone gets to draft a new team. You're still limited to playing the 1995 schedule. But, you should know that you're going to have to edit every computer team in the league to make sure they have both a punter and a kicker, since they don't seem to care about the special teams. The other thing is to make sure that no human drafts higher then 20th or so since the computer teams must have an advantage to make up for poor drafting. Nice things about the league setup...

It is nice that you can move teams from one division to another. So you're tired of seeing a east coast team playing in the west and a vs. versa? Move them. But the bad thing here is that when you do, you overwrite the old team for example: move Atlanta to the east and Arizona to the west. Moving Atlanta means that they now play twice each week. So you'd then have to remember to edit the "old" Atlanta to Arizona. it's a pity they took such a nice idea and messed it up like this. Changing ownership of teams (from human to computer and back) is very easy, but MUST be done BEFORE you leave the create league screen. Since if you forget you have to sit through the entire NFL being drafted one player at a time with no way to interupt the process. (well the 3 finger salute and the re-set button both work).

Play Offs:

The wrong teams are sent to the playoffs. The game doesn't use the NFL tie breaking system. It should be head to head, division, conference play and last is points scored. Ultimate Football instead rewards players who run up the score. Since they the tie break it uses is points scored, and Alphabetic. So if Arizona and Dallas tie, Arizona goes. This is garbage. Another problem is that playoff stats are just lumped in with your regular season stats.

Also if you changed your teams name, to say The bashers or some other fun thing, it won't matter if you win the super bowl. The game will still type out the old name when it announces the winner. The other thing about winning the superbowl in this game is that it's meaningless. It doesn't store past winners anywhere. Just move on to the next season, and the new draft.

League Stats:

Statistics are tantalizingly close to what they should be. It keeps good individual stats on top Quarterbacks, recievers, runners, Int's, tackles, sacks, punt return, kick return. It keeps good team stats on rushing offence, pass OFF, total OFF, rushing DEF, passing DEF and total DEF. Both individual and player stats can be sorted in a number of categories (ie: rushing = yards, carries, yards per carry, TD's) It also keeps running totals of total stats per player for the categories it covers.

But it's missing:

Individual stats - punting, kicking, & fumble recoveries.
Team Stats - turnover ratio, scoring offense (currently only tracks TD's, and not all points in a game come from the offense), Scoring Def (both scores by and points allowed, only does TD's now), special teams stats.
On the TEAMS screen where you look at your individual team & player stats (not the league wide ones) it only stores individual player stats and your total offence.
It would be more meaningful if it did a side by side
Your team - Your Opponent
Since it does this in game play, and doesn't for season play you have another example of similar parts of the game behaving in dissimilar manners. Since if it can add your game to game stats up, it can add your opponents stats up.
It would also be nice to have some form of hall of fame.
Best game by a running back, most yards running in a game by a team, most yards in a season by a RB, most yards rushing in a season by a team as an example of possibilities.

And it does wrong:

longest pass play is stored wrong (since it just adds up the longest pass from all your QB's)
Fumbles are scored as negative runs by the fumbler.
Nothing for the recover except the ball of course.
On the game summary screen, it's fairly common to see 1-1 fumbles and 0-1 on the other side. So one team had lost it's only fumble, while the otherside had no fumbles but still lost one. This is obviously not possible. It should have read either 1-1 or 1-0.
If you score on 3rd or 4th down, in the stats it says you failed to convert a 3rd or 4th down.
If the QB gets sacked and fumbles, and the QB's team recovers the fumble, it is scored as a sack on the recovering player.
Safties are scored on the "points scored" screen as a tackle by someone who doesn't play Def. But no one gets credit for a tackle or a sack.
Interception yards only store the most recent int's yards. So if you get 1 INT by your CB for 99 yd's & a TD, and he later gets one for -5 yd's, his game totals will be 2 int's for -5 yds & a TD.

Career Mode:

If there is a section more flawed then this, I can't imagine it. MINI camp is held after seasons instead of before. Only active roster players will go to mini-camp. So no drafting rookies and bring them in and see if they can challenge the old vetern. Draft someone new = fire someone old. In the NFL teams take 80 players to camp, BEFORE deciding who to keep. Players NEVER AGE. They only continually improve. Computer teams do not improve. They don't use the mini camp, so they neither improve nor age. Players don't change teams at all after a season.

Computer teams will draft a few new players, but won't use the free agent market to get what they failed to find in the draft. Also many computer teams skip rounds in the draft. The #2 team in the draft skipped 9 of 12 rounds. Meaning only 1 team was worse in the entire NFL but the brain-damaged AI wasn't up to trying to improve the team.

Players never quit or retire. And since career ending injuries are extremely rare you can count on having all the players on your team for 40+ seasons before a CEI is likely to claim one of them. Of course at that point you would be playing with 77 year old+ players, all of which would be in better shape then when you drafted them.

I'd say something nice about the career mode, but other then the fact that they half-heartedly tossed it in, I can't think of one nice thing about it.

League Game Play:

The same problems that plague exhibition games also strike the league games. But it is coupled with a few factors to make things worse. The AI seems to start some really bad players in League mode. Since it only looks at position skill, and never at even more important stats. Like a QB with a position skill of 90, but a passing skill of 20 is useless. Same with a lineman who can't block, or running backs that can't run. But the computer is quite content to play these toads, and doesn't make any changes if it is getting hammered.

Play calling likewise makes no concessions towards talent on the team. Teams with rotten linebackers might still try to blitz them all the time, instead of using a 4-3 to get more of the better linemen no the field. Teams with GREAT running backs might not use them more then 2-3 times per quarter, and then in pointless draws on 4th and 20.

Computer AutoPlay

Punts go too far, same roster mistakes that happen in a normal, starters on special teams, etc. But stats are better then those generated in a normal game.

A auto-play game takes about 1 minute on a Pentium 100. This is about 25% longer then laster years version of Ultimate Football, but the stats are much closer to real.

Misc:

Manual:

There are many things the manual skips. In play calling they don't explain how reads are used by computer coaches. They don't explain situation reads (how to design a play book). They don't explain how most player stats effect the game. ie: diff between position skill and passing skill for a QB. Nothing is covered except how to start the game, some basics in a few areas. There is more space devoted to football history and theory then Ultimate Football '95. And while interesting for those who don't know it, it doesn't help you use their game.

A classic example: the back of the manual is a glossary not an index.

Tech Support:

In a word there isn't any.

The tech support staff is always polite and friendly. But they never answer e-mail. I sent mail to their web page about this game a month ago (they have a tech support gadget). I sent 3 followup messages as well. They were all treated with the same reguard. Well obviously having to wait a month, and still not getting any replies isn't much of a tech support. I also tried directing e-mail to support@microprose.com but got the same results. Bug reports go unacknowledged, questions go unanswered.

I called them voice to get some answers. After several hours online I still had no answers. Several hours is quite an expensive phone call to not get any results. They did take my name, number and e-mail address and promised to get back to me. (you probably guess that they haven't).

Windows 95

The advertising, and the web page say that the game works with Windows 95. But it doesn't. The CDROM when incerted does auto run the install utility. This is what the advertising said (said will auto run from win95) however the tech support staff (I talked to 2 of them) seemed completely baffled by this, and claimed they couldn't duplicate this feat on their end. Funny since it was a design feature that sort of worked. The gadget had 4 buttons on it. Install game, install FFL, play game and quit. If you click on the game play gadet it says "must install game first or you'll be unable to edit plays, etc", so click on the install gadget, then try play game again and it still complains it's being run off the CD, even if you relaunch the file from your HD.

If you do run the game from Windows 95 by opening a full screen dos shell, then it does run, but analog(music) sound only, digital doesn't work. Even though their sound testing util says the game is setup correctly (plays both analog & digital sound) the problem is only within the game.

Also there is another problem from within Win95. Several important key combinations don't work. ie: can't call timeout, can't review stats, etc. The solution to these problems requires a complete DOS ONLY boot, which you'll all agree is hardly Win95 support.

Bugs

Very few game crashing bugs.

Sometimes in free agent and roster moves, the game exits to dos or locks. Also in free agents, sometimes the game has a lesser problem where it won't highlight which items or players you are selecting, which means you can't see the players stats (who wants to hire a free agent when all you can see is his name?)

Once a game froze up during the coin toss.

Once during a game, the digital sound started makeing wierd noises.

SUMMARY:

Graphics & Sound........B
-Graphics...............B  nice VGA Graphics
-Sound..................C+ ok MIDI and Digital
-Animation..............B+ Fairly animated
-Instant Replay, films..A  Well done feature

User Interface..........B+
-Game Interface.........A  Solid design
-Game Design............A  Very Solid layout
-Play Editor............A- nice
-Player Editor..........A  Nice stats easy to edit		
-Team Editor............B  Nice features, disorganized
-Game Features..........C- Many don't work properly

Game Play...............D+
-Computer AI............F  No rhyme or reason
-Exhibition Game Play...D  flawed AI ruins all plays
-Statisics..............C  Errors in several areas
-Player Profiles........C  Many inconsistancies
-Computer playbooks.....D  Nearly Complete rubbish
-Play Execution.........C  Inconsistanies again
-Play Calling...........B  fairly easy
-Special Teams play.....F  Punt returns are nuts
-Game realism...........D  Timeouts don't work, etc
-Modem Play.............D- Exhibition games only

League Play.............F
-Multiplayer support....F  Exhibtion modem games Only
-Drafting...............F  AI flaws = bad computer draft
-League Setup...........D  only 1 setting works
-Play Offs..............F  Wrong team selection
-League Stats...........C  Missing several things
-Career Mode............Z  No aging, etc
-League Game Play.......F  massive flaws
-Computer AutoPlay......C  some flaws

Misc....................D
-Manual.................D  Missing many elements
-Tech Support...........F  Never any answers
-Windows 95.............F  falsely claims Win95 support
-Bugs...................C  3 problems in 20 games

Untested feature: Frachise Football league
- For use by Rotiserie style Fantasy Football, not computer game play.
  This represents a major utility for those into this sort of thing, but it
  doesn't effect the game, gameplay or league play.  It is a nice bonus, an
  attempt to make this an very complete football fans package.

Extremely detailed feature rich game, as many options and settings as the most technical player could wish for. With nice graphics and decent, if inconsistant sound. The game has a better user interface with it's only real competition (Front Page Sports Football Pro '95), and is easier to operate at every level with out giving up anything. The use of real NFL team names, logos, and players is a very nice professional touch. But the complete lack of a working AI coupled with the incredibly poor multiplayer support make Ultimate Football '95 a loser.

Notes on Testing:

I played 2 exhibition games, and over 30 league games.
I played a complete season along with the playoffs, and the first game of the next season to see what effect the career mode would have.
I created, and drafted 4 different leagues, and played games with over 6 different teams.

Review By GamesDomain