Football is one of America’s favorite sports. When it comes to video games, this sport harbors one of the most popular reoccurring titles every year in EA’s Madden franchise. What is it about football that we Americans love so much? Is it the violent collisions, or maybe the suspense of knowing the game can change at any moment with one big play?

There are a ton of reasons to love a game such as football, which is why I was excited when Blitz: The League II was announced. This isn’t the Blitz of the old days with an official NFL license. You won’t see Jerry Rice catching a flame throw from Steve Young and then using his roadrunner speed to score. This Blitz tackles issues that we can only dream about when it comes to real NFL football. There is no NFL license; the game instead follows a fictitious league that is all about the glitz and glamor of being a football star. It’s raw, gritty, and dark, which are all reasons it’s different than the mainstream football games we know. But does all of this add up to a fun experience? Let’s see….

Blitz does a lot of things really well and others not so hot. One of the first things you will notice about Blitz: The League II is that it is not just a football game, but a story too. The Campaign mode follows you, a young, highly touted rookie coming out of college and looking to find his groove in The League. One of the things Blitz II does best is the off-the-field stuff involved in the game. When you create your player, instead of going through a mundane player creator where you select a position and assign points to your player’s different attributes, Blitz takes the opportunity to do this through a virtual press conference. The answers to your questions determine your offensive and defensive positions, as well as assign attribute points to your player. This is a really cool feature that makes the player feel like it is more than just a menu; there is a level of interaction involved.

After creating your player you have the chance to create your own uniforms and such, as well as deciding what city to play in with which mascot and pre-rendered team logo. Pretty standard fare when it comes to created teams in sports games. When you get into the first Story mode menu you will notice many different things. One is that you have a cell phone, which occasionally rings and displays a pop-up message in the bottom right corner of the screen. The phone will allow you communicate with your agent and girlfriends, who are the people that give you goals you need to achieve to get better equipment. You can check all the stuff you’ve earned in the top menus.

Then it’s on to the football field.