In my younger years, I can remember frequently visiting my cousin’s house and spending hour upon hour playing various NES titles. The games were vibrant and self-explanatory. Everything was simple back then. Get Mario all the way to the right, or shoot the ducks on the screen; there was never any confusion. One day, I was introduced to a new portable gaming device, a concept I hadn’t even imagined before. My instructions were to guide my quarterback across the football field while circumventing the CPU defense until I reached my team’s end zone. Of course, my thoughts at the time were simply “…what? All I see are little red dots.”
Now, as if touchGrove decided to give me a second chance at my gaming past, LED Football 2 has released on the iPhone with everything you loved (or misunderstood) from the original and more! From the second you launch the App, the rush of nostalgia pours in with old-school beeps, the vintage 80’s feel and those familiar, yet vexatious red lights.
If this is a game you played when you were a kid, then what’s not to love already? Use the six virtual on-screen buttons to control the classic running, juking and kicking and make your way from the left side of the screen all the way to the right, over and over again. For veterans of this time-honored portable tradition, this game of granular gridiron feels just right. (Of course, for the new-agey Halo-esque gamer, I’m sure LED Football hasn’t aged quite as nicely.)
But just when you think they’ve stuffed everything they could into this portable piece of pigskin, touchGrove truly messes with the formula by adding the often-desired ability to pass the ball. That’s right; LED Football 2 comes complete with passing! Now, one might ask, “How does one pass a ball in this whole flashy-beepy light game?” At the start of each play, you have the option to either run the ball or to pass it (assuming it’s not 4th down, in which case you may also punt). As long as your quarterback stays behind the line of scrimmage, a rapid-blinking wide receiver will alternate among three positions behind the first line of defense. By pressing the pass button when the QB is in line with the receiver (and with a little luck on your side), you’ll safely make a pass, virtually guarantying at least a first-down. Man, football is awesome.
At the end of the day, LED Football 2 is just like you remembered: the real deal back in the day. It’s certainly simple and addictive enough to play for a few minutes on your lunch break or during those pesky commercials, but it’s not something that will hold your attention for hours at a time. Fortunately, each game only lasts about five minutes, so you’ll keep coming back for a quick fix every now and again. While hitting the Home button ends your current game, giving you no option to return to the game you were playing, touchGrove implemented a fun way of tracking how much time you’ve actually put into the title by wearing down the virtual buttons after prolonged use, just like the real thing. Even if you’re not the type of person who goes bonkers for our nation’s manliest sport, LED Football 2 is a fun distraction, and just the kind of iPhone toy that your drinking buddies will go crazy over.
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