Though it took me a while to get the hang of the passing game – the receivers seem to deviate from their route to run upfield as soon as the QB releases the ball – the running game feels great. I enjoyed my hands-on time with Wild Card Football. Fans of NFL Blitz will probably find a lot to like hard hits, over-the-top celebrations, and exaggerated player proportions permeate the experience, never letting you mistake this for a simulation title. In case the Wild Card system, with its tornados and UFOs, didn't tip you off, Wild Card Football lands firmly in the arcade style of gameplay. The cards range from basic cards, like ones that increase your passing accuracy this down or decrease your opponent's catching skills for a play, to epic cards that summon tornados to take out anything in their path, UFOs that pick up players and move them around the field, and pinball-style bumpers that harshly repel anyone who runs into them. Each player has a hand of cards they draw from a deck of power-up and gameplay modifier cards. The hook to Wild Card Football, aside from the fast-paced arcade action, is the eponymous Wild Card mechanic. And of course, since I'm a Ravens fan, I had to ensure Lamar Jackson would be in the game at launch (the developers tell me he is). Watt, Joey Bosa, Ja'Marr Chase, Aaron Donald, and more will be available. The build I'm playing is an early one, and the developers explain there are plenty more players that still need to get added, but we should expect more superstars and several of the most promising rookies to be added prior to launch – hundreds in total – with more arriving via post-launch updates. At launch, names like Jalen Hurts, Justin Jefferson, T.J. The in-game teams are centered around the quarterbacks, with Team Mahomes, Team Burrow, and a squad built around this game's cover star, Team Kaepernick. If you'd rather create your own team, you can enter Dream Squad mode, customize your roster, playbook, and uniforms, and advance through challenges to unlock rewards.

I witness this firsthand as I scroll through the teams available. This means the teams and stadiums of the National Football League aren't present, but many of its biggest stars are. Wild Card Football doesn't possess the NFL license, but rather the NFLPA license. The recently announced Wild Card Football from Saber Interactive, part of the Playgrounds franchise, hopes to smash through the established line to give players a fresh 7-on-7 arcade-facing take on the sport starring their favorite players. The result was the closure of other franchises, such as the competitive NFL 2K series, as well as the arcade-focused NFL Blitz franchise (which was later acquired by EA in 2011). Ever since 2004, EA Sports' annualized Madden NFL series has been the exclusive franchise for the NFL, its teams, stadiums, and players.

In the 21st century, fans of the NFL have had minimal choices when it comes to their officially licensed football games.

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