To some, it is a great football game, to others it is a bad football game. To me, it is the game that started me on my NES quest. My first pure NES purchase as a collector. I got it for $11 sealed at a London Drugs in 1997. I always looked up to it and respected it's place on my mighty shelf of NES goods. However, it took 6 years for me to realize, I had never played it. "Why not? I love that game!" I though (even though I'd never played it). Thanks to the magic of emulation, I can now join the few who simply look at it as a terrible football game.

Released sporting NES Four Score compatibility and NES Satelite compatibility, it actually seems like a fun game when you look at the box. But as I learned, this is no normal NES sports game. It is the antichrist. Death incarnated into a sports game. Sadly, it is the type of game you either love or hate (similar to Friday the 13th), and I hate it! The controls are so bad! I played as th 49'ers at first! thinking "hey, the 49'ers are good, I'll win". I still lost. There isn't even that much of a selection of teams to choose from!

Of course this is similar to other football games. You either play offense or defense on a down and try to either a)Move the ball forward into the End-zone or b)Restrict movement of the ball inside a ten yard distance for 4 downs, thus causing a turn-over and your team gaining posession of the ball. Of course, I have no idea if there are interceptions in this game, but I hope not, it'd be a long run with bad controls. :(

The graphics are less than mediocre as well as the sound. This game has voice effects in it but it is so bad you can't tell. It's kinda like playing Blades of Steel with your head in a box using only one hand, while thinking about football.

Bad graphics, original gameplay (very original indeed) and music that makes me sick, all bring it together for NES Play Action Football. I would definitely recommend buying it to any NES collector because no collection is complete without it. However, the social gamer may want to skip this one.