DESCRIPTION

PlayMaker Football is a football simulator designed for aspiring coaches. PlayMaker is unique in that you design your own plays, then program an artificial intelligence module to run them. The AI is really the game's strength.

You set up parameters for what makes each play successful. For example, you create a running play designed for second-and-short situations and you tell the AI that if the play gains three yards to run it more often. If the play results in gains between 0-2 yards, run it at the same frequency but if it loses yards, never call it again.

The result is that if you create a game plan with good play calling the successful offensive and defensive plays are called more often. Of course, the other team's AI is also in full swing and will keep looking for successful plays of its own. Each player has unique physical and mental abilities and strategy must be designed around the players' skills.

There are many leagues that use the Internet for multi-player interaction. These give the player the opportunity to create a team, play a schedule and even draft and run a franchise over several seasons. In this mode, both coaches simply create their playbooks and send them off to another coach who runs the game. That coach then sends back the transcript of the game that consists of a commentator-style, play-by-play readout of the entire contest.

There are head-to-head features but they operate off of one screen and you actually have to look away so you don't see what your foe is calling. PlayMaker Football is a game of pure strategy. It's not about who's got the fastest thumbs or who knows the cheat codes, it's about who can put together the best playbook that week. ~ Scott Sigler, All Game Guide