Mutant Turtles...? I Wish!
You will spend a lot of your time talking to people and doing them favors to get money and equipment all while leveling up your character through combat. The only thing about Fallout 3 that feels a little anti-climactic is that your character finishes leveling-up at level 20. The Action Points also feel a little arbitrary; for example, in Fallout 3 players can use an unlimited amount of Stim Packs and other items during combat to restore health without using any Action Points where in previous Fallout titles the use of Stim Packs was limited. This makes for less frustrating combat but it also leaves much to be desired for the more strategic gamer. Fallout 3 shines in many areas and caters to the kind of gamer that wants a long and deep adventure. It's definitely not for the run-and-gun gamer so you need to casually take your time to enjoy the ride but don't ever call Fallout 3 a casual game other wise you might get chewed out by one of the Fallout faithful.

Gamers "like" a good football game but "love" Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff.

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff for the Nintendo DS; Publisher: Tecmo; Developer: Tecmo; Release Date: November 18, 2008; ESRB Rating: E for everyone; Genre: football; Players: 1-2; Support: N/A; Online: 2 player online games

Get Off Me Son!
I can't even count how many times I have chosen to play a game of Tecmo Bowl rather than play a game of Madden. It's even harder to count the amount of trash talking that has gone on during and after each game of Tecmo Bowl. That's because when you think of Tecmo Bowl you think of all the hours playing it on the original NES against friends in your living room while hammering down mountains of pizza and chips. Gamers "like" a good football game but they "love" Tecmo Bowl.

Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is the answer to the prayers of many gamers who are tired of the typical and boring football games that are constantly being shoved down their throats every year. Right off the bat, you can tell that the creators of Kickoff wanted to make this a new and improved installment of Tecmo Bowl while still trying to keep it as similar to the original as possible in order to make it really feel like a Tecmo Bowl game. During a game, the graphics are pretty small due to the small DS screens, but it's very easy to understand what is going on; it's kind of like the graphics in Tecmo Super Bowl for the Super NES. Every once in a while the game will view a close-up and show a short 2D animated scene of what is going on. For example: if a quarterback passes to a receiver and there is an opponent near the quarterback, the game will zoom-in and show the quarterback throwing the ball and the opponent jumping with his arms up trying to block the pass.

This is the Only Way You Can Play Football with a Stick
Choosing from the eight plays between each down can be done the same way it has always been done: by pressing either up, down, left or right on the d-pad and pressing the A button for runs or the B button for passes. But what DS game would be complete without some touch screen controls? Plays can also be selected by touching them with the stylus. All of the in-game action such as running, passing and punting can also be controlled with the stylus. A nice touch to the Tecmo Bowl series are the new special moves, which can be added to players in the Team Editor mode and then can be performed on the field. The special moves include being able to throw a very fast, fiery pass, the ability to drag opponents a few yards before being tackled, the ability to dodge oncoming tackles and many more based on what position each player plays. The special moves look pretty and come in real handy during gameplay.

The Team Editor mode in Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is probably the best feature of the whole game because it allows gamers to edit virtually anything in the entire game. © Tecmo.

Speaking of the Team Editor mode, this is probably the best feature of the whole game. Tecmo does not have the rights to use any of the NFL team names or player names anymore so what we get right from the start are some ridiculous team names like the Phoenix Horntoads and the Los Angeles Supercocks -- of all the most preposterous names imaginable, why the heck does L.A. have to be the "Supercocks"?! That's really no matter because the Team Editor mode allows gamers to edit virtually anything in the entire game such as the team name, team city, team logos, uniform colors, playbooks, player stats, player names, player positions, player skin tone, you name it! Tecmo, of course, would never encourage gamers to recreate the NFL teams and players in Kickoff, but how can you help but recreate awesome NFL teams like the '85 Bears and the '72 Dolphins?

Three Frames of Animation is All You Need for a Victory Dance
Kickoff offers many modes of play, including a season mode, preseason games and quick play games all of which can be played with weather conditions such as rain, shine and snow. Being able to play online is another outstanding feature of Kickoff but it is almost impossible to find a game online unless you and a friend call each other and try to set up a game right then and there. Right now, there is no better football experience in the entire DS library than Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff; the graphics are totally retro -- which is good or bad depending on how you look at it - and the gameplay is as solid as it was 20 years ago. The only downside to Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is that it doesn't support single-card multiplayer. You would think that considering Kickoff is not too heavy on graphics that you could easily send the game to a friend through DS Download Play. It sucks for each gamer to have to own a copy of the game especially if one player has unlocked everything. Regardless, Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff is still a great football title like every other Tecmo Bowl before it.