Joe Montana Football
System: Genesis
Release Date: December 1990
Developer: Park Place Productions
Publisher: Sega
Genre: Sports
Football is back, this time starring the best quarterback of the 80s in Joe Montana Football! Choose from sixteen teams of varying performance skill. Can you take your favorite team to the Sega Bowl, or will you be hoping for better luck next year?
Begin by choosing if you want to play an exhibition, 2 minute drill, or go for it all in the Sega Bowl. You can change the game length to your preference, as well. After picking your team or teams Joe gives you a run down of their strengths and weaknesses, though they didn’t always feel right to me. Who kicks and receives is chosen randomly by the computer. I had one near return on kickoff, where my players realized, “oh crap, I should be blocking!” as I ran by. Unfortunately, they got me right before I reached the end zone and it was then halftime, so I lost possession.
Each team has the same playbook. I ended up relying heavily on the Deep Pass and Flare Pass to move the ball down the field and score my points. The run game is pretty much useless. Anything up the middle was immediately stopped and trying to go outside typically got me squashed, too. Long bombs were the only way I could get down the field. After falling back to pass, you cycle through your three targets with Button B and throw with the Button A. When in control of the ball handler, you can drop your shoulder to try and shrug off tackles.
I made the game exponentially more difficult for myself by choosing Detroit. Their defense couldn’t tackle a fly and I gave up so many points because of how slow they were. Especially when I got to the finals of the Sega Bowl. My ball handlers were coughing up the pigskin over and over again. I had no luck with man coverage because of how lousy and slow my corners were, and had to rely on zones. This didn’t stop the better teams, though. If you can get through the line and rush the QB, a diving tackle with Button C can get you a sack. If you don’t think you can take him down, pressing Button B will throw up your hand and disrupt the pass. And if they throw off balance, you can grab an interception much more easily.
Onside kicks are easier to pull off in this game than any other I’ve ever played. My favorite thing is jamming a kick returner and getting them stretchered off the field. The computer isn’t above trying to pull off fake field goals. And I was able to block a couple extra points here and there. Some overall stats are tracked, but as there is no differentiation among players, individual stats aren’t tracked. At the end of the day, if you know what your cheese plays are, you should be able to piece together three consecutive victories and win the Sega Bowl.
Graphics: 2.5
I’ve got no problem with the looks of everything, except there’s no player differentiation.
Sound: 2.5
Sound is plain, but the voice samples are kind of neat.
Gameplay: 3.0
You have plenty of options to control your players through all different plays. It all sort of works, too.
Difficulty: 1.5
Picking a crappy team basically means you’ll lose, unless you’re willing to be cheap.
Fun Factor: 3.0
It’s still a good time, otherwise. You can get a good amount of enjoyment from Joe.
Overall Rating: 2.5
Joe Montana Football earns a B-. You had two solid football games to choose from as 1990 comes to a close.