Kurt WarnerKurtis Eugene "Kurt" Warner is a retired American football player. He played quarterback for three National Football League teams: the St. Louis Rams, the New York Giants, and the Arizona Cardinals. He was originally signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 1994 after playing...
's Arena Football Unleashed is a
sports gameA sports game is a computer or video game that simulates the practice of traditional sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, athletics and extreme sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport , whilst others emphasize strategy and organization...
developed and published by
MidwayMidway Games, Inc. is an American company that was formerly a major video game publisher. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2009, it is no longer active and is in the process of liquidating all of its assets. Midway's titles included Mortal Kombat, Ms.Pac-Man, Spy Hunter, Tron, Rampage, the...
for the
Sony, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation. It was released in
North AmericaNorth America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on May 18, 2000.
Gameplay
Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed differs from other
american footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
video games due to its usage of the
arena footballArena football is a variety of gridiron football played by the Arena Football League . It is a proprietary game, the rights to which are owned by Gridiron Enterprises, and is played indoors on a smaller field than American or Canadian outdoor football, resulting in a faster and higher-scoring game....
system. A few rule changes include that there are half as many players on the field,
field goalsA field goal in American football and Canadian football is a goal that may be scored during general play . Field goals may be scored by a placekick or the now practically extinct drop kick.The drop kick fell out of favor in 1934 when the shape of the ball was changed...
go back into play if they miss the goalposts, and there's no such thing as punting. The game is compared to
NFL Blitz 2000 for its violence, and one reviewer even noted that "The post-play violence has been pumped up to the level that
Blitz had before the NFL forced Midway to tone it down."
Reception
Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed received mostly poor reviews, portraying it as being a weaker version of
NFL Blitz 2000.
GameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
criticized the game and gave it a low score. "It's a scaled-down version of Blitz 2000 with a few changes, but these changes don't really enhance the game in any way."
IGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
wrote, "... the actual game engine seems more like a poor man's Blitz."