Arena Football (2006 video game)

This article is about the PlayStation 2 and Xbox video game. For the Commodore 64 game, see Arena Football (1988 video game).

Arena Football
Developer(s)	EA Sports
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2 Xbox
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player multiplayer multiplayer online

Arena Football is an Arena Football League video game developed by Electronic Arts (under their EA Sports brand) for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It was released on February 7, 2006. The cover features quarterback John Dutton of the Colorado Crush, the champions of ArenaBowl XIX. The game is similar to EA's other simulation football games (NCAA Football and Madden NFL), but adopts a style of play that is similar to the faster and more frantic paced Arena game. The game includes all the rules, rosters, and teams for the 2006 AFL season. The game was succeeded by Arena Football: Road to Glory.

Teams

2006 AFL teams

All of the teams that competed in the 2006 season are included. The New Orleans VooDoo have been excluded because they have temporarily halted operations due to Hurricane Katrina. However, their logo is available for use in the game's create-a-team feature. The VooDoo resumed operations in 2007. The Kansas City Brigade franchise and its colors have been included, but the official name and logo didn't make it in because they were unveiled after the game had gone into production so the team was known as the Kansas City KC in the video game.

Historic teams

EA included a number of historic teams in Arena Football. Though not every Arena League team in history is represented, a good deal of them are. They are awarded to the player upon meeting certain statistical goals in a game. Here is a complete list:

Soundtrack

7 Seconds - "Big Hardcore Mystery" Anberlin - "Never Take Friendship Personal" Avenged Sevenfold - "Blinded in Chains" Bloodsimple - "What if I Lost It" British Beef - "Without Me" Day of Contempt - "The Ghost of Tragedy" Emery - "Studying Politics" From Autumn to Ashes - "Inapprope" Ill Niño - "What You Deserve" Korn - "Twisted Transistor" Left Alone - "My Whole Life" Orange - "Affirmation Song"

Project 86 - "All of Me", "The Spy Hunter" Staind - "Paper Jesus" Still Remains - "White Walls" Story of the Year - "We Don't Care Anymore" The Prom Kings - "Down" Thousand Foot Krutch - "Absolute" Underoath - "Reinventing Your Exit" Peter Lehman - "8 Yards", "Psycho Linebacker" Jesse Allen - "Avatar of Fury", "Dr Pizza Pie", "Shake Your Moneymaker", "The Beast Within", "Thrash Trance" Rob Warren - "Eucalyptus People", "Meat Mittens", "Purple Monkey Dishwasher", "Rocket Fuel", "Satellite Symphony", "wHOSyERdADDY" Gene Rozenberg - "Grenade Anthem", "My Little Two by Four" Aubrey Hodges - "Primal Nation"

History of AFL video games

Arena Football is not the first video game to feature the AFL. However, it can be considered the first simulation (as opposed to arcade-style) AFL game. Other AFL games are:

• Kurt Warner's Arena Football Unleashed (2000) - PlayStation - Midway Games - A completely arcade-style video game that was based on the NFL Blitz game engine.
• Arena Football '95 (1995) - Atari Jaguar - V-Real - Unreleased game that made it about half way through development before cancellation.
• Arena Football (1988) - Commodore 64 - Chris R. Bickford III - Independently coded text-based game for the C64 back during the early years of the AFL.

Reception

The game received positive reviews. IGN gave the game an 8.3, stating, "While the season mode is shallow, online play and solid multiplayer action will keep you bouncing off the walls for some time." GameSpot gave the game a lower score of 6.9, and like IGN, criticized Season Mode. While GameSpot praised the Telemetry system, they also commented that the game cannot "decide whether it wants to be arcade- or simulation-oriented."