NFL QB Club 2001 was released in 2000, and Acclaim decided to shorten the title. This wasn’t the last game in the series, but it is the last one to appear on both the Dreamcast and N64. It still has Brett Favre on the cover, which is one of the more consistent parts of this series.
There wasn’t much done to improve this game over the previous entry. Reviews for this game were mostly unfavorable. Nintendo Power gave it a good review, but that isn’t all that surprising. I’ll get more into that when I go over the reviews at the time of the game’s release.
I’m not expecting much from this game. Acclaim was starting to go off the rails at this point. Some of their games were still doing well, but they were struggling with new consoles. They were also starting to sell off their assets.
On top of that, they started to lose licenses to the major sports. This series would only have one more entry, and they would lose the MLB and NBA for various reasons in a few years. Let’s get into this game and see what it has to offer.
TLDR: A step back for the series.
Narrative
Much like other sports games, there isn’t a story or career mode in this game. NFL QB Club 2001 does have a few modes that give the player an opportunity to make up a story. Just about every sports simulation game has this. I’m pretty sure that we’re still a few years away from something close to a story mode for sports games.
Gameplay
I think the gameplay is fine, but it isn’t much better than the previous game in the series. NFL QB Club 2001 isn’t a very good football game. While it is easy to play, it isn’t much fun, and that is a serious problem.
There is a focus on the passing game, which has been present in most of the games in this series. The AI and camera have a negative impact on the passing game. It is easy to exploit on offense, and rough on defense. Thankfully, both wide receivers and defensive backs have trouble catching the ball.
I do like that there are several game modes. This is something that I enjoy seeing, but it didn’t go as far as the other NFL games on the market. Acclaim didn’t really do enough to keep up with what was the industry standard, and didn’t try anything new.
At times, it felt like this was a step back from the previous game in the series. While I was struggling through this, it just wasn’t fun. I would rather play one of the NFL Blitz games or try a different simulation series.
Overall, this is fine if it is all you had. I could see fans of this series abandoning it for something else, though. It isn’t fun to pass the ball, running isn’t all that great, and I think Tecmo Bowl had better defensive AI.
Visuals
The graphics are okay. It looks better than the previous game, mostly because it doesn’t look like there’s grease smeared over everything. NFL QB Club 2001 has the same issue with dropped animations as the previous game. This is really weird to see, especially since it wasn’t noticeable in the first games on the N64.
Character models look pretty good. I’m not noticing anything too different from the previous game, so that’s something. The arenas, fields, and crowds look good. It is a little weird that there is no one on the sidelines, which is something I’ve mentioned about the other games.
There is an awkwardness to the animations. At times, you can tell that some frames are missing. It wasn’t always there, but when it happened, it really stood out to me. This causes some jerky movements.
The weather effects looked nice. It is always fun to play in the snow or rain. This is something that reminds me of when I was a kid. We played football during recess no matter what the weather was.
As I play more of these games, I’ll have a better idea of where this game falls. Overall, I think the game looks good enough. It doesn’t really stand out as being great looking, but it isn’t terrible. There are some persistent problems with these games, though.
Reviews at the Time
NFL QB Club 2001 on the N64 received mostly negative reviews. With only two exceptions, it received scores between 2 and 5.8/10. I looked at a few publications for this.
EGM gave the game a 2.5/10. While the reviewer said it was better than the previous year, they still called it “one of the worst football games on the market.” There is some snark in this review, such as saying sleeping is a “more attractive” option than playing this.
Game Informer had two people review this game. The first gave it a 4/10 and the second gave it a 2/10. The first reviewer said that you shouldn’t “consider spending money on this game,” and that “don’t even rent it.”
Gamespot gave the game a 4.6/10. They point to a lack of improvement from the previous year’s entry. The reviewer compared it to a preseason game, and that the “choppy, sloppy gameplay soon grates on you.”
IGN gave the game a 5.8/10. The reviewer called for Acclaim to “drop the QBC franchise altogether.”
The reviewers were very harsh with this game. It all has to do with a lack of improvement from the developer, and the other NFL games being better. As I move on to other football series, it will be fun to compare them to this series.
5.5/10. This is playable, but I’m not sure why anyone would want to revisit it. NFL QB Club 2001 is one of those forgettable sports games that isn’t as good as the other games released around this time. It has a lot of problems with animations, gameplay, and controls. At the end of the day, it isn’t as good as the other NFL games from 2000 or 2001.
Pros
- Decent graphics
- Plenty of game modes
- Easy to play
Cons
- Bad animations
- Repetitive
- Bad controls
Conclusion
NFL QB Club 2001 is one of those forgettable sports games that you might’ve remembered renting back in the day. Acclaim managed to make a good game, and then get progressively worse as the series went on. It reminds me of their endless rehashes of WWF Attitude.
This seems to happen a lot with Acclaim. They make a good game, turn it into a series, and then run it into the ground for as long as they can. The second game in the series was pretty good, and they started off well on the N64. After that, things got worse.
If they’d been able to learn from their mistakes and fix some things, this could’ve been a good game. They never got the passing game to work consistently, the N64 games started having dropped frames, and the AI was never consistent. The only thing they did was make a series of average at best football games.
I have one more game in this series. NFL QB Club 2002 is the only entry on the PS2. Maybe that one will be okay. I’m not going to hold my breath, but I’m willing to give it a shot.
If you liked this post, check out some of my others on the NFL QB Club series. Such as, NFL QB Club 2000 or NFL QB Club 1999.