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XOR
Corporation's NFL Challenge
One of the oldest football games ever
made, XOR's NFL Challenge remains to this day one of the
most ambitious simulations of its kind, containing over 30,000
lines of C and Assembly source codes after over 10 man-years in
the making. The result was a very thorough and realistic
simulation of football that was impressive enough to win
endorsement from the NFL.
The game comprised of 2 modules: macro
and micro. The macro model computed and recorded various
statistical averages to model the entire NFL season, while the
micro model calculated the outcome of a single match. The game
boasted of having several NFL experts help create in-game
offensive and defensive playbooks, and it showed: there were
dozens of plays you could choose from, and penalties and
injuries were handled realistically. Graphics were not much to
speak off-- it's either all text (you saw a red triangle,
representing a ball, moving back on forth on the screen), or
some graphics where X's and O's represent players. Still, for a
game that focuses on the simulation aspect of a sport as
opposed to the action, it's more than enough. There were many
coaching options available, many of which became standard in
later football games: in addition to calling plays, you could
call a time out, and even use a neat "two-minute"
mode, which is modeled after the "hurry up" offense
often seen in real football games. In this mode, all ball
carriers on that team would make an extra effort to get out of
bounds and stop the clock. The quarterback would make more and
longer passes, resulting in longer completions but much higher
risk of interception. The computer AI was quite good, as it would
take advantage of this "two-minute" mode, as well as
constantly change playbooks. Each player was rated in different
skill categories, which affected the outcome of the game. You could
play against a friend, the computer, or even watch the computer
play itself.
Overall, NFL Challenge was a
great simulation that definitely set a high standard for other
games to follow. It's the granddaddy of games such as Tom
Landry Strategy Football, and the level of thoroughness,
fun, and realistic outcome is excellent even by today's
standard.
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