While the Nintendo Switch has never had the prominent American Football video game series, it has had some notable efforts in the Indie and retro spaces. Now we can add Wild Card Football to the mix, and it's certainly an ambitious release in comparison to its contemporaries on the system. From Saber Interactive, it follows a similar approach to NBA Playgrounds and its 2K-pubished sequel, albeit this time the studio is flying solo and doesn't have the official NFL license.
What it does have is an NFLPA license, the player's association, and that's a big part of the pitch for Wild Card Football. While teams are fictional, the players — current and former — are very much real, and interestingly the equivalents to NFL teams are named after their quarterbacks. The teams have relatively little in common with the real-world versions, albeit this Bears fan (yes, by all means feel pity for your humble scribe) was surprised that the Justin Fields team had pretty good stats. Hey, not all games have to be realistic. The handful of arenas are also neat, including a hefty stadium, urban locations like Chicago and London, a camping haven in an impressive forest, and a few other fun options. Like the studio's previous sporting output, the approach is fantastical and entertaining.
The actual Football embraces wackiness, too, opting for a 7-a-side approach and chaotic gameplay. Unlike NBA Playgrounds, though, Saber Interactive is treading a fine line between simplicity and complexity, trying to make the game relatively accessible while grappling with the depth of the sport. In terms of controls, it's far simpler than something like Madden, for example, but the play-to-play moments can feel just as frantic, especially on defence as you desperately switch players and try to make a play.
The cartoonish look plays into the action, with the named 'Wild Card' element being a key factor. Wild Cards are used during games in all phases of play — their impact can include boosting or decreasing player speeds, putting oil slicks on the ground, sapping opponents' stamina, and more besides. Each card has varied strengths and costs points to play; it becomes a tactical challenge to manage your points and deploy the right cards for the right play. At times your cards will overrule your opponent's, and vice versa, and they can certainly have a major influence on the outcome.
It's quite well executed; when a card choice works well it feels great, and likewise we had to doff our cap when the opposition made the right move. That said, if you want games without Wild Cards, just a straight match without all the madness, this is supported across modes, too. There were certainly times when we didn't feel like battling with the card system; this is a smart inclusion from the development team.
Overall, the style of Football presented here, blending Playgrounds madness with gridiron depth, is a solid effort. You can either play it simple and go with default playbooks and recommended plays, or you can go full Bill Belichick — well, Tom Brady-era Belichick — and get into the detail with some playbook and roster design. If you want to be a Football nerd, there's decent depth here and the gameplay is reasonably solid, albeit a little scruffy.
There's lots of choice in modes, too. You can hop into exhibitions against CPU, in local or online play; in our online test performance was fine, with the netcode only adding the occasional hitch. A welcome mode is 'Season', where you pick a team and play a basic campaign against CPU opponents with Wildcards on or off depending on preference. For those who enjoy the game's style but want to stay away from 'Ultimate Team'-style grinding, this is a nice option.
But yes, let's get to where this game wants you to spend your time: Dream Squad. This is the Wild Card Football take on Ultimate Team, where you create an organization and grind your way to earning players, Wildcards, and 'Vanities' like uniforms. It all revolves around Packs that you earn by levelling up or completing challenges, while naturally you start off with a pretty mediocre team. The key offline option here is 'Tour', where you work through a whole bunch of games and challenges against the CPU to earn experience and packs. This, alongside 'Daily Challenges', can be a big source of early packs and help you level up. Don't let commercials fool you, though, it'll be quite some time before you're rocking true superstars in your lineup.
The depth is impressive, though, you can spend a lot of time messing around with your playbook, uniforms or getting 'trade points' on unused cards to put towards better players. If you're up for sinking a lot of time into the mode it has the nudges and winks to encourage you to go all in on customisation.
For the all-important online play, you can either go into Quick Game or League, the latter of which is typical of the 'Divisions' approach from the likes of EA Sports FC, as you compete to move up the leagues and earn better rewards. The big question marks around this are clear, especially as this isn't a triple-A big-name release: Will there be an active community to make this work? Cross-play is included to help this along, in fairness, but for Switch players that'll bring up some issues.
Dream Squad ticks a lot of the boxes for this sort of mode, blending offline progression with a push to eventually go online; yes, there are also going to be add-on purchases that weren't listed on the eShop at the time of writing. The big issue with this, ultimately, comes down to how the game plays on Switch and the impact that'll have on the experience.
Wild Card Football is a solid game from Saber Interactive, just like its NBA predecessors, but performance isn't quite where it could be on Switch. On initially loading the feeling is that it's 'fine', but the further you get and the more challenging the games the harder it is to truly enjoy the experience. This is not a fully smooth game on Switch, probably unlike versions on more powerful hardware, with it evidently being compromised on the portable system. It looks reasonable, albeit with some aggressive resolution drops in crowded scenes, but it lacks true fluidity. In the worst cases, high-tempo plays can feel slightly like a lottery as a result, as it's hard to parse the fast-paced action and know if all your inputs will be promptly detected.
In general, the experience is better docked, too, with the loss of clarity in portable mode being a bit of a factor. None of this is to say the game is a 'bad' Switch version, yet it's not quite as smooth as you'd hope in a game this frenetic. The thought of playing PS5 and Xbox Series players online is painful, too; like with other sports games with cross-play, it may be best to turn crossplay off and hope there's an active Switch community.
At this title's double-A pricepoint, likely to help pay for that NFLPA license, it's also a bit of an ask on Switch. It's a fun and enjoyable take on American Football, but frantic, borderline scruffy play and average performance do stand against it. On the flipside, overall it's certainly a very reasonable experience of gridiron on the system, which is pleasing to see.
Conclusion
Wild Card Football is an ambitious take on the sport, with a decent mix of modes and pleasing depth for those keen to go all in. The offline Season mode may keep a lot of Switch players going, but once you dive into the Ultimate Team-style 'Dream Squad' you'll eventually feel the pull to take your hard-earned fantasy roster online. That's where a lack of fluidity and clarity in gameplay can really bite. A sport as frantic as American Football needs a slightly slicker performance level than we found here. However it's only just short of a first-down, so if you're happy to live with the compromises then this may still be worth a punt.
Comments 55
Kapernick featured front and center?! Lol, that's bait and nothing more.
Why when I saw the title did I assume this was deck-builder based on American football?
…Guess Alan’s Kit and Krysta article has put weird football game ideas into my head.
Is that Kapernick on the cover? He's a PoS. I think I'll kneel out on this one. It can't have been made by people who love the sport with that identity-politics stooge on the cover.
I recognised the guy who kneels in protest and does Nike adverts, but don't really know who he is.
I bought this and have sunk a couple of hours in and overall it’s good. I had a sound glitch so I had to reset it but it’s easily the best NFL game on the Switch
Jumping on this. If Team Tua has Hill, Waddle and Achane on the roster, they’ll eat defenses alive.
I'm sure the comments will be very cool and completely on-topic about the gameplay.
This was such a cool concept for a game, but a shame to know it fumbled at the fourth down. Good review, thank you.
Gotta pick this up and support Kapernick, plus it looks silly and that is about the only way I can enjoy American Football. I laugh every time I see the pineapple head (helmet?) team screenshot.
No interest in supporting any studio that will give the likes of Kapernick a platform.
I really don't understand EA's lack of support for the Switch. A port of BATTLEFRONT 2 could have done really well on the system. The fact we still don't have a MADDEN title is mind-blowing. I guess if this goes on a deep sale I will try it out. Back to playing MADDEN on 3DS. ; )
Excited to try this out! Miss the old NFL Street games and I hope this scratches that itch. The roster seems pretty great as well. Hopefully it's a delightful game that everyone can enjoy!
So what I’m reading is buy this on my series x.
Kinda reminds me of Blitz football! I used to love those games! But no teams and only players? Also Kapernick?! The same guy who made a movie about the NFL being akin to slaves and then at the same time is begging the NFL to hire him, lol. This guy is the biggest racial grifter next to Shaun King. Yeah, I wouldn't buy anything he gets a penny from. But to each his own!
Since Krapernick is front and center, I think I’ll take a knee on this one.
At least it's better than Madden.
So standing up for the anthem is more important than acknowledging and addressing police brutality. People in here lost their minds over a song. I thought it was the other party whom were supposed to be snowflakes.
I'm blown away by how many devs don't want lots and lots of money. Madden on Switch and GTA 4/5 on switch are both two big franchises that could have been put on switch with minimal effort yet would be cash printing machines similar to the DS it prints money meme!
@sixrings no, it is but it's the way he goes about it. Wearing socks calling police pigs (and tons of other stuff, shirts, stickers, etc. Saying the NFL is akin to slavery (slavery making millions) while at the same time begging to be included and trying to force teams to take him or be labeled as racist. This man is a race grifter. He's not doing it to help the cause but to line his pockets
Games like this seriously make me miss my years of N64 NFL Blitz/2000. Like I was with NBA Hangtime I played the hell out of those games and ruled! We'll never get those games/times again unfortunately. We'll only get 'spiritual successor' games and/or "it's kinda like Blitz" experiences. Oh well.
Yeah on a side note like I've mentioned before on a previous post on this game using Kapernick was totally done on purpose to whack the beehive. It gets the game attention and even websites like this one will benefit some because it will generate traffic for ad revenue (which the rates are currently WAY down hence expect more clickbait articles from all the usual clickbait farms).
@Ganner do you remember Super High Impact football on the SNES, "I eat quarterbacks for breakfast!". For years after that game my friends and I would use that quote, lol. Then came Blitz and finally NFL Street! Lol, you don't see games like this anymore. I remember playing Blitz on my Sega Dreamcast and I was blown away by how it was exactly like the arcade. Volta football is kinda the only thing we get today in FIFA... err EA FC23. And the recent Mario sports games have blown big chunks.
NFL Street 2 was peek - still hoping for a full reboot of that franchise or a port (I assume a port would be impossible).
This looks like an easy game to pass on. It doesn't even look good.
@TheBoilerman I was surprised as well. Colin sucks as a football player. Tall and big for nothing.
Colin taking a knee saved his career, for now.
It's really disappointing to see this game basically tried to re-invent the wheel for no reason. This genre, of taking a sport or game and making it a turn based RPG or CCG has been pretty consistent in Japan going back to the NES era, but none of the games ever get ported because they use local team licenses.
I would love for Hand Egg given the same treatment, and I figured the developers would just make a game for the West based on foundation already laid in Japan. But instead, they completely ignored decades of development and refinement and we got ... this. Not awful, but really simplistic and unrefined.
When Kapernick is your cover athlete, you know the game is going to be bad.
@Ryu_Niiyama Sure if supporting no talented players who make a sports game into a political circus, try and steal the spotlight from those that desverve it and cry how they are unfairly blacklisted is a person's thing.
@Tasuki As always, you do you, and I'll do me. Nice try though. Have a nice day!
@5th313ment do you remember Super High Impact football on the SNES, "I eat quarterbacks for breakfast!". For years after that game my friends and I would use that quote, lol.
Hell yeah I remember that game! That one was a rotating weekend and summer Blockbuster Video (or in same cases Smith's Store) game rental. I say rotating because I'm sure you remember back then parents (at least mine) were more forgiving for renting games than buying full price games (unless it was a Xmas or birthday gift specifically). So my brothers and I had a system for certain games were rented often and some we wanted purchased for a gift (like a Mario Kart tier game).
As for the quote, yes I can happily confirm my brothers and I STILL use it to this very day (I'm 39 and they're in their mid 40s). We use it for pretty much everything we feel it can apply it to. And in some cases it makes no freaking sense to whatever scenario we quote it but it just hits the mark
Kaepernick is awesome; I hope he got a huge payday for this.
Lol, not only does the game look boring as all get out, but they picked someone who hasn't even been in the NFL for nearly 7 years to be front and center. It's not like he's a legend, HoF'er, or has a chance of making a comeback. This screams virtue signaling. Had the game look decent, I might of tried it since we need good football games on switch. Oh well...maybe next time.
Thanks Nintendolife moderators, for allowing this discussion to be almost exclusively a political forum about a single player, with maybe 10 of the 32 comments here having anything to do with the game itself.
Your content moderation is insanely inconsistent, but this is a new low.
use to play Super High Impact in arcade where the game gave you football cards at the end from its dispenser. also picked it up on N64 back then, fun times man. Also use to run Quarterback Club on Sega and of course some of the maddens lol never got to play NFL street though, NBA Jam & NBA Street were amazing along with Hang Time.. Am i showing my age yet @Ganner
@HeadPirate
Don't worry, I'm sure most of these comments will be removed in a few hours.
Seems interesting, but not for me. I just wish an actual simlation game would come to switch, even if it was Madden.
@blindsquarel
I mean the first comment is about it and is already 9 hours old. Even if it gets removed now, that's still piss poor moderation.
They let it go so long the only option at this point is likely to lock the tread, which sucks ... I know someone who worked on this and was really interesting in hearing what people had to say.
@HeadPirate
Yeah, it could have been handled better. But when you take a player as polarizing as Kaepernick and put him front and center, it would be foolish to not expect the conversation to be about him. Right or wrong, thats just the fact of the matter.
Bummer it wasn’t quite where it can, be. Other great options out there for indie players as already stated. Retro Bowl, Axis Football 2023. Unfortunate some man-children can’t keep their tirades out of video game chat.
This comment section is amazing. I'm gonna grab some popcorn.
@HeadPirate I'm sure some ppl went out of their way to hate on Kap, but at the same time are voicing an opinion on why they won't pick up this package. If a Blizzard review is overhauled by anti-Kotick statements saying they'd never touch one of their games as long as he's involved, sounds similar to me and par for the course? Maybe I'm wrong or missing it. Sorry about your friend though
Why would these developers intentionally put Kap front and center (let alone in the game) if they wanted the audience to focus on-topic about the gameplay?? Oh right, they didn't, just like Kap, they wanted cheap publicity and clickbait.
@CammyUnofficial so we’re comparing someone not standing up for the national anthem with someone who ignored rape allegations and created a work environment which drove someone to commit suicide? Well by the way some here are triggered by Colin maybe he did drive someone to suicide. Pretty sure he’s ok on the rape thing though.
@blindsquarel
Which only supports the idea that they should have had moderators watching the tread closer, knowing that comment would come, and nuking it immediately.
@CammyUnofficial
I can do false equivalence too! Plenty of shooters have Nazi's on the box art. Are you saying it's okay to reply to a Wolfenstein game with "I won't buy this because I love Nazi's and hate when Nazi's are show as the bad guys"?
Kotick gets dailies and funds the project. The idea that a Blizzard game might be bad because he's a bad COE isn't just valid, it's an indisputable fact. He created one of the most hostile work environments on earth and is being sued by dozens of the people who worked for him. That is going to impact game quality.
I personally am really enjoying Starfield, but I think that everything I don't like about it can be traced back to Todd Howard's arrogant approach to game design.
Talking about them is talking about the game, because they are part of the game development process. The most important part, in fact.
Talking about who is on the box art, a decision made by the publisher's marketing team that at no point was ever connected to the development team is just using an excuse to talk about non-gaming related topics.
@sixrings haha hey I'm not comparing anyone's actions besides ppl saying "I won't buy this game because this person is involved"
@CammyUnofficial ok. I understand.
@HeadPirate sure, I'm not saying anything is okay or not okay. If someone says they won't buy a game because of XYZ then so be it. Kotick wasn't going to be a good example, I acknowledge that and thank you for the nuanced civil response. I don't mean to stir anything up on this topic either, best keep my mouth shut sometimes. I actually agree with you too, I just didn't think the comments necessitated removal or thread lock I guess
@HeadPirate I really wish there was a football game on the switch. How hard is it for ea to release madden on switch. I’d buy any football game on switch. Hey look it’s a new football game with the NFLPA players. Oh damn there’s Collin. Hard pass. I’m going to go sleep in my American flag pajamas now and wake up in 2024 and vote for the rightful president who is currently being witch hunted. Don’t worry I am very rational.
Removed - flaming/arguing; user is banned
I don't know what everyone else is yapping about, but this game looks so corporate friendly it hurts.
Hard pass dawg.
@Ryu_Niiyama That's fine, seems you got a problem hearing the truth just like everyone else these days.
@worrell
I’m not to into the game myself, but usually the quality of a sports game depends on you liking the sport itself. I’m just a random guy on the internet though, so what do I know?
@blindsquarel yeah, you don't have to be into the sport to know what a crappy gamecube game looks like, lol.
I think this review misses the mark some. It’s not perfect but the game is a ton of fun, and easily the best football game for a Nintendo console since the Gamecube days.
https://youtu.be/F08wkUeoY-M?si=9Vof2ss8rkDlGzKK
Removed - inappropriate
@HeadPirate Or just move on and stop worrying about it. Do something useful with your time. I’m wasting mine here too.
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