NFL Quarterback Club 2000

Stunning graphics, complicated play control -- yep, it's another Acclaim sports game.

With its All-Star Baseball and NHL Breakaway franchises, Acclaim has wedded high-end graphics with mind-boggling menu systems. Picking up the pace with NFL Quarterback Club 2000, Acclaim has managed to produce both the finest-looking and the most daunting N64 sports game ever. Throw in an inspired feature for Monday-morning quarterbacks and you've got an impressive, albeit highly challenging, offering for the serious gamer.

To start with QBC 2000's best point: you won't get better graphics outside an actual televised football game. Period. The carefully shaped and shaded characters are the last word in realism, at least until QBC 2001. Mottled texture-maps brilliantly capture the look of both real and artificial turf.

If you're not satisfied with the 16 camera views, you can program one in just about any position you want. As if all this isn't enough, QBC 2000 gives you subtle controls over the position and size of both horizontal and vertical display.

Note that you'll need an Expansion Pak to get all this eye candy. Without one, the frame rate is abysmally slow, even in the comical low-res mode.

With the Expansion Pak installed, our only objection is that the game shows a slight slowdown on fast-moving plays. In all fairness, Madden NFL 2000 has the same problem. The player faces lack the detail of All-Star Baseball 2000, but since they're hidden behind face masks, that's not such a big deal.

Considering that QBC 2000 has more options than there are rivets on the Brooklyn Bridge, we'll give you a fly-by look. If you want to get in depth, pick up the game or, better yet, proof-read the instruction manual.

You can choose from six different weather conditions, day or night play, three difficulty levels, fatigue on/off and injuries on/off. Players you control can be identified by name, number, position or any combination thereof.

All 31 NFL teams are here, including the Tennessee Titans and the revived Cleveland Browns. General-manager options include draft, trades and salary cap. The 100 free agents include erstwhile stellar QBs Neil O'Donnell and Frank Reich. In Season and Playoff modes, QBC 2000 tracks more stats than the ESPN mainframe. Well, almost.

You can speed up the time between plays; a good thing, considering the pokey pace of your typical NFL game. You can even pick from six different celebrations for either touchdowns or sacks.