Share
Blitz: The League II
Xbox 360, $40 (also available for PlayStation 3) 
This game has been out since October, but I thought I'd offer up this review for football fans who might be going through withdrawal now that the season's been over for a few weeks.
Unfortunately, it's a little disappointing.
This “Blitz” is in the same vein as its predecessors: It's violent. There are lots of late hits. You can literally maim a guy with your cleats. There's almost always bloodshed. But as with the other games in the series, this gets old, and “Blitz: The League II” still doesn't look as good and play as seamlessly as “Madden.”
Interestingly, Lawrence Taylor – who starred at North Carolina and the New York Giants, and had a son play at Charlotte's Vance High – is the game's cover boy.
(Taylor told ESPN last year that this game “is about entertainment. There are a lot of different things that happen in the NFL, some you might see or hear about, some you might not. But the league has done a very good job of cleaning up some of the things that happen. This … is more like how the NFL was before the commissioner got to it. This is raw football, without the restrictions.”)
There's also an all-new story mode penned by Peter Egan, who wrote ESPN's infamous “Playmakers.” The story lines are pure soap opera, featuring deals with slimy agents and players who take all sorts of supplements that never seem to have any side effects.
But once you get past the ridiculous story mode and make a few late hits, you'll be ready to return this to the store where you rented it.
NASCAR Kart Racing
Nintendo Wii, $40 
Imagine “Mario Kart,” only with real NASCAR drivers, and you'll have a good idea of what this new Electronic Arts game is about.
The games play similarly – i.e. cartoonishly – down to what you do to get a power boost. (One key difference, though, is all the ads in “NASCAR Kart Racing”; not much of a surprise, since every car has a sponsor and every driver has an endorsement deal of some sort.)
“NASCAR Kart Racing” was kind of fun. There are 24 tracks and eight different power-ups to play with. Up to four players can go at it on a split screen. And the game looks great.
This one's a keeper.
Langston Wertz Jr.: 704-358-5133; lwertz@charlotteobserver.com.
Want more Games N Gadgets news? Visit http://langstonwertz.blogspot.com.
