Joe Montana Football

Joe Montana Football was released in the early nineties and was endorsed by Hall of Fame quarterback, Joe Montana. It was not licensed by the National Football League, only Montana, so the teams and players all fictitious.
Joe Montana Football is a standard football game ported to the PC. If the user had played a game in a different port, especially a console game, such as SEGA, which Joe Montana Football was originally released upon. The game does not feature particularly intelligent AI.

The user won’t be able to master the controls on one single play and use it repeatedly to make easy yards, but a repertoire of three is probably enough. The running plays are immeasurably easier than long pass plays or more complex screens and slants. If the user can just master two runs and a short pass, he should have no problem with the AI defence.
The plays themselves are pretty standard and generic…nothing tricky or entertaining. The one thing that does add some flavour and excitement to the game is the ability to choose which athlete the user will control. Most will likely choose the quarterback and hand off or pass. But the gamer can also play from the point of view of the wide receiver and try to catch the AI pass. The same is true from the defensive standpoint. It is not difficult to keep the AI offensive guessing and making mistakes.
The game features very standard graphics, which cannot be considered a knock, because they were standard for the time. But the sound is exceptionally weak. The quarterback will mutter “hike” on the beginning of the play, and after that there is not much in the way of sound…no crunching hits, “doinks” when the ball ricochets, and/or whistles. There are some interesting cut scenes when a record is made and the game features a special scene or field goals and kicks. Highlights and other portions of the game can also be saved and viewed again later.
In summary, Joe Montana Football is not a bad game entirely. It is actually kind of fun and would be good for a beginning sports gamer. However, it is not very realistic in regards to the strength of teams and the unintelligent and easily joked AI. Despite the lack of complexity and generic plays, a beginner could probably find a lot to like in this game and could use it as a working tutorial for a bigger and better game.