Football fans around the world can rejoice now that NFL Football Pro 99 has made its way to store shelves. Or can they? It’s been a few years since Sierra has given their acclaimed football series a face lift, but this year’s edition boasts a number of new features including a brand new 3D-arcade engine, 3D polygonal players and stadium, complete financial model for team management and a whole lot more. Unfortunately for the end user, the game was clearly rushed out the door so we’re faced with a game with an ungodly amount of bugs and other critters.

It’s a shame that Sierra Sports pushed to release this title so soon. In past years, Front Page Sports Football Pro has been far and away the best football simulation available on the market. Nobody else comes close to giving a realistic feel for football both on and off the field. Madden 99 pails in comparison as EA Sports continues, year after year, to ignore any kind of league play, focusing solely on arcade action. NFL Football Pro 99 had the potential to become the ultimate football game available today, instead we’re stuck with one of the biggest letdowns of the year hoping that one day, out of the blue, a patch will be made available that’ll make our mouths drool for football again.

NFL 99 features a brand new 3D-arcade engine including 3D polygonal players and stadiums. In the past, Sierra hasn’t really focused on the arcade aspect of football, preferring to create an all around football experience. Football enthusiasts looking for great arcade action are usually turned off by Sierra’s football series, but this year promised to be different. Unfortunately we’re treated to the same old song.

The graphics are really quite nice. At full detail, it even rivals Madden 99. The stadiums are really well done and each one is unique in it’s dimensions and atmosphere. The players themselves aren’t that bad either. The main problem here is the system requirements. As I read the box, I see that a Pentium 200 is the minimum requirement and believe me when I say that’s the BARE minimum. However, if you don’t own a Pentium 2-266 with a second generation 3D card, I have a hard time recommending you start playing this puppy. Luckily you can basically edit just about every detail there is in the game, so there are several ways to speed up the gameplay. Speaking of gameplay, I think the Broncos are about to take on the Jets. Let’s watch this one shall we?

It’s a sunny, Sunday afternoon as the Denver Broncos take to the field to face the hometown New York Jets (that would be the team I’m controlling) at the Meadowlands. The stadium is full to capacity and we’re ready for kickoff. The Jets will be kicking to the Broncos to start the first quarter. John Hall really wallops the ball, as the Broncos field the kickoff at their 40 yard line? (This brings me to the first bug. Your kicker can kick the ball at full strength, yet it only travels 30 yards? A tad confusing, but let’s continue with the game)

The Broncos have the ball at their own 45 yard line. John Elway calls the play and steps up behind the center. "45 Blue, 32 Red, Hut! Hut! Hut!". Elway drops back a few steps and hands the ball off to Terrell Davis, one of the best running backs in the game. Davis just stands there, clearly baffled by the Jets defense which has yet to break the offensive line? (Bug #2 rears it’s ugly head. Sometimes opposing running backs, upon receiving the hand off/pitch, will just stand there and not move. At other times, quarterbacks will drop to a knee on first down?!? My, my, Sierra has some issues to work out)

It’s four and out for the Broncos, as they couldn’t muster a single yard on offense in their first possession. They’re forced to punt the ball to the Jets. The punt travels 45 yards and the Jets return the punt and now have the ball on their own 30 yard line. Vinny Testaverde calls a running play, up the middle, for Curtis Martin. "Hut!" Vinny drops back and attempts to hand off the ball to Martin, who misses the hand off completely? (Bug #3 rears it’s ugly head. Running backs are prone to fumbling the ball. In some games I fumbled the ball a half dozen times on hand offs alone!)

Second and 10 for the Jets who call a passing play. It’s a slant that is intended for Keyshawn Johnson. For some reason, the Broncos are baffled by the play calling because nobody lines up to cover Keyshawn on the outside. Easy pickings as the snap is made and Vinny drops back to make the pass to his receiver. Keyshawn is completely open and will easily score a touchdown on this play, but he drops the ball? (Bug #4 is upon us. Is that butter on the receiver’s hands? Why do they drop so many passes? Even when completely left open, receivers will drop 2 out of every 5 catchable passes, leaving even the best QBs in the league with horrible pass completion percentage. On another note, cornerbacks are horrible at covering receivers, especially tackling them after they’ve caught the ball).

"That’s okay!" says the Jets coach. The hurry up offense is employed as the Broncos seem unorganized on defense. Vinny calls the same play for Keyshawn and for the second time in a row, the all-pro receiver is left completely open. The pass is completed this time, but the free safety has a bead on Johnson and will easily make the tackle. Keyshawn uses a burst of speed though followed by another, and another, and another. My goodness, all of a sudden he’s 20 yards ahead of the pack? (Keyshawn is fast, but not that fast, so here’s critter #1. Why is there a SPEED/EXPLODE button in football? Ok, I suppose running backs need to explode through the line of scrimmage when running the ball, but if you’re going to incorporate a speed button, you MUST make sure the opposing players use it too. Here, they don’t. With speed button in hand, you should easily be able to muster up 100 yards on the ground before half-time comes up, even if you’re controlling the Chicago Bears)

And so the Jets take a 7-0 lead. I’ll spare you from hearing the rest of the game as I’d like to keep this review under 100 pages. The score ended up 40-7 for the Jets in case you were wondering. Was there a point to all this babbling? Hopefully you came to the conclusion that this game has a bug around every corner. The gameplay is really an emotional roller coaster. There are some great features and some horrible bugs/critters in there too. Here’s a run-down of what else I found that I can remember:

Positives: