Even though it is easy enough to learn, the passing system itself is annoying to deal with. The game forces you to cycle through your receivers rather than merely assigning a button to each of them. While this is done to try and make the game easier for the casual player, it only becomes annoying as you are forced to cycle through your options every single play, which is almost enough to shift your focus to a pure running attack, which would work anyway.

While all this brilliant action is going on you are treated to probably the most annoying commentary ever devised. Like most things in the game, it is fun the first few times, but after a while you just want it to end. The astute commentator actually does some self-deprecating humor where he mulls over how annoying video game announcers are in general, then proceeds to dive further down the sinkhole with little shots like “I was only paid for a certain amount of lines, and after that I’m just going to start repeating myself.” While some of the things he says will catch you off guard (like him informing you when the western Roman Empire collapsed, or when he churns out a random movie quote like- “The laces were in, Dan!”) mostly it just becomes too much to take, making you flee to the options menu to shut him up.

Multiplayer modes run slim here, as you can take your friends on in straight up games to special activities which will have you gang-tackling each other I minutes. The Playstation Network is put to use here, but the game is so boring you’re not going to want to even log on.

So while this game may flaunt itself as the grand successor to the NFL Street series, it only falls flat on its face before it hits the turf. What you’ve got instead is a hyped arena football game with some poor choices in atmosphere and fun. If you simply want a run and gun football experience here with no frills, then yes, NFL Tour may be for you. But if you are a fan of deeper football games and don’t want to have your intelligence insulted, then just stay away. Summer will be here sooner than you think, bringing with it an all new Madden, just be patient.