Axis Football 19 is the latest title by Axis Games in their long-running American football simulator franchise Axis Football. We have seen the franchise grow better and better over the past few years however Axis Games has gone full throttle in their latest title and we can easily say that it is one of the best titles based on American football in the market at this time. This is our review of Axis Football 19 and we will tell you exactly why Axis Football 19 is the best of the bunch. Our review was done on the Xbox One.
Right after booting the game, you are greeted with a minimalistic menu and there are no fancy things here. You can jump in the Exhibition mode or the Franchise mode, customize your team or change the game options or view the credits to check out the team behind the game. There are no complex menus here to make the game feel fancy. Everything is to the point and demands that you get on the field as quickly as possible. I would have preferred a tutorial but sadly you have to figure out the controls and other mechanics on the field yourself.
If you want to play a casual match, you can simply head to the Exhibition which allows you further options where you can play One Player or Two Player. If you don’t want to jump on the field and get yourself dirty, you can jump in the Coach mode where your only task is to call the plays and watch your team win the match. Even if that is not your mood, you can simply enter the Spectate mode where you can choose the teams, match settings and simply sit back and enjoy the match as the two AI players duke it out to win the game.
The real mode however of Axis Football is the Franchise mode where you will be spending most of your time and this is also the mode where the game really shines. This time around, the Franchise mode comes packed with features that allow the most control you’ve had on your team ever in an Axis Football game. Enter the Franchise mode and once again you are presented with a simple yet effective menu showing you everything that you need to know. The main dashboard will let you see your current standings in the season and your upcoming matches.
From this very screen, you can jump in the next match or choose to Coach, Spectate or even Simulate the game if you don’t feel like playing it. However, it is best that you play the games here because the gameplay is something that Axis Football does not compromise at. Apart from this, you can now also manage other needs of your team here such as managing contracts of your team, trading players, using an agency to find some more players, sending players to practice sessions and check the status of your injured players.
If you head to your Front Office, you can handle all important things about your career such as hiring or firing coaches, purchasing or upgrading facilities for your team, scouting for new talent, setting practice strategies for your team and even drafting new players for your squad. You can also keep an eye on your team’s morale here which is determined by numerous in-game factors such as winning matches, keeping fit in the training sessions and not exerting the players too much before their matches. It is vital that you try to keep your team’s morale as high as possible.
Now let’s come to the gameplay of Axis Football 19. The gameplay is an absolute breeze and playing around different formations and playbooks while playing the matches is really easy. The in-game UI is very easy to understand and it gives you plenty of options to adapt to the game’s unique playing style. There are a lot of offense and defense formations this time around. If you are not satisfied with your last formation, you can simply choose a new one for the next play and the process to do so is really easy.
Player control is really crisp and you will find the player turning around on your command. However, I found the hit points a little too wide because in certain conditions when I was running towards the player holding the ball, I would be still a little away from them but somehow I would stop them. The same case happened often when I was running towards the other side of the field and the player from the opposite team would stop me without even touching me. I would have liked if the hit points were actually the size of the body of the player rather than a square box around their whole body.
The same thing goes for playbooks. The game has really convenient and easy-to-understand playbook mechanic in place which can be easily understood by players who are new to the game as well. I am not a hardcore player of American football but even I managed to win quite a fair amount of matches in Axis Football just because the game is really easy to understand. You can combine the playbooks with your formations and adapt to the ever-changing scenarios of the game quickly before every play.
The in-game customizer is also a very great feature which allows you to customize everything ranging from your team, uniform and player. The Uniform Editor allows you to customize the uniform on your team ranging from decals, fonts, and colors. The player editor allows you to edit each and every team in the game and edit their players and their information in the game. You can also edit their stats in the game. The last feature is the Team editor which allows you to choose options such as the name of your team, its country and other similar details.
One major thing missing from Axis Football 19 is multiplayer. The game is solely singleplayer and there is no multiplayer mode of any kind so once you have completed a few seasons in the Franchise mode, tried out different things in Exhibition, you will be bored and there won’t be anything new for you to try out. Having a multiplayer mode would have certainly increased the life of the game as you would have been able to try your luck at football with other players from around the world.
Final Verdict
Axis Football 19 is a great addition to the world of American football simulators and certainly the best one to ever come out in the Axis Football franchise. There could have some improvements here and there but considering the small size of the development team, this is an amazing title and a must have for all sports fans out there. Multiplayer would have certainly given players a chance to jump in the action with players from around the world however even with it missing from the game, it can still keep you busy for many hours with its brilliant franchise mode.
Final Score: 8/10
Had high hopes, but no. I’ve had the game for a month, played dozens of games in coach mode (which i prefer) for a variety of teams, and lose every damn time.not one win. Its like the designers judt fontvwsnt to allow uou to,play in coach, mode. I am very disappointed.