Late hits still in the cards for NFL Blitz? All hope is not lost!

Yesterday's announcement of a new NFL Blitz has a lot of people very excited. The series was extremely popular back in the day, and only faded into obscurity when Midway lost the NFL license and decided to make the arcade-styled football game darker and grittier needed to be. NFL Blitz shouldn't be rated M! It's not about shattering legs or rupturing scrotums (an actual tackle in Blitz: The League II). Blitz is about big throws, big plays, and big hits - especially big, late hits.

But once the game was announced, rumors started circulating that the game would be losing said late hits at the hands of the NFL, who now had their hands back in the pot. According to project lead Dave Ross, while it may end up being the case eventually, it's not set in stone just yet.

During an interview with Ross we asked him specifically about the late hits, and if they were still in the game. "Our game right now is still under review by the NFL," he replied, "We have late hits in the game this cycle."

Just to make sure we heard correctly we asked again: "You said you HAVE late hits this cycle, just to clarify?"

"Yeah," he replied. "We have late hits in the game, but the game is still not finished and it’s still under review by the NFL."

We still wouldn't be all that shocked to hear that late hits will be cut from the final game, since the NFL might frown upon their star players being power-bombed and elbow-dropped after the whistle is blown, but it's good to know that, as of now, there's still a chance that our favorite arcade football game might still make release without having one of the most beloved features unceremoniously cut.

Want to know more about the upcoming NFL Blitz revival? Be sure to check back soon for our full interview with project lead Dave Ross and designer Yuri Bialoskursky, where we ask about late hits, Tim Kitzrow, and, of course, cheerleaders.

Oct 19, 2011