As someone that has played the original Retro Bowl for some time I was excited to see this version come out. However after playing it the biggest true update I see is that certain players names are in the game and team names/ logos are in the game. Which is great but that is really the only difference. So is that worth signing up for Apple Arcade?? Ehh maybe kind of.
My biggest issue right now that I hope they fix is the stars on the players. They are way to big and when you are trying to make a pass the field is cluttered with multiple yellow stars and makes it hard to see. If they reduce that it would make game play so much better.
This game is good overall. I like how you can pick your own players now. But I think there are a lot of nitpicks that make the game worse than the original Retro Bowl. 1. Game is laggy, and sometimes freezes 2. No extreme difficulty 3. Uniforms are worse. They seem slightly off color. There is no option for customization. 4. Some of the player ratings are questionable 5. End zones look worse than they did before. 6. Screen can look cluttered in-game 7. Key players missing for some teams. For example, PS2 & all O-Line missing for Denver. Meanwhile other teams like the 49ers and Cardinals have 7+ lineman. 8. Lots of bugs. For example, when selecting a player to add to the team, then clicking back, it will go to the page of QBs regardless of the position of the player you chose. Overall, this game is fun, but inferior to the original in my eyes.
I’ve played all the Retro Bowl games and loved them. I thought that the NFLPA money would make a much better game and it didn’t. The uniforms are bad (for example the packers having a white stripe on the pants instead of green) and you can’t customize them like Retro Bowl+. Randomizing the star players for each team is a bad decision, just put the actual starters there and call it a day. Even in an exhibition game the team might just automatically have the backup quarterback for no reason, with no option to switch. In season mode, the stats are broken for other superstar quarterbacks, it says they have 50+ rushing TD’s in 4 games despite their team not even scoring that much. An improvement from the previous Retro Bowl iterations, but it feels unfinished, and it’s not what I expected from such a large project
Developer Response
The issue with players on other teams accumulating large stats will be fixed if you update to the latest version. We will continue to improve the stats system in future updates. We have also added options to Exhibition Mode to allow you to refresh the rosters until you find one which you like.This is just the same game just with nfl teams which they already did. I also want to state that it’s kinda bad that they got rid of extreme mode because it was a good game because it felt more harder because it “Extreme” next to the difficulty and if you know the strats like me you would win games on extreme pretty easily. It actually feels better and faster than OG RB and College RB on hard mode, I would still just like to have that you know extra hard to that you know? It’s a good game don’t get me wrong but, they could improve on more aspects on the game. Better presentation, actual trading, like I trade a player for this player, and just overall better actual coaching would be nice. Also, I know you got the NFL license, but it makes no sense for the game to be called “Retro Bowl” but you win the Super Bowl instead. I think that changes not the whole meaning because it’s still retro, but the fact that you can’t even win the literal name of the game. I know a lot of people are mad because you have to have Apple Arcade to get the game, I already have Apple Arcade so this isn’t a problem, but there was really no reason to make it exclusive to Apple Arcade. Just admit they paid you some cash so you they could promote Apple Arcade. But Still this game is amazing, and I love you New Star Games.
Developer Response
Apologies that Extreme Mode is not yet available, but it will return in a future update. This game does allow you to trade a player for a player. In order to start that kind of trade, you need to use the TRADE button on the profile of the player which you want to acquire from the other team. I saw that the developers fixed it. But it’s still happening. Please fix!!!
Retro bowl is an already great game and now that you can play as your favorite players, that just makes it even better! Btw the chiefs are going to win 3 super bowls in a row. 💯
I have never written a mobile game review before, but after under 10 minutes of playing I had to let my frustration out. Before starting a career I figured I’d try out exhibition mode. After losing a game I shouldn’t have because the CPU wants to make impossible plays whenever it wants without you being able to do anything defensive, I was taken back to the exhibition setup screen. Only for the game to freeze when I try to press play again. After closing the app and reopening it I got an Apple error message stating the report of the crash, which was unable to be closed and the only resolution was to fully force close the app. This happened 3 times in a row. Safe to say I will be uninstalling until the developer(s) can make this 8-Bit video game actually fun and playable. Crazy that you have to subscribe to Apple Arcade to download this…
Developer Response
If you update to the latest version, we believe that we have fixed all reported crashes. If you are still experiencing issues then please contact support@newstargames.comAll I want is Tecmo Super Bowl style cut aways!! Maybe even make some of em quick time events like in Eyeshield 21. Maybe they could be reserved for playing defense?
The ability to choose plays would be great… but above all, I wish there was an option to remove the giant stars! They’re too much of a distraction
I don’t know what it was but you guys did a great job, every last detail is amazing, just one request though, I need 12 player rosters to live up to my full potential. Anyways I have been looking forward for this and so glad it’s finally here.
My main issue is the player ratings. They’re absurdly inaccurate to begin with, and rookies in season mode will be FOUR STARS out of the draft. Real life rookies are at maximum two stars, including #1 OVR pick Caleb Williams at 1.5 stars. What’s the fun in developing these players when you could get more rookies that are so much better? And make the cap higher, teams like Carolina make the Super Bowl in year one while Kansas City wins six games. If they can clear up those flaws, it could be magnificent.
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