''Arena Football'' is an

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry and promoted the d ...

(under their

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they tried to imitate real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" ...

brand) for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

. It was released on February 7, 2006. The cover features quarterback John Dutton of the

Colorado Crush The Colorado Crush were an arena football team based in Denver, Colorado. They began play as a 2003 Arena Football League expansion team. The Crush played in the Central Division of the American Conference until the Arena Football League suspend ...

, the champions of

ArenaBowl XIX ArenaBowl XIX was the 2005 championship game of the Arena Football League (AFL), and was played at the Thomas & Mack Center in Paradise, Nevada. The first neutral-site title game in AFL history drew 10,822 fans to see the Colorado Crush defeat th ...

. The game is similar to EA's other simulation football games (''

NCAA Football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most o ...

'' and ''

Madden NFL ''Madden NFL'' (known as ''John Madden Football'' until 1993) is an American football video game series developed by EA Tiburon for EA Sports. It is named after Pro Football Hall of Fame coach and commentator John Madden and sold more than 130 m ...

''), but adopts a style of play that is similar to the faster and more frantic paced Arena game. The game includes all the rules, rosters, and teams for the

2006 AFL season The 2006 AFL season was the 110th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured si ...

. A sequel, '' Arena Football: Road to Glory'' was made the following year for the PS2 only.

Teams

2006 AFL teams

All of the teams that competed in the 2006 season are included. The

New Orleans VooDoo Louisiana Voodoo (french: Vaudou louisianais, es, Vudú de Luisiana), also known as New Orleans Voodoo, is an African diasporic religion which originated in Louisiana, now in the southern United States. It arose through a process of syncretis ...

have been excluded because they have temporarily halted operations due to

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. However, their logo is available for use in the game's create-a-team feature as well as their stadium, the

New Orleans Arena Smoothie King Center (locally referred to as SKC) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and ...

if, in the create a team option, the player creates a team called the New Orleans VooDoo. The VooDoo resumed operations in 2007. The

Kansas City Brigade Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

franchise and its colors have been included, but the official name and logo didn't make it in because they were unveiled after the game had gone into production so the team was known as the Kansas City KC in the video game.

Historic teams

EA included a number of historic teams in ''Arena Football''. They are awarded to the player upon meeting certain statistical goals in a game.

Reception

The game received positive reviews.

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

gave the game an 8.3, stating, "While the season mode is shallow, online play and solid multiplayer action will keep you bouncing off the walls for some time."

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

gave the game a lower score of 6.9, and like IGN, criticized Season Mode. While GameSpot praised the Telemetry system, they also commented that the game cannot "decide whether it wants to be arcade- or simulation-oriented."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arena Football (2006 Video Game) 2006 video games Electronic Arts games PlayStation 2 games Xbox games Arena football video games EA Sports games North America-exclusive video games Multiplayer and single-player video games