Pro Jank Footy

It's wild to consider that I could fit my 10 favourite games of the last five years on a USB. Indie devs are not only consistently taking the cake, they are dominating the entire baked good industry at this stage. This game is insanely fun and so incredibly stupid in the best way possible. At one stage, the game just made me play Pong instead of an actual match. So many funny, creative ideas implemented here. I find myself doing that munted tongue-out-focus face like the stakes are genuinely high, that my urgent tackling of an actual car to get the ball to my 20-foot giant so he can kick a ball higher than a skyscraper is the most important thing in my life right now. Take that, Indeed.com. So many moments from commentary, gameplay and animations where I grinned and just went "♥♥♥♥, that's good". The Australian flag that is attached to the humour and vibe of this game is an added bonus but unlikely to be prohibitive for international audiences to enjoy. Considering it's probably the only way you could get me to enjoy Aussie Rules, I think anyone who picks up and plays this game has a good chance of experiencing the same overwhelming, dopamine ruining, confused, ecstatic ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that is Pro Jank Footy. Broden ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ kelly too, 10/10 move there, devs. Keep working on it, team, because at this stage my only worry for the game is that it might be a bit of a 5 hours and then never touch it again kind of thing. Add more stuff, listen to the fans, and you'll have a timeless classic with endless replayabilty on your hands. As it stands, most of Australia has already spent twice as much money today on things that are far less valuable than this game, so I recommend buying this game and playing it immediately.

This is the best game ever. It has football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars. Yesterday I got on the bus and forgot to pay for my ticket. Footy.

All my wildest footy and Australiana dreams have emerged in the form of this game. It is basically a fever dream of a party game. Never serious but seriously funny. Very strong on the 90s arcade feel. Get your mum's wallet and head down to Timezone, kids.

This is an incredibly insane yet FUN game encompassing old school AFL with a twist that makes it so much more enjoyable. The card powerups after every goal are nuts, some are small, some affect you, the opponents or EVERYONE. Some are literally game breaking, by design! I love the names of the teams too, very SA based and I know some of these are actually close to home and RELATABLE! The two things I think that would need looking at are the 'hit out' system of mashing, it can be difficult mashing a combination to hit out on the right side. Secondly I'm thinking maybe tweaking the Season mode or adding a variant of Season mode so that you can climb the ladder and retry playing against a team you've lost, rather than the arcade mode of lose-restart, some of the matches can be BRUTAL. Possibly a level choice as well to select between the different ovals maybe! I'm excited for this game and what it entails. If you haven't got it, WHY NOT? BUY IT.

This, right here, is the spiritual successor to Aussie Rules Footy on the NES. The 2.5 D approach works really well for footy, and this game captures the culture and the strange mix of friendship, talent and aggression that is our nation's greatest cultural icon. Not only is this simple to pick up and fun to play, it really really shines when playing against another person. Having two controllers and playing locally with this game is optimal. One part of the game that doesn't seem to get the love is the option to play normal footy. Players can get a run on and the feeling of pressure that you feel when your opponent scores three goals in a row is exactly the same feeling you get playing footy when the same thing happens. Another highlight is the tackling and bumping - the massive hits and tackles delivered just in the nick of time or just a smidge too late really heighten the intensity of this title. In Jank mode anything can happen, both teams can win right up until the end with the swap teams and swap scores cards, there's fun to be had! Take a photo and take it down to Barry's Printing and Framing, it's MAG-NIFICENT! CONS - after finding random online opponents easily in the first few days after release, I find it difficult now, - the single player AI can be cheesed in these three ways: - 1) let the opponent win the tap and tackle their rover for easy centre clearances, - 2) running along the boundary on the wing between the 50s will see you untouched by the opposition (although the AI is solid in the centre corridor), - 3) The opposition kick ins after a point are usually delivered to the same point on the ground (I've made a house rule that if I get possession inside 50 after an AI kick in, I have to take it outside 50 to attempt to score) - The rucking is determined by random button presses which fits with the theme for Pro Jank mode, but for normal footy I'd much prefer the two-click system used by Melbourne House in Aussie Rules Footy on the NES - say, tap A button to start running in for the tap, tap A with timing to tap to a rover (who gets instant possession on the next screen) or tap B with timing to go the long thump forward, with poor timing leaving the ball to appear on the next screen at the ruckman's feet. I've rucked all my life, there's an art to it! Also I'm worried I'll damage my controller over time. - I'd love a proper season mode - I'm thinking of playing each team as every other team, doing a ladder in excel, hosting finals etc etc. I know all the players have the same stats (apart from Star players in Pro Jank mode) - sometimes the player switch doesn't switch to the player you'd want it to switch to - a very minor gripe, that one. PROS: - so much fun! The most fun I've had with a footy game in YEARS AND YEARS AND YEARS!!! - captures the essence of the game and the emotions involved. - really understands that a core value of being Australian is not taking yourself too seriously: this game is super intense and competitive without inducing rage as it's silly at the same time - it certainly pokes fun at itself, footy, South Australians, you for playing - it's adorable. Play to win but don't chuck a tanty if you lose and you'll love this game! - The team names, the player names (...is one of the players named after Chad Habel?), the reaction screens, the obvious love of Adelaide & South Australia, where I've lived all my life - it holds a loving satircal mirror up to SA, the greatest place in the world. 100%. - online (private and rando), local 2P and 1P and 'Season' (Mortal Kombat style ladder matches) modes available. Also training I think, haven't tried that. - easy to pick up. I could go on and on but YOU COULD BE PLAYING THE GAME! RIGHT NOW! INSTEAD OF READING THIS! PRIORITIES! So could I actually. Side rant - the 3D AFL games were never going to be as good as FIFA etc, because when you think about the economics of it all, how many units can an AFL game possibly shift? A million domestically? Much less overseas? Whereas FIFA will sell many many times more copies, enabling creators, marketers, producers etc to put more resources into a soccer game versus an AFL game. We've been in a cycle of looks over gameplay since... AFL 99 perhaps? ...and yet they haven't looked good or had the charm or character that Pro Jank Footy drips with. Thank you Powerbomb Games for breaking the cycle.

I desperately want to like this game but all of the things I enjoy about it, (such as the silly, fun, chaotic, arcadey gameplay; the brilliant powerup mechanic when a goal is scored; the silly bumpers that play to show the current score) are vastly overshadowed by the terrible AI (both your teammates and opponents occasionally run around like headless chickens when not actively avoiding the ball) and the unforgivable player switching (which will not ever once actually select the player you want to be in control of). There are bugs and there are other QOL issues, like why can you not save your progress during a season run, but jank is literally in the title so I give it a bit of a pass on those. The player switching, however, is too frequent and frustrating to look past. If/once that gets fixed, I know I will adore this game, because it's an absolute blast when it's behaving how you expect it to act.

Fun game but unfortunately the government put women in it

what a ripsnorter, fun with a mate, better than AFL26 and 1/5th the price to boot