this game is dumb, let's just get that out in the open. it's like what some stereotypical tabletop rpg nerd concocted - 'what would it be like if we combined football with dungeons and dragons races and dice rolling...?' except the nerd had no idea how football works.
that said, I ended up enjoying the game and I'll probably re-borrow it from the library to play some more. the strategy is bigger/better than I expected with the differences in teams and their strengths / weaknesses really requiring different tactics. It sounds like playing against real people over the internets is awful since everyone just spends endless hours playing and building up their team to have blocks/dodges on everyone so that you can never accomplish anything worthwhile, but the AI is just good enough to bring a challenge and be entertaining. the AI even has an underlying hint of '

you' when you're ahead and the game is almost over - it seems like it just runs around trying to permanently injure your team instead of trying to stop you from scoring. funny.
I'll admit the most fun part of the game is smashing people. I don't get a charge from playing one of the nimble teams and lightly prancing past all the defenders. I like to build up a wall of monsters and smash the shit out of the other team until they're ko'd or dead. it's an effective strategy for me.
like I said before the worst part is how long the matches take (30-45m+ each) with no saving in between halves or anything. suspend mode is a godsend. I initially hated the luck aspect of it being a dice roller, but once I embraced it as part of the game then it really does make it better as a strategy game.
so, pretty good. _definitely_ not for most people (wren). has nothing to do with football. it makes me a little sad that I enjoyed a tabletop game, but what's a bitch gonna do.
if anyone for some bizarre reason decides to play it some time give me a holler. the learning curve felt really high to a dope like me but I think that I could explain it to someone else pretty well now.