Pro Jank Footy - Switch Review
"It's a cracking game, right in front of me!"
I have two main passions in life: video games and AFL. For the longest time, us Aussie Rules fans haven’t been eating well when it comes to games, with Big Ant Studios making the mainline AFL Live series. I grew up with AFL Live 2004 and they were great (for their time), and we had AFL 99 on PS1 that was more of a top-down style that has yet to be revisited… until now with Pro Jank Footy!
The titular game takes a much more comedic, slapstick approach to Aussie Rules Football, never taking itself too seriously. With its arcade, roguelite-esque approach, Pro Jank Footy is made to be a far more laid-back game, and this is where it thrives… and sometimes falters.
The Good
For anyone who’s curious about Aussie culture, Pro Jank Footy may well be a somewhat chaotic but accurate representation. The mannerisms and Aussie slang are cranked up to 11, and the fact that some of the team names are actually suburbs from my (and the developer’s) home state of South Australia (Ceduna, Salisbury, etc.) is pretty surreal to me. It’s gruff, grassroots and unapologetically Aussie, and I’m here for it!
A lot of the Aussie-ness is thanks to the commentary of the comedic trio Aunty Donna’s Broden Kelly. His line delivery fits the tone spectacularly, and considering the AFL Live games are notorious for having atrocious voice work from real AFL commentators, Broden puts them to shame in so many ways.
But what of the game itself? Does it replicate Aussie Rules Football? Well, yes… in its own wacky way. It follows most of the standard rules of footy, and Pro Jank Footy can certainly be played without the wild effects and abilities in multiplayer mode, but most of the fun comes in the chaos and randomness of the abilities, likely in the way the developer mostly intended. There are abilities that affect the player (like bigger kicks or additional players on the ground) and the opponent (like slower players or shorter kicks), as well as both players (like portals on the oval or a floating DVD symbol bouncing from one side to the other).
TL;DR
- True blue, fair dinkum Aussie carnage, mate!
- Aunty Donna humour on full display
- Footy cranked up to 11
The Bad
Aussie Rules Football is a difficult sport to adapt into a video game. There’s a reason why most of its previous entries in the AFL Live series lack a certain natural feel to them. Pro Jank Footy does admirably with its deliberate 2D top-down approach, but I can’t say that it's without fault itself. The responsiveness of certain actions can feel lacking at times, especially when attempting to lay a tackle.
The single-player mode is referred to as Season, with both a metaphorical and literal ladder where you must rise from the very bottom to the top, one team at a time. The season mode is a roguelike of sorts, allowing the player to choose three new cards before each new match. It’s an elegantly simple system, but unfortunately, the difficulty ebbs and flows so wildly that it’s difficult to enjoy. The cards are very unbalanced, with some being overpowered to a point where it’s so easy to win, and some being the opposite in every way.
What could have perhaps helped with the aforementioned issue is a difficulty setting or perhaps an arcade-style approach in an attempt at replayability with a high score system (or ladder percentage similar to that of the AFL and other leagues). It seems that so much effort was put into the system and humour, and it does undoubtedly thrive in these aspects, but the Season mode certainly feels tacked on and unceremonious as a result.
It feels quite apt to complain about the umpires in a game about Aussie Rules Football. As a fan of the Adelaide Crows, it feels almost cliche, even. But I never quite understood the adjudication in the Season Mode of Pro Jank Footy, as the player is never awarded any free kicks whatsoever, while the opponent can tackle you within a fraction of a second and you get pinned for holding the ball. It happened right in front of me… RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME
TL;DR
- Controls can lack responsiveness
- Season mode is unbalanced
- No difficulty options
- Season mode lacks substance and feels unceremoniously tacked on
- Umpires are bloody hopeless
Final Score: 7/10
It’s difficult to make a game based on what is arguably the most chaotic sport in the world, and despite Season Mode feeling rushed and there being some notable balancing issues, it's quite an admirable attempt. Pro Jank Footy’s most notable achievements are its crass Aussie humour and the absurdity that comes with the card abilities and chaotic nature, coupled with its couch and online multiplayer, which will keep people coming back time and time again. It's a cracking game, right in front of me!
Thank you for checking out our Pro Jank Footy Switch review, thank you to Powerbomb Games for providing the review code and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:
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