Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2021

Game has potential, but the glitches and interface makes this impossible to enjoy. When I try to create a player or coach, it brings up the steam overlay that doesn't go away. When I try to do the draft and switch between previously drafted players, or computer selected players, you have to go back to the main menu and then go back into the draft to view the information, otherwise it is just blank. You can see all of the rookies and their ratings before you even draft them in the search tool, just filter on rookies. The stats are abbreviated, and it is hard to tell what some of the stats are, unless you are a diehard statistician. The game does not offer any guides or insight into the mechanics, and after doing a few fantasy drafts, it seems like teams keep selecting the exact same players in the exact same order.

It's so close to being an amazing game, but bugs and glitches, as well as horrible rosters, hold it back. Steam overlay bleeds into the game and forces you to completely restart, which happened 5 or 6 times in a row until I finally just had to go disable Steam overlay whenever I played the game. A lot of stuff you'd think would be on the same tab are needlessly hidden away and hard to find, or just badly implemented forcing you to constantly be going back to the dashboard to navigate around (especially during drafts). --------------------------------------------------------------- The rosters... I know they don't have the NFL licence, but they've still got all the real players in there. That should be a major plus, but the ratings are just absolutely awful that they might as well have had random generated players. 3rd string RB's are superstars, random free agency or backup QB's throw for 4000+ yards, and some starting QB's have absolutely horrid accuracy (Joe Burrow will go something like 12/44 every game). It also doesn't help that there's a random generated FA pool of players that are way insanely OP and will absolutely ruin any semblance of realism. You'll consistently find randomly generated top 10 QB's, RB's, WR's, and OL's in the FA pool to start the game, as well as a plethora of defensive players too. And to make matters worse, they're all insanely young too. You can go sign a randomly generated 22 year old 82 overall OL to a 5 year contract worth nothing, and he'll sign because for some reason he's expecting to be a prospect player and not a legit starting caliber top 15 lineman in the league. You 100% could field an entire team of just FA's and easily make the playoffs with absolute ease. --------------------------------------------------------------- It's so utterly close to being a good game, and I was willing to give it another chance before refunding and was about to give an old Pro Football 2019 roster .json file a try just to see if depth charts were fixed and I could actually have the game be semi-realistic, but then while creating my coach the freaking Steam Overlay opened and bleed through, forcing me to restart the game. I'm sorry but for $35, the game should be so much more. The only real positive is the fact the interface of the game isn't as dreadful as the 2019 version.

Im coming in fairly early with a review here but I feel the game deserves positive feedback and hopefully the customer base that follows. Its a solid NFL sim (i say NFL as you can mod the teams to reflect real life, the rosters are already there). You get to do all you can imagine off the field, whilst also having the option to go play by play as a Coach on the field. Remember its a simulation, so its all about the engine and database behind it and in the main thats solid, with the developers responding to problems on their forums fairly eager to bring new builds and fixes to the game. Ill also add that the Customer Service from the guys at Wolverine has been spot on, its a small time operation but they care and although their products are in a niche market (especially for Europeans) you get good value and a product that can last you the year. Glad to be on board the ride with this one, though I think my wife wont be happy ive found another time sink of a game!

By far the closest thing I have found to a Football Manager style game for American Football. Unlike other games that try to create this style, DDSPF 21 has a relatively user friendly UI, more akin to Football manager style games with a large level of depth to the simulation style game-play it provides. Whilst it is still rough and ready in places, it is probably the best effort I have found in this field since NFL Head Coach (albeit without the NFL licence and animations).

This game has a lot of potential, but if you're already familiar with OOTP, you'll be disappointed. The UI is not user friendly, it's clunky, the player contracts don't make sense, the overalls don't make sense, there's no consistency, etc.... Don't get me wrong, this is a very cool game, but to ask $35 for a game that feels alphaish? They have a LONG way to go. I'm going to dive in once more, but I will most likely look for a credit. **Yep. Played it for a few more hours and the game is trash, still** My 90 overall QB just threw 48 interceptions. I still cannot believe they ask for $35 to buy this.

Having played arguably the best sports management sim for many years (Football Manager), i wanted to give American Football a go. I thought the stat based way the game is played could work well, and I had a fairly good understanding of the sport and rules and with all sports games, this makes the better to play. The short answer is I am 1 season in and its a very good game. It nails the stats, rosters, draft and contracts well. Real players are used and helps me research those I don't know (which to be fair is most of them). The game engine works well and provides realistic scores, yardage and occasional gems like returning a punt for TD. You can also edit team names and emblems, which is easy to do. I just do a couple more each time I play and have most of them correct and looking good now, just need to work a bit on my end-zone images. There may well be bugs I come across as I get 100 plus hours in, but nothing has jumped out. Interface is fine, less so graphics but that's not a deal breaker - and the 2d game engine is engagingly well done. It would take some work, but a 3d game engine with stadiums would make it outstanding (as per Football Manager), and more interaction with players and staff. I would recommend this to someone who enjoys a sports sim like Football Manager, and likes the sport and has a decent level of knowledge about it. Ps. Season 1 - Went 12-4 as Green Bay and lost superbowl to Denver 38-35

its a nice game, if i could fix anything about it , i would make it so you could sub players during games

Until there is an OOTP Baseball but for football this scratches the itch. I would recommend you seek out the mods/rosters that put the real overall ratings, player pictures, and logos into the game. It really adds a lot. If you don't you get player names but the overall's are randomized each time you begin a new league. Only by adding a modified roster file can you get "realistic" ratings for your players. Another thing that you should know is that there are a lot of settings and you will likely need to futz with the salary settings to fine tune it to be more realistic. I think they are planning on adding more features like this but make sure you set your minimum contract levels to a reasonable amount or you will be able to sign the years hottest free agents at the end of the process for $300,000 a pop. Ridiculous but could also be fun. I've yet to encounter any major bugs yet, I had one hard crash that was probably my fault for futzing with something while the game was running. If you want something similar to OOTP Baseball, Football Manager, or Head Coach 09 but for American Football or the NFL this is your best bet as of now. The customization options let you decide how to run the league. I think if you wanted to run weird simulations or scenarios and sim for decades to look at pages and pages of stats this is exactly what you want. I haven't messed with historical rosters yet but it's my next step. As of now the career mode is a bit wonky but I'm slowly adjusting it as I go to make it play closer to how I'd like it to. You will need to visit the forums if you want to get a good experience from the game. It relies on the community to make it good but that's fine with me bc it seems like a bunch of people like me are out there that want to do fun GM stuff. This is the best we have rn, with mods ofc.

This game has a lot of promise, the depth and detail is exactly what I want from a football manager style game for the NFL, however it must be one of the least user friendly games I've ever attempted to play. The pop-up windows never fit the ratio of my screens and therefore a lot of menu options and information are cut off the screen. The day to day operation could be much cleaner with drop down boxes or drag and drop systems, however i cant talk about the game as it is as not being able to see half the options makes the game unplayable. I reached the point where it was time to cut my roster down to 53 players but couldn't go any further due to the awful user interface

My head coach won two super bowls in a row. He's under contract but thought he should leave to be an OC for another team to better his career. This game has no realism, I wish there was a real SIM game for football, this has no real trade block, draft analysis, or the ability to sim a franchise in any worthwhile way.

I would not recommend this game at its current state. It runs way too slow for anyone to enjoy for long periods of time. I just finished playing a few hours on Out of the Park Baseball, and the difference is night and day regarding performance alone. It takes a solid 4-8 seconds to switch from one tab to the other. God forbid you click on the wrong tab and have to spend 10 seconds total to do something so simple that any $5 game on the market could do it better. The game is so painful to play that I had to just laugh and close out of it. I simmed one season and quit, but I noticed a few more issues before quitting: - As I said, the game runs terribly slow. Takes anywhere from 4-8 seconds just to switch from one tab to the other. This is uncalled for in a game that charges you almost $40 just to play. I'm not paying $40 just to spend 30 minutes switching tabs. - The draft screen is clunky. If you want the CPU to sim the entire draft, great. You'll need to wait for it to finish loading, which takes some time, understandably. But after that, it just drops you off back at where you started. It looks like an error, and gives you no indication that the draft is even over. Previous installments of this series would take you to a different screen after the draft is done, this one just leaves you hanging. - Simming through the playoffs is just a little annoying. Previous installments would let you sim from the Playoff Bracket stage, so you could see your team progress through the playoffs. This installment, for some reason, only lets you sim from a generic boxscore screen where you have to sim and then check the playoff bracket separately. Not a huge deal, but annoying considering that the previous installments handled this better. Also, you have to wait 4-8 seconds if you want to switch to the Playoff Bracket. That part is ridiculous. - The season is over. Great. Now on to the Pro Bowl and the next season. Only, you don't actually receive any notification on what the next steps are. Is pro bowl next? Free Agency? Does the season end next? Who knows! Just click that "Advance" button and find out! Overall, this seems like the team tried to update the UI for this game to be onpar with its Basketball series, which they succeed at. But they completely forgot to put any effort towards optimization and making the game play well for its players. I would not recommend the game in its current state, but I would recommend that you play the Free Trial that they offer on their website if you don't want to spend the money right away.

I was still playing DDS:PF2019 just before I purchased this years version and I have to say 2021 has made the best football management sim much better. As usual it is a statisticians's dream with more depth added with every version, and this year it is a lot more polished and slick, I spend as much time browsing through all the statistics as I do playing a match. The news items as well as the player and staff personalities make the game feel more immersive, and it's easy to mod the game to include real team and player names, logos and kits. It's worth every penny because I can see myself playing this for a long time to come. The only thing I would like to see in an update if possible is the option to select and hire staff manually, I fired my head coach and he was replaced automatically with another coach with almost identical attributes. Apart from that... 10/10

While sometimes slow and buggy, Draft Day Sports: Pro Football 2021 offers a level of simulation that rivals that of Front Office Football Eight, and with the cancellation of Front Office Football Nine, this may be our only option. The game is quite solid and definitely worth a look. There are numerous historical mods that allow you to sim most, if not all seasons in NFL history. This is without even mentioning the amount of customization you can do. The possibilities are nearly endless and in the end you're supporting a developer who shares the same interests as you

Game is horrible, makes some of the most baffling decisions I've ever seen a computer make in a game. Source code is a mess Studio is a joke It's a poorly coded football game made by inept devs who don't know anything about football. Skip it, I'd unironically rather play the schlock Madden games that get trotted out every year

For many years, more than I can remember I've played Football Manager games (Soccer to those of you who live other side of the pond) I have long waited for a game to be made that takes that kinda game and turns it into an American Football based game....Finally it looks like Wolverine Studios have managed to do just that! With a few mods out there I can manage my favourite team and go after that Superbowl Championship! Heads up to the modders to....brilliant job! It won't be everyone's cuppa tea but there's no game on the market that is so feel free to try this game for yourselves if you are an American football fan and want to be GM Football Manager Style!

Couldn't start a season because i didn't have enough FB's on the roster , couldn't trade for a 55 rated fb with a 1st rd pick and no free agent FB's.....waste of money!

I first started buying this game by finding a youtuber that plays it, I have always been looking for a good GM game on PC that I could play for hours on edge and enjoy. This is pretty much the one. And becides you will not get any better than this I promise you. This game goes through all features you would see and puts in several other small but extremely important features too build your dynasty. With three different modes you can dive into an emmersive gameplay, even though it might just be text based, but that's the catch. With a new feature that allows you to make your own plays and playbook pick from several different formations and pick what you want each player to do on the play. I first refunded this game when buying it about 3 months ago and then decided that I should give it another try. It might start off slow if it does trust me, it will get going. I hope they release a new one next year. I am pretty sure they alrteady have about 3 out. Hopefully my long paragraph can just help you too go for it and purchase this game.

This game is moving in the right direction very quickly. I was a customer of the 2020 version but only played it sporadically and it never really excited me, but my first attempt at a solo franchise in this year's iteration has given me some of the best excitement I've ever had with a football game. Just to mention that I am a player who likes to playcall my own games, so I'm probably not like most players of this game who will most likely be quick simming. In last year's version, it was a bit tough to play the way I wanted to, but the in-match display has been completely redesigned and it's made playing "my way" a lot of fun. For the most part, the feel of the games seems very authentic and comes close to what you would see in real-life games. The roster building has also been quite solid so far. I love the challenge of trying to improve the team while being under a lot of cap pressure and trying to work out trades with AI teams who are in cap pressure themselves. There are a few little bugs here and there and some small glitches in the 2D play execution display, but really the defects are minor enough that they don't really impact my enjoyment that much. The developer is also very active on the bulletin board for the game and is proactive towards bug reports. Highly recommended this year!

I've played this game since 2020 and this version is definitely an upgrade. This game allows expansion teams as often as I'd like, fully customize the league including how many playoff teams you'd like. A new feature allowing vets to mentor younger players is really cool. I highly recommend this game to anyone who's into football all the fun that entails.

Is this a solid football simulator? Yes. Pros: Easy mods to install, drafting is challenging and additive, team building, unlimited amount of seasons, and simplicity at it's finest Cons: The U.I. is a tad tedious to navigate in between. But, once the repetition of going between screens becomes normal its not bad. Physics engine is a bit unpredictable at times. Contracts are a bit wonky at times as well. Would I recommend this? Yes. It's a solid simulation game, it has the foundation to be an additive game. It is challenging, and the drafting portion is a lot of fun.

I feel kinda obliged to drop a review here - having seen (to my surprise) that it has a mixed rating, and some negative reviews. This game isn't perfect, but I've personally not had any crashes or game-breaking bugs. Sure there's a few UI glitches occasionally, but nothing super obnoxious or frustrating. I'm not going to go into massive detail here, but I enjoy the game a great deal and it's the closest thing we have to an NFL version of "football manager". Some of us are desperate for that kind of game, and this is the best option currently. If that's what you're looking for then I say give it a shot.

This game is a mess with bugs. Just trying to setup a league and do the initial draft I encountered bugs on the Settings/Options, GM Creation Screen, Compare Players feature, and Draft Recap Screen. This was my second shot at the game after giving up on it the first time I tried to play it after my initial purchase. I had played too long to receive a refund, but wish I could get my money back from this mess.

Changing my review to positive because they've patched a lot of issues. It still has a few minor quirks here and there, but it's now a product worthy of the DDS title and is definitely the best PF yet.

A buggy mess that's incredibly slow. I didn't even get to the first game because of crashes, UI errors, and an incredibly slow UI. I really had a ton of hope for this game.

Would not recommend. Spent multiple hours trying to get the game to start. Once I did, I quickly found out that the user interface, speed and bugs make it unplayable. I tried the numerous trouble-shooting tips provided by the developer, but it ended up just being a waste of time. I agree with the prior comments - the game has a lot of potential. And when it becomes functional I will give it another chance. However, it seems to be still in alpha phase, and am requesting a credit.

This game is way too buggy and inconsistent to even start. steam overlay ruins game. I've been trying to create a league for the entirety of my experience. would not recommend

I don't have a lot to say about the game. There is a noticeable lag going between screens in a menu based game on a modern gaming PC. Requesting refund before I cannot anymore.

only put about 4 hours in but so far this has everything madden franchise mode lacks. IF your a sim head then this game is for you

So far so good. I have only had one problem so far and that was a player that I drafted did not show up on my team but maybe I did something wrong. not sure.

Best I can tell you cant make substitutions during play or designate certain layers in certain formations, so far many other complaints - still have more to learn but have not found a way to edit or create players.

Still the best in the business of Gridiron management games. A little bit sleeker and a lot more intuitive than the previous iteration.

do not buy this trash. how is there so many bugs on a game with no actual gameplay

Do not buy. Terrible. I havnt actually played the game though because its so buggy. Maybe if i can play ill change the review.

Fun game that fills the void for a detailed franchise mode in football games. Would like more realistic draft classes and player ratings

I really like this game great gm game!!!

will be updates good game

Wolverine Studios doesn't like their userbase

An enjoyable NFL strategy game

Its a great game.

the game dont save

Bad

-