 GameSpot 's Greg Kasavin spoke highly of the tight controls and accessible gameplay in spite of a larger learning curve . IGN 's Goldstein described the controls as " relatively simple " and easy to understand within a single game , and Scott Osborne of GameSpy found the controls awkward but easily learned . In comparison , Charles Herold of The New York Times and a friend could not figure out Blitz 's rules for 20 minutes , feeling " too macho " to do the tutorial . Pittsburgh Post @-@ Gazette 's Jonathan Silver thought the gameplay was too frenzied , like " NHL Hitz on steroids " . Hilary Goldstein of IGN 's only complaint about the controls was the camera 's looseness . She noted the game 's " serious attitude " and " very gritty view of sports " , and similar to hockey , felt that the non @-@ disc action was " one of the nicest aspects " of the game . She praised the graphics and environments , surround sound , the array of unlockables , the single @-@ player , and its replay value , but bemoaned the lack of options to change between camera views , the Action view in general , and the indistinguishability between players . Goldstein regarded Deathrow 's profanity as the " best use of endless cursing in a game ... ever " . Herold of The New York Times noted violence 's centrality to the game and figured that the game 's age restrictions were likely due to the " savage profanities " , which he felt gave the game personality unlike other sports video games . He added that the game 's frantic speed kept him too consumed to curse at the game himself . The Atlanta Journal @-@ Constitution 's Troy Oxford also connected the profanity to the game 's " ' M ' rating " . 
