Condensing the football experience down to a mobile-friendly game is not easy. With so many things going on during each play—all of which you’d want to have control over—the somewhat limited controls of a touchscreen have typically held mobile football games back.

NFL Rivals doesn’t have the perfect answer to this problem, but this NFTs-optional free-to-play game certainly makes a solid attempt across iOS and Android.

On the field, NFL Rivals dumbs down football to its simplest form. There’s no way to play defense, while on offense there are limited plays to choose from and some clunky AI teammates who don’t seem to know the basics of the game. You throw passes into a general area and hope that your receiver has a chance to make a play, but they often just ignore the ball. Then, weirdly, your players will seemingly run out of energy if they sprint for more than 60 yards in a single play.

Screenshot from NFL Rivals. Image: Decrypt

If you’re after a Madden-style simulation, this isn’t it—but despite its flaws and some curious design decisions, NFL Rivals is fun to play. The cartoonish visuals and over-the-top movement make every play entertaining, and hitting a deep pass over the top of the defense or running through the opponents is always satisfying.

Even the simple passing controls—pulling back and aiming to select the area you throw to, which slows time to give you more of a chance—quickly feel natural, and the game can be challenging when playing against better teams.

Screenshot from NFL Rivals. Image: Decrypt

With games only lasting a couple of minutes along with some shorter daily challenge style options, NFL Rivals is incredibly easy to pick up and play. I’ve frequently found myself playing three or four matches back-to-back without realizing how much time I was spending on it.

But it’s off the field where things get a little more annoying. The Ultimate Team-style team-building metagame sounds fun on paper, but with NFTs on the Polkadot-based Mythos Chain involved, top players can cost you potentially hundreds of real world dollars (though some are much, much cheaper)—and the loot boxes you can purchase for real-world money seem exorbitantly expensive when compared to other similar games.

I might have considered purchasing some packs to improve my team if I thought I had a real chance at getting rare cards for a more reasonable price. But instead, it feels like you’re overpaying because there’s a chance to get an NFT that you could theoretically sell for a decent amount on the marketplace, which is separated from the game itself to circumvent App Store rules.

Luckily, that hasn’t killed my enjoyment of the game. I know I’m never going to have a top team with all the fancy limited-time event cards, and as a result, I know I can never challenge the top players or those who have spent money, due to the somewhat misaligned difficulty curve that makes playing against such teams feel almost impossible.

But I’m happy sticking with my base-level players, occasionally earning a free pack that might give me a marginally better player to add to my starting roster—because NFL Rivals is a fun game to play.

Screenshot from NFL Rivals. Image: Decrypt—

As a Web3 game, it’s far from perfect—but as a mobile game, it’s maybe the best touchscreen football game I’ve played, and it’s a rare example of a Web3 game being fun first and having blockchain integration be more of an afterthought rather than the main attraction.

If you’re expecting to get rich from playing, then you’re bound to be disappointed—but that’s true with nearly any blockchain game in 2024, especially those like NFL Rivals that already have amassed millions of players and are built for mainstream audiences.

But if you’re looking for a solid mobile NFL game that offers bonus NFT elements that serious fans can dig into, then Mythical Games has done a good job of delivering a game that’s actually worth your time with NFL Rivals.

Edited by Andrew Hayward