Road To Sunday Preview

Who says EA Sports has a lock on football video games? This winter, Sony Computer Entertainment America will introduce an all-new genre in football games with its revolutionary new sports entertainment action franchise, Road To Sunday. The game combines realistic football, fighting, gambling, and a dramatic story into a single innovative game design.

The game revolves around Blake Doogan, an sports mogul who inherits the L.A. Show, a pro football team, after his father dies in a suspicious accident. Blake soon learns that his father was in debt to a Jamaican kingpin and now his dad's debt is his debt. The gameplay follows the owner, his sidekick Harry, and seven football players as they put it all on the line in order to accumulate enough money to payoff the kingpin and win the championship.

Players will not only compete on the gridiron, but will also participate individually in seedy activities such as gambling and illegal street fighting. The outcome of these actions will have a direct bearing on the team's ability to compete on the field. Winning a poker game or gambling bet will add more cash to the team's bank and allow you to make more plays on the field. Winning a street fight will boost that player's running or passing characteristics, and it's possible to injure opponents so badly that they won't be able to play in Sunday's game. Of course, the same can happen to your players. A weight room full of rhythm-based activities will also let you build up your players physical attributes.

To enhance gameplay and provide gamers with an authentic yet unique experience, Road To Sunday introduces Position Specific Gameplay (PSG), where, for the first time in a football videogame, gamers can play and swith between different positions on the fly during the game. Also, successfully completing "missions" with specific players will unlock new signature moves and skills.

They're still hammering together the game's control aspects, but we're told that it should offer a full playbook, dozens of passing options, and on-the-fly play calling on par with the Madden and 2K series.

Road To Sunday is slated to ship later this year for the PlayStation 2. Until then, check out our screenshots by clicking here .