American football is chock full of tactics. There are a bazillion different plays and variations on plays, strategy changes just before the snap, barked code words ("Blue 16! Blue 16!") and all that jazz. At times it's more like a military operation than a sport. Not so with NFL Tour, however; it's like John Madden's casual cousin, a blazingly fast, pick-up-and-play version of the not so noble game.

NFL Tour matches are played with seven-a-side and no kickers or punters. It's straight up and down the field action, complete with crunching tackles, acrobatic jinks and pyrotechnic explosions of fireworks when a touchdown's scored. It puts the razz into razzamatazz. Or possibly the matazz. Whichever is the flashier one.

There's still some scope for tactics, of course, with a small playbook to pick from, but it's mostly all about the bone crunching. NFL Tour's central gimmick is the reversal, a button that flashes up on screen when you're being tackled (on offence) or being evaded (on defence).

As a running back, if you press the button at the right time you'll break the tackle, gallivanting on down the field like a gazelle on steroids. Literally, at times, because there's also a sidestep button that makes the player leap off the boundary wall to evade tacklers. Defenders can reverse reversals, if they're quick enough to react to them, in which case they bring you down with a massive hit.

It's showy, it's fun, and at times it's utter nonsense. When a quarterback can steam out of the pocket and spin past a defender, then break three consecutive tackles to romp down the field into the end-zone... it's a bit much to take. We realise this is part of the point and charm of NFL Tour, but it can make playing defence pretty damned frustrating at times. Our X360 wireless controller almost went flying through the air on several occasions.

Despite this, the game delivers a concentrated dose of knockabout fun - for a while. The control scheme is quite slick, too, with a minimum of buttons used to access a maximum of commands. Passing in particular is well designed, using just two buttons; one to toggle through the available receivers, and one to chuck the pigskin (as opposed to the traditional method where every receiver is earmarked with a different button).

The problem with NFL Tour is there isn't much staying power beyond the initial impact. With a few games under your belt, it soon becomes clear that rush-pass option plays are very powerful in seven-man football, and a talented scrambling quarterback is worth more than his weight in Vince Lombardi trophies.

Moreover, the main career mode starts to wear thin fairly quickly, as it's merely a series of challenge games. There are no player attributes to level up, or minor management aspects bolted on; NFL Tour doesn't even record any statistics. Yes, we know, why would you want stats in a purely casual blast of a game? But heck, it'd be nice to at least know your season completion percentage.

A couple of other simple game modes are included - one of which is basically a supercharged game of "it" with a football - but there isn't a great deal of content here. The Xbox Live mode and multiplayer does lend NFL Tour a stretch more longevity, but ultimately it's too superficial on all fronts.

NFL Tour is a decent arcade-style US football game, and it's possible to pull off some gob-stopping and hilarious plays. However, the game's pretty light on content and unlikely to hold your attention for long.