The New England Patriots are back with a loaded DVD focusing on their historic 17-2 seasonal run to their second Super Bowl victory in three years. The Main Feature is a one hour long tribute packed with highlights and behind the scenes footage in both slo-mo and real time. It proceeds to go along and break down each and every game during the regular season as well as the playoffs and Super Bowl. Broadcast pioneer and legend Harry Kalas is top notch in providing the narration with his classic voice, while the Patriots radio announcing team of Gil Santos and Gino Cappelletti are also utilized primarily for the actual game-play calling. Much similar to how the Patriots Super Bowl XXXVI DVD Feature from two years ago played out, fans will get all the goose-bumps back while watching this excellent production. Included is the ability to navigate to any point in the season if you wish to see a certain game in particular. The first half hour showcases the contrast of how the last two seasons ended for the Patriots and focuses on the regular season. The last half hour concentrates on the playoffs and Super Bowl.

Where most sports champion DVDs usually end after the main feature, this one is very exceptional as it incorporates some of the best Bonus features maybe ever found. I’ll start with the ‘Media Day’ Bonus Feature. This is eight minutes of various Patriots players and coaches fielding questions and making comments on the Tuesday designated for Media Day before the big game. This is nice, but a basically standard feature. ‘Quick Hits’ is another bonus which is only three minutes long and focuses on the International Media and how some of the different nations cover the players before the big game. This bonus isn’t much of a big deal, but don’t worry, there is much more.

A couple of the post-game bonus features are very first-rate here. First we have the ‘EA Sports NFL Matchup’ featuring Sal Paolantonio, Merril Hodge and Ron Jaworski, all of ESPN fame, breaking down the entire Super Bowl game with their post-game analysis and expertise. This is great to hear the national media break down all phases of the game, as this portion is about 21 minutes long of in-depth dissection. One last post-game bonus is the ‘Post-Game Sounds.’ This is similar to the Media Day bonus, only this is an eight minute clip of various Patriots players and coaches doing interviews and giving their comments shortly after the game while they are still on their super-high.

Finally we have the chief and paramount bonus feature around. Everyone knows how most football games last 3-4 hours. Well this DVD has a bonus feature called ‘World Broadcast.’ This is basically the entire Super Bowl game with all the extra fat trimmed off. This feature is led by the TV broadcast announcing team of Dick Stockton and Daryl “Moose” Johnston. What we get here is a one hour and ten minute, meat and potatoes version of every play and every call as it was happening that Super Bowl evening. One play ends and it cuts right to the start of the next play. No waiting 30 seconds and more between plays for the play clock to start the action again here. This is the best way to watch a game, period. No commercials, no long drawn-out nonsense that announcers sometime feed the audience for filler. You get play after play of nonstop action with a few replays thrown in for good measure. It is even divided into four disc tracks, being one for each period giving you the option to skip to whichever quarter you wish to watch. This bonus feature alone is worth the price of this DVD and should set a standard for the future, as now sports fans not only are buying the highlights, but will actually possess the complete game as a memento as well. This is the best idea to have included here.

Still the Highlights main feature is tremendous. Being able to own the entire game in a 1:10 timeframe plus the hour long highlights of the entire season, playoffs and Super Bowl is over two hours of replay-ability. Add in all those other bonus spots and the total time of the disc runs to three hours long. This is a fantastic souvenir to own and is perfect to give as a gift to friends and family. 5 Planets. (hey, I’m a Patriots fan, would you expect anything less?)

Shamples Rating: 5 out of 5 Planets


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