NFL 2K3

"A great football game, but for some it may be a hit or miss game."

NFL 2k3 was the last 2k football game for the Nintendo Gamecube as ESPN NFL 2k5 came out for the PS2 and Xbox. It's a shame that the GC didn't get 2k5. 2k3 was and still is to me a great game which I enjoy everytime I play it. Madden or 2k? In my opinion the 2k games are much better because of the realism and the features. The Madden series lacks realism to me and gets boring fast.

Graphics in this game are pretty good. Compared to Madden, to some it may be better and to others it may suck. To me, the graphics are pretty good and beat Madden. Players look like themselves, the crowd looks nice, the stadiums are pretty accurate, the jerseys, everything just looks good. I'll also include the menu styles in this section. The menus are very plain and basic, but the menu in franchise mode could be a pain in the ass to some. Everything looks good during the game, but when you go into an instant replay, the field looks awkward and it doesn't look as good.

Gameplay is like any football game. Run or pass the ball and try to get it to the endzone for a touchdown. Then there's defense. I actually prefer the defense in Madden and the offense from the 2k games. You can't see the play when you're on defense. On offense, you could set multiple hot routes like in Madden. The running in the game is great and realistic. You won't find yourself getting 20+ yard gains a lot of times. Passing can be a bit hard as the receivers tend to drop the ball a lot, but if you have a superior receiver such as Randy Moss, it won't be a big problem. The controls are a bit different than other games. You tap A repeatedly to sprint and holding and releasing A is a shoulder charge. You could stutter step with X and the only problem to me with the controls is that you juke with the C stick. On defense its just the same old run into them to take them down or dive. You could also jump up to pick off a ball, and the defensive line controls are pretty good.

The sound in this game are mostly players making noise on the field, the crowd which is way too loud on the default setting, and the commentators which tend to make a few mistakes at times, but are pretty good. The music is just the old SportsCenter theme from ESPN. Players talking and yelling on the field adds to realism and tackling sounds great.

To sum it all up, it all depends on opinion on which game is better than which. Madden or 2k? I'd take 2k cause of the gameplay. They both have their unique features and its all a matter of opinion to which one would like better. It's too bad that EA bought the lisence to football games so for Gamecube owners, 2k3 is probably what you're gonna end up playing besides Madden. You could always update rosters and players to make the game updated.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/06