NFL 2K3

"This year, NFL2K3 is king........."

NFL2K3, a football simulation by Sega Sports and Visual Concepts, is the first in the series to grace the Nintendo GameCube. (It only hit PS2 and XBox last year.) Since the series started with the acclaimed NFL2K on Dreamcast, this series has rivaled EA Sports' Madden series, but usually Madden has come out on top, sales wise, due to it being multi-platform. But last year, Non-DC owners finally got a taste of great football with NFL2K2, but this years game is just so mucn better, and to some, it even beats Madden.

Graphics - The player models are terrific, and the faces are well done. However, I do question the field itself. When a replay is being done, it looks good, but while in game, it looks pretty bad. There are also some minor clipping issues. The tackling animations are very good, and most of the time, when a receiver catches a ball, it looks good, but there are some instances where it seems that the ball wasn't even close to being caught, but none of these issues detract from gameplay at all, after all, we do play games for fun, not visuals, right? :)

Controls - At first glance, the GCN controller gets a lot of lack because people say it sucks for sports games, when I actually think its pretty good. Since the buttons are all different, you can get the controls down rather quickly, and you wont find yourself looking down at the controller to see what button your pressing, which is what I have done with the PS2 version of the game. However, there is one BIG issue here with the controls, and thats using the C-Stick to juke. Yea, that's right, you use the C-Stick to juke. I find it very hard to go from tapping the A button when I break out for a big run, but then I quickly need to do a juke move to get out of trouble with a defender right in front of me. There are 3 different layouts you can use, but I just find the default layout to be the best, even with the C-Stick/Juke move complication.

Sound - Sega Sports' games have always been known to have great commentary, and its the same story here. The commentary is excellent, and isn't even nearly as repetitive as Madden 2003's commentary. It also has your standard crowd noises, and has the ESPN-ish music while in the menus. You also got your trash talk on the field, as well. Overall, not bad, the high point is definitely the commentary, though.

Gameplay - This year's NFL2K has been slowed down done, due to the complaints of past games being too arcade-like. The gameplay, while not as fast paced, is still pretty good, and still faster than Madden's. The game is very fun, I found myself playing it for a good 4 hours straight when I first popped it in my 'Cube. Sometimes, when you grab a big catch, and start to go all the way for the TD, you'll find someone catching up to you rather quickly, and thus, you start to furiosly tap that A button while heading to the endzone, hoping he doesn't get to you in time. In the Madden series, I found that once you grab a big catch in single coverage, that you're pretty much already guaranteed to be getting the 6 points, however, this makes you work for those 6 points, and I find that very fun. If you're a ''n00b'' to the NFL2K series, then you will find the game rather difficult at first, even on rookie, but within mere games, you'll be blowing out this team, then that team. But if you're a vet of the series, then all you really need to do is adjust to the different controller, and you should be right at home.

Replay Value - Yes, sadly there is no online play in the GCN version of NFL2K3, (Why, Sega?!?!) but there is the Sega Sports Challenge, in which you play a game by default settings, and then after which you get a new code to enter at segasports.com and then you can see how well you rank with others around the world. NFL2K3 also has the much improved Franchise mode, which was the main focus of this game, and it shows. There's a lot to do, resign players, negotiate players' contracts, trades, a new trading block system, where you can put a player up for trade and see what offers you get, and the usual stuff that should be standard for football games, nowadays. There's the Off-Season Draft, in which you can scout players by spending hours with a potential prospect for your team, and then you can decide whether or not you want to draft them. You can also start out with a fantasy draft right away when you begin a Franchise, which is basically like a regular fantasy football draft. NFL2K3 also features a Situation Mode, in which you can put a team, down by how much points with only so much time, so you can either re-create any favorite last minute drives in past games, or make up different challenges, yourself, and then play it and try to win the game in such a situation. Overall, this year's NFL2K has good replay value.

Rent or buy? - If you need a football game this year, or if you are sick of Madden's gameplay, then you should definitely pick this one up. The ESPN stuff is done well, and its only supposed to get better with future entries in the series. If you are not sure, then I recommend you rent both Madden NFL 2003 and NFL2K3, and then decide for yourself what game is right for you.

Scores
Graphics - 9.2
Controls - 8.5
Sound - 8.8
Gameplay - 9.1
Replay Value - 9.3

Overall - 8.9 (Rounded to a ''9''.)

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/25/02, Updated 08/25/02