ESPN NFL Football

"Sega and Visual Concepts have done it again... another great Football game!"

I was 99% sure that I wasn't going to buy a football game this year but after seeing all the reviews and people raving about how good it is, I decided to buy it.

Gameplay: The gameplay has changed quite a bit, such as some of the controls have been tweaked from last years game and the whole play selection menu is alot easier to use because it combines most of the similar plays together. When your running its pretty easy to get passed the defense since the offense speed has been boosted up alot. Mini-Games have also been added into the game as unlockables but they weren't developed very well so I wouldn't spend more than 5 minutes on them. The game is more arcadey than Madden but not as much as people say. ESPN has the best mix of arcade and sim gameplay because it has just enough sim gameplay before it gets boring and slow. All in all, Visual Concepts has created another football game with Gameplay being the best part unlike Fever where the online play features are the most important. 9.5/10

Graphics: For the most part the graphics look like NFL 2K3's the only change I saw was the player's faces, the faces have been improved greatly. The animations after a touchdown are still great and the ESPN license has been used everywhere in the game... not that Im complaining. The presentation of the game is all connected by ESPN, the menu's are ESPN-like, the gameplay has ESPN TV style during cut-scenes, and of course the pre-game/half-time/post-game shows are all from ESPN. So the presentation are great, the graphics are great... what more do you need? 9.7/10

Sound: This is where the 2k games always pound on Madden/Fever. The commentators sound so excited and full of energy when they're doing play-by-play that it actually sounds like your watching ESPN, they have abut 100's of great lines for each situation that you'll still be hearing new things even after the 100th game or so. Most ESPN-freaks should be happy because all of the songs from the actual channel are in but you can also unlock more songs from the crib to use in the menus or you can even download songs to your Xbox and listen to those. Obviously I have to give the sound a perfect score because anything lower would make the sound under-rated. 10/10

Replay Value: Where should I start.. the Crib, Xbox Live, or one of the deepest franchise modes ever created in any sport game? Ill start with the Franchise: It is almost identical to 2K3's franchise mode except you get ALOT more statistics about your players. You get to see how your team improved game by game, how a specific player improved over the course of a season, what parts of your team you need to improve, I could go on forever but you basically get every single statistic that an owner gets in the real league. Next is 'The Crib' which is a house that you get in the game and you have to unlock posters, movies, framed jerseys, etc by playing games and completing objectives like Rushing for 200. And of course... Xbox Live! 10/10

Buy/Rent: BUY! Whether you got Fever 2004/Madden 2004, it doesnt matter every single person that's even a tad bit interested in the sport should get ESPN NFL Football... IMO this is the best sports game EVER CREATED mainly because Visual Concepts recreated the sport perfectly for a video game without it being boring. Buy

Overall: This year there's no competition, ESPN NFL Football takes the crown of Football king and it looks like people will be talking about this game for years to come so you might as well buy the game now instead of buying it later when the rosters are outdated... oh wait theres downloadable rosters!

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/10/03