ESPN NFL Football

"Completely unrealistic"

This game makes me so mad I go nuts. I can't stand just how unrealistic this game is. I'll explain in a bit.
Graphics-The graphics look pretty decent, except the people running look like they pinched a loaf in their pants. 8/10
Sound- This is where the game starts to take a fall. The commentators are very often 1 or 2 plays behind real time. Which means they're talking about what happened two downs ago, very dumb and annoying.
Gameplay-This is where the game gets VERY irritating. It's so unrealistic it's unbelievable. This has got to be some of the dumbest A.I. put in a next gen game. If a quarterback throws a ball and a corner or DB taps it or hits in the air, there is only about a 5% chance of actually picking it off. Another thing is, say your playing a friend and he does a FG block and you're doing a passing play. You can hit your receiver right in the chest and 30% of the time he won't even catch it. Even Marvin Harrison or Owens will do this. The game is also COMPLETELY random. If your playing a friend and the game wants you to lose it will make you do REALLY stupid stuff i.e. throwing three straight picks with Peyton Manning then having Edgerrin James not catch a screen pass for a fumble all in the same game!!! The stupidity goes on and on. I can not express how stupid this game really is. Not to mention the lack of roster updates (3). Another thing, some plays are dang near unstoppable. You can throw a pass from Gannon to Jolley and complete it about 80% of the time, no matter what defensive play is set up. One other huge thing is the tackling. A lot of times the defensive player will slide up the person with the ball and tackle him. Also some runners, mainly Ricky Williams are completely unstoppable. I've played games where I've broken at least 6 or 7 tackles in one play. I don't want to have to adjust some sliders to make it mildly realistic. Ricky Williams is good, but he ain't that good. Some teams in the game are straight up retarded (Chargers). I was playing a game and I had just hiked the ball to Brees and there was a rush coming so I tried to scramble, but I found out why I was being rushed, my Offensive tackle was behind my QB preventing him from scrambling and ultimately resulting in a sack.

Overall-Overall this game recieves a 3/10, it's a really pretty game, but the stupidity is overwhelming. I liked all the other Sega Sports games up until this piece of turd. BLEH! 3/10



Buy or Rent Use your $5 on some lunch or something that's actually somewhat fun or useful. This game is so insanely dumb it blows my mind. I suggest Madden instead (and I really hate Madden, which tells you how bad this game is)

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/04