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NFL 2k3

Football Betting Spread Sega Sports is trying so hard, can't you tell? Ever since their games started to blip on the gaming radar they have been compared to, and rightfully so, with other carefully calibrated and celebrated sports games. With the NFL 2K series, it has been compared with the veteran series of Madden games. Each year the 2K series has continued to climb its way up to respectability when mentioned in the same breath as Madden.


This year Sega teamed up with ESPN to give the Sega Sports franchises a fresh new look. Sega has wasted no time in capitalizing on this by using the menus, scoreboards, sounds and other items associated with ESPN.

With the relative success of NFL 2K2, 2K3 has been filled with so much more. Sega Sports, along with developer Visual Concepts, has added a slew of new features, stats, and the aforementioned new look. This is evident when you first turn on your Gamecube. After the standard set of logos and trademarks you are brought to a special introduction. The logo and music for ESPN's SportsCenter start up as the camera fades in and the lights shine on Dan Patrick, one of the many SportsCenter anchors. There, you will see what seems to be a genuine attempt at setting up what the Sega Sports and ESPN partnership is all about. Soon the camera will switch to a few minutes of actual game play footage as Dan talks in the background for a few seconds. After the footage is done (Or you can just simply skip all that with the Start button) and a second or two of loading, you can press start and get to the main screen. Once you do, the spokesperson for the game, Brian Urlacher, will welcome you.


The ESPN-style menus will then greet you as the SportsCenter music plays in the background. There you will be able to choose from many of the different game options available. Some of the options include the standard exhibition, season, playoffs, and tournament modes. These are all really self explanatory as they are your basic options in most football games. Then you have other types of game matches, including a type where you are able to determine who has the ball, where, and when. Then you have the Franchise mode, in which you are basically a front office general manager. Here you can go through draft days, look around for trades or try to trade off players you don't want, along with other options to help build your own custom team.

Once you have decided on what kind of match you want to play in you are then taken to the team selection screen. Once you are done picking your team, where you want to play, and what rules (or penalties) you want to follow, you can then head out to the field. Load times between the time you press start from where you pick your teams to the time when you can press start to get to the coin toss is minimal, which is definitely good.


Once you get out onto the field and into the game, picking plays for the game is relatively easy. You can set your plays to go either by formation, or by who would be getting the ball. The former is more for the experienced football game players, or if you would just like a challenge if you are starting out playing these types of games. The latter is typically for beginners or for those of us who are lazy. You pick your formation or what player you want the ball to go to, then pick your play, it's that easy. After that it is all up to you to do your job in making sure that the ball needs to go where it needs to, whether to the running back (of course that is automatic, silly) or to one of your receivers.


The graphics for this game are excellent, to say the least. While there are some problems here, the good far outweighs the bad. One of the good elements are the player models, of which they are all realistically modeled after their real life counterparts. You can especially tell this when you look at the smaller players. A few years ago they would all look generically the same. Not so this year because the models are realistically proportioned. The player's faces still seem a bit flat, but they still look more like their real life counterparts. Another of the goods for the graphics are the player animations. There are just so many new and varied animations. This includes animations for running and throwing the ball, defending passes, and even the linemen have some good animation. The defensive tipping animations have almost become an art, because while you may defend a pass, that same pass may still get tipped right into the hands of the offensive player. The running game looks very smooth and the pocket opens up nicely (for the most part anyway) according to what play you are running. The passing game is also very smooth, with the quarterback showing off most of those animations while the receivers will show you some style while trying to catch the ball. Also, touchdown celebrations are more varied this year, as I'm sure you were well concerned. One of the bad things about the graphics is the blurriness, even though that is commonplace among some of the Gamecube games these days. Another of the bad about the graphics is clipping, but that is to be expected from a football game because of all the interaction from the players.

The sound for this game is decidedly decent. The crowd for this game is definitely one of, if not the, best of all the football games out there. They will obviously cheer when you score a touchdown, but they may also boo you if you receive a turnover, let the opposition score, or even get a bad penalty. The sound effects for the game are also top notch as well. With each sound just adding to the realism of the game, it just makes you feel like you are really out there. The obvious bad for the sound is the commentary. Although the commentary is a bit more varied, they can still become too repetitive. Also, the voice of the play by play announcer kind of annoys me, but that just might be me.


The replay value is about as good as any other football title. You will have quite a bit to be able to do by yourself with the Franchise mode and the Sega Sports Challenge. However, after that there isn't a whole lot to be able to excite yourself with, so you might have to either get some existing friends or find new ones to help you fully enjoy the game.

Overall, NFL 2K3 is par or and maybe even better than the Madden series of EA Sports. Adding the ESPN brand to the series does nothing but help this series, and others, to continue to thrive and to challenge the competition. If you want a formidable option to quench your football thirst and sick of the Madden siries, give this game a try, and you might find yourself making SEGA Sports your new brand name of choice.

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