Introduction
Since its dawn on September 9th, 1999, Visual Concepts NFL2K series distinguished itself as a top tier football game, gathering a huge fanbase and often getting more hype than Madden. The quick, arcade like gameplay combined with incredible control over players and online console play was a welcome change of pace for gamers bored with Maddens deep sim like gameplay.
Last year VC gave next gen gamers a taste of whats to come with a (late) port of NFL2K2 from the Dreamcast with a vastly changed gameplay engine and much smoother graphics and animations. Now they are ready to go head to head with Madden with an on time release of a vastly improved and innovated NFL2K3.
Presentation
NFL2K3 marks huge changes for VCs pigskin series when it comes to presentation. Gone are the mediocre, tedious menus that annoyed gamers for 3 years on the Dreamcast. VC has partnered with ESPN for a more realistic approach on presentation. Loading the game you’re presented with a SportsCenter-like video with Dan Patrick introducing the game. Very cool. Theres also a "Weekly Recap" feature, which in season/franchise mode, will go over the scores of each game from the week, present the teams records and the player of the game/week. It’s pretty cool at first, but eventually it turns into a gimmick. It simply doesnt give you enough information on the games. You can see the score and standings without waiting for the recap to load up.
In-game presentation is above anything you’ve ever seen in the series. There are telestators, double camera replays and more. At the beginning of the game, the starting lineups are given during the game, just like it happens on ESPN. VC really took full advantage of this license, and the result is presentation thats right on par with Madden.
Graphics
Compared to earlier NFL2K titles, there is no comparison. However, the improvement over NFL2K2 is marginal. The animations are still flawless, and the player models are still better than most. VC has crammed the game with more animations than any other pigskin title around.
The usual NFL2K problems, are still problems though. Clipping is so bad in this game its absurd. Sometimes the animations, no matter how good they look, are wrong. Players will fall, but reappear standing up and charging at you. While the player models look great, the stadiums and crowd do not. The fields could also use a good facelift. Slowdown also lures its ugly head into the game. If you have a big formation, like goalline or a 3 TE formation, there is a huge drop in frame rate right as you snap the ball, every time. It also seems to happen regardless of what formations you’re using when you’re near the endzone.
Overall, the graphics are probably the 2nd best on PS2 this year. If VC could make the stadiums and fields look half as good as the players it would easily be a powerhouse in graphics.
Sound
There are two things I noticed immediatly about this games sound.
1. The amazing commentary is still intact.
2. VC has reused ALOT of stuff from older games.
The commentary remains unrivaled for a 4th straight year. VC really knows how to put a nice team together. Theres loads of lines to hear, much more than any other football title. They even throw in some comical talk to keep it from being too repetitive. However, like any other football title, the commentators often miscall plays and repeat phrases too often. Still, you wont find a better booth around.
The sound effects are... mostly the same from NFL2K-2K1. VC has rehashed the same stuff for years and continued to in this game. It wouldnt be a problem, but they werent really too great to begin with. What would it hurt giving us some better hitting effects and more smack talk between players. I’ve heard the same guy say "Im not afraid of a kicker. Whos afraid of a kicker?" a million times, give me something new already. The crowd noises are solid and more realistic than most. Overall the sound is solid. Excels in some areas, falls flat in others.
Gameplay
The NFL2K series has always had innovative gameplay. A perfect mix of sim style defensive play and running, combined with arcadey style offense and special moves won fans over from the beginning and gets more popular with each release.
Theres a boatload of modes this year, moreso than any NFL2K game to date. Online, quick start, exhibition, practice, franchise, situation, etc. Theres also ranking mode you use offline, playing games, getting a password and putting it online to see where you rank.
This year, VC has changed the gameplay engine more than they ever have. The gameplay is slower, theres more momentum in player movement, and player control simply feels sluggish. Its really like an entire new game. The main draw for me has always been the complete control you have over the game. Running, passing, receiving, you do it all. Wanna pick a pass off? Its as simple as pressing a button and controlling the DB.
However, in this game, its different. You dont have as much control over your players, and they move much slower. There is a delay between button presses and player actions. Even on the fastest setting, the gameplay is pretty sluggish and slow.
Its not entirely bad. The running game is more reaistic than ever. You actually have to follow your blockers this year. Passing, the game is finally much harder to pass in. In past games you can streak it out all day and get lucky a few times, enough to win the game. This year its much harder to hall in the deep ball. You have to be much more accurate and time your passes well or you’ll be looking like Ryan Leaf all day.
On defense, VC has the most innovative playcalling system around. You choose the line play, then the LB/DB play. Not only that, but theres a menu for matchups, allowing you to put your best CB on your opponents best WR. Playing a team like the Titans, their passing target is primarily Wycheck, a TE. In other games you’d have to use certain formations to allow a DB to line up on him instead of a LB. With NFL2K3 you can set any player to him and he’ll cover him from any formation. A nice feature.
The defensive line play is much more dofficult this year. It was not hard to get to the QB last year, even with a mediocre DL. This year, you’ll be hard pressed to dominate a game even with a guy like Strahan. It seems VC has finally found a way to make games more defensive without simply making WRs drop every pass. The LBs and DBs play much smarter also. The random, frustrating leaps that often left WRs wide open last year are gone. Defenders close in on the ball lightning quick this year. I only wish the controls werent so slow. It almost seems like luck picking off a pass because your DB jumps so long after you hit the button.
The franchise mode is the games most impressive and improved. Finally, VC has added a decent trading system. In past games, you could basically create a juggernaut team without even playing a game. Trading a 13 year veteran player for a rookie rated the same simply shouldnt happen, and thankfully it doesnt in 2K3. You can also scout rookies before you draft them. Speaking of draft, the draft in 2k3 is the best around. Saying 2k3’s franchise is better than 2k2’s isnt exactly much considering how bad 2k2’s was, but NFL2K3 has an incredible franchise mode thans 2nd only to Madden.
Rounding out the game is online play. Roster updates online add more depth, as well as online records and stats.
The AI in the game, improves overall on some areas, but falls flat on its face in others. The game still relies on artificial challenge when you raise the difficulty. While other games would have the CPU play better, choosing better plays, tackling better, etc, NFL2K3 simply has the CPU become superhuman monsters on the field. The RBs will usually break 3-4 tackles PER play. And no Im not talking about guys like Bettis or Ricky Williams. Even a guy like Dunn or Staley will run over LBs almost twice their size. Its frustrating to pick the right play and have the CPU simply break tackle after tackle and get just enough for the first. As I said before, the o-line is much smarter now, blocking extremely well both running and passing.
Overall, the gameplay is changed and different than 2k1 and 2k2, but the core of the familiar gameplay remains. Theres deep offensive and defensive play, each easily enjoyable despite a few flaws. Its not the deepest or most realistic gameplay around, but good enough to keep you interested until 2k4 comes around.
Conclusion
With the addition of the ESPN license, and a few innovative features, VC has created their deepest pigskin game yet. The gameplay is still fun, albeit different, and the franchise mode is simply awesome. Oh, dont forget about national rankings and the icing on the cake, online play.
