I’m the type of guy who prefers substance over looks.  Give me a gin martini over a cosmopolitan.  Give me a solid independent thriller over a Hollywood blockbuster.  Give me any top 25 women’s tennis player over Anna Kournikova.  Ok, scratch that last one.  Point is, a game can look great on the surface and have all those shiny graphics go for naught with disappointing gameplay.  NFL 2K3 possesses Sega’s trademark brilliant graphics but has some deficits in it.

Perhaps the greatest video game debate today rages over king of the video football field.  In fact, if you are reading this review, you’re probably trying to figure out which one I prefer.  Most of the debate seems to lean towards NFL 2K3 over Electronic Arts’ Madden 2003.  Picking one over the other is a simple matter of preference.  NFL 2K3 has a slightly more arcade feel to it, and I have heard people compare it to the bone-crunching NFL Blitz from Midway.  While NFL 2K3 is an excellent game, Madden, in my self-proclaimed expert opinion, has better gameplay and control and requires more calculated moves. 

NFL 2K3 for the Gamecube can be played under six different modes, none of which are anything special by today’s football standards.  Franchise, Season, Exhibition, Playoffs, and Tournament are all pretty much what they sound like.  Franchise lets players take control of an NFL team over the course of several years versus Season’s one year.  Playoffs mode skips the road to the Super Bowl and heads straight for postseason.  Tournament (does anyone use this mode?) matches teams of your choosing in a single elimination playoff.  Exhibition pits two teams against each other in a simple “let’s just play football” format.  The sixth mode, Situation, copies Madden’s situation mode by letting gamers customize a specific situation to play, i.e. what down, where the ball is, what the score is. 

The basic controls for NFL 2K3 are pretty much the standard fare for today’s pigskin games.  Hike the ball and pass to a receiver by pressing the button that corresponds to the icon above the receiver’s head.  There are stutter steps, spin moves, jukes, just like every other football game.    While the controls are pretty standard, there’s nothing to really complain about except in the kicking department.  I’m not sure why Sega decided to make kicking even harder, but they did.  The usual trajectory arrow which determines the football’s path off the foot of the kicker slowly moves to the left.  Why?  Apparently just to annoy us.  Kicking a 50 yarder is hard enough, why make extra points challenging? 

The overall feel of the passing offense takes a bit of getting used to.  The pace is faster overall, which means you’ll have to chuck the rock in a hurry or risk getting your head ripped off by a 300-plus pound meathead who’d like nothing more than to suck the marrow out of your neckbone.  Receivers really need to be open to catch passes, and anything thrown with defenders in the vicinity will usually end up as an incomplete pass either by way of a deflection or a concussion-inducing hit.  To make matters even worse, passes tend to float a bit, giving several defenders a chance to get near the ball.  This defect in the game results in record amounts of interceptions, and yes, the computer will always catch more INTs than you.  The limited camera angles are either too far to judge space between players or too close and lead to Ray Charles-like vision on the sidelines. 

Rushing the ball can be absolutely frustrating against a team with good run defense.  Obviously, it should be difficult against a team like the Baltimore Ravens, but not this difficult.  Breaking a twenty-yard run is going to be quite a challenge in this game, let alone gaining yards period, which leads most players to stick to the passing game.  One fault of the Gamecube controls involves using the C-stick to juke.  In the heat of the game, it is a chore to use both the C-stick and the buttons for running moves. 

Playing defense is a little more difficult than in other football games.  The available defensive plays aren’t quite as clear as the plays in Madden, and there seems to be a 2 to 1 ratio of zone to man defenses.  Gamers can often feel helpless while trying to navigate the mass of players on the line, and because of the perspective which is just a bit too horizontal to the ground, players can go MIA for an entire play. 

The strength of NFL 2K3 is clearly in some of its graphics.  The animations on some tackles and broken tackles are the best I’ve seen in any game and a joy to watch in replays.  The close-ups of players are superbly done, far exceeding that of Madden, with a lot of attention on faces.  Only the proportions of the players (they all look seven feet tall and lanky) mar an otherwise great looking game. 

The TV-like presentation of NFL 2K3 is excellent.  Getting the rights to the ESPN license adds a fair amount of realism to the game.  In fact, the intro to NFL 2K3 is a Sportscenter briefing with anchor Dan Patrick declaring Sega Sports the new leader in sports games.  Lineups are introduced in-game just as they are in TV broadcasts, and the split-screen replays look lightyears better than Madden’s silly three-way split-screen replays.  Sega even tried to incorporate the tel-ustrator in some replays, maybe not to perfection, but it is definitely innovative and should be refined in next year’s edition.  One poor aspect of the presentation is the lack of any notification of a score.  If you score a touchdown in Madden, a nice little “Touchdown!” appears on the screen and Madden and Michaels talk about the great play.  In NFL 2K3, the player drops the ball and that’s it.  No notification, barely any talk, and ultimately a lot of confusion. 

The worst feature of NFL 2K3 is the play-calling screen.  There are too many packages, too many simple formations that seem to do the same thing, and not enough clarity on the defensive plays.  But even those weaknesses aren’t the worst part of play calling.  One of the best parts of playing an NFL video game is playing against a friend.  While playing against a friend, players can see which play their competitor is calling.  This makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. 

The sounds of the game are great.  Chatter on the field brings players right into the thick of things, and the fans in the stadium bellows throughout the game with surround sound battle chants.  The commentary, on the other hand, could use a little work.  With lines like “He can toss anything, even a salad, and hit his man!” and inconsistent tones (one part of talk will be matter-of-fact, the second part will be over excited), the commentary seems automated and robotic. 

If Madden 2003 and NFL 2K3 went head to head on the field, the Vegas spread would be a measly three points in favor of Madden 2003.  In the end, NFL 2K3’s ability to hurry to the line (how many times have we been caught on delay of game penalties in Madden?), eight hot route options (compared to Madden’s four), and TV presentation just aren’t enough to pull out a victory against Madden 2003’s play challenge feature, defensive strafe, and mini-camp mode.   Next year’s editions could tighten the score even more, and believe me, we’re all looking forward to it.

NFL 2K3 is rated E for everyone.   

Gameplay: 8.8

The controls are solid, and the second best of any football game.  A poor computer A.I. with clock management and difficulty just being able to tell what’s going on at times hurts NFL 2K3, bit with enough practice, the game can be a hoot. 

Graphics: 9

The graphics are excellent, but the perspective lacks depth (sorry for the pun).  NFL 2K3 does have the best tackling animations, however. 

Sound: 8.5

Awesome field sounds, but the commentary isn’t as sharp as it could be.

Difficulty: Hard

A bit more arcade-style than Madden, but still a decent football sim.  The computer is extra tough in this game, and it’s clear that practice makes perfect.

Concept: 7

Nothing groundbreaking here except for the unparalleled TV-style presentation.

Multiplayer: 4

You can see what play your opponent is calling.  Absolutely unforgivable.  No plans for Online play on the Gamecube yet. 

Overall: 8.8

It’s awfully close, but the game is just a little rough around the edges, and not quite as polished as EA’s product.