ESPN NFL Football Preview

Developer	Visual Concepts
Publisher	Sega Sports
Genre	Sports
Release Date	9/2/03

Last year, Sega’s NFL2K3 was outright crushed sales wise by EA Sports’ Madden NFL 2003. Everyone admits it, even Sega. Down, but not out, Sega Sports and Visual Concepts are teaming up with the full ESPN license this year in hopes of finally staking a large claim in the football videogame market currently dominated by Madden. For starters, they’ve ditched the “NFL2K” name in favor of something much more recognizable to almost any person, sports fan or not. ESPN NFL Football has more new features than just a simple name change, however. Building off of last year’s finely tuned engine, Visual Concepts is adding online play and some features you won’t see in any other football game this season.

ESPN NFL Football’s stellar presentation (both on field and off) from years past returns with even more ESPN authenticity. The main menu is now a replica of the ESPN Sports Desk, and virtually every other stat menu and overlay captures the essence of the ESPN name. Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe provide the commentary once again, along with the addition of ESPN veteran Chris Berman who will provide pre-game, half time, and post-game insight. The commentary is once again top-notch. It’s witty without being corny and it’s accurate and relevant to what is happening on the field. Music-wise, you’ll here all the familiar ESPN jingles throughout the game’s menus and of course during the course game’s themselves.

Building upon NFL2K3’s superb animations and detailed player models, ESPN NFL Football introduces gang-tackles, sideline grabs, and double-team blocks to the mix. Not only have player models been improved, but also new in-game cutscenes have been added seamlessly while you’re playing the game. Scoring a touchdown may trigger the “crowd-cutscene” where it seamlessly zooms close-up to a group of rabid fans roaring and chanting for their team, or it may zoom to the sidelines to get the reactions of fellow teammates and coaching staff. It all makes for a more realistic on-field experience as a whole.

Both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of ESPN NFL Football support online play this year, with a few improvements. Visual Concepts has added a five-minute time limit to the online pause screen, therefore eliminating those who forced the other player to quit by pausing the game indefinitely. The ranking system tracks wins, losses, and disconnections as usual, but the leader boards work a little differently. Players move higher in the ranks more easily by playing other high ranked players. You can no longer win against low ranking players and expect to gain huge levels in your online rank.

New additions to on-field gameplay include a Challenge System and the oft-hyped First-Person Football Mode. The Challenge System allows you as coach to throw the red flag and challenge the call on the field. Although a similar system is found in Madden, it plays a much larger role in ESPN NFL Football. Luckily, it works quite well, and when the ref overturns or keeps a play standing, it’s usually the right decision based on the replays shown. First-Person Football Mode is a new style of gameplay that allows you to play the entire game from the eyes of the player with the ball. On a running play on offense, you will be in the eyes of the RB for the entire play. On a pass play, you’re put in the helmet of the QB and have the option of staying in his point-of-view after the pass, or switching to the receiver’s view. On defense, you cycle through each one of your player’s views, but this can get very disorienting when you are trying to track down the ball carrier.

In first-person view, you use the right analog stick to look around and you can press the stick in to semi-freeze the game for a few seconds to allow you to get your bearings straight. This mode can be quite disorienting, but we’ll reserve judgment until the final version ships to determine if it’s worth getting used to for the sake of experience football this way.

Another exclusive feature in ESPN NFL Football is known as “The Crib”. Basically a glorified rewards system, you’ll get to add more than 1,500 unlockable items to your player’s house, from an air hockey table (which you can actually play on) to am overstuffed recliner. The better you play (scoring touchdowns, picking off passes, sacking the QB), the more you’ll receive. Some goals are almost impossible, but nevertheless desirable to achieve. Think you can hold the other team to NO offense for the entire game? If you can, you will be rewarded accordingly. This mode has the potential to be a serious incentive to play as many games as you can, since you will actually gain awards for doing so. This is obviously Sega’s answer to EA Sports’ “Madden Cards” feature, which rewards players with various cheat cards when accomplishing certain goals. ESPN NFL Football is scheduled for release this September 3rd.

Preview by Nick Pappas