The king again but not by much

Sega Sports releases the fourth installment of the NFL 2K series with NFL 2K3. It does have a step on 2K2, but it finally shows that while the significantly improved the game in certain areas, the ones they failed to improve hurt the game's score.

Graphically, it doesn't get much better than this. Players are made with great detail from being able to see the jersey's holes to having every player's face. The crowd wasn't tweaked much, but it still looks better than the horrid memory I have of paper crowds. Glitches are quite rare and improved animations make some hits look more realistic and the game also sports new bone crushers that will have you say " Ouch ! " while looking them over on the replay.

In the sound category, the game is once again very solid. It's nice to hear the added trash talk between the players. Fictional announcers Dan Stevens and Peter O'Keefe get more tiring every year. They bring back the silly jokes that give them the advantage of sounding a little bit " more human ". However, some commentary, especially from O'keefe, is misplaced. For example, he will tell how nice a stiff arm that was when the guy was stuffed for a 1-yard gain. Or he'll say the pass was off the mark when the receiver simply dropped it. The crowd could also take more space, as you hear a mere whisper as the home team scores a touchdown.

The controls once again received some tweaking. Running is now a lot more fun with the new lower the shoulder function that will allow you to run over defenders depending of course, who you're trying to run over and who you're running with. For example, you will not get through Brian Urlacher or Ray Lewis very often. Sometimes, when you play a powerful running back, you will swear because you couldn't just bring him down on the first hit and he got a crucial first down or a touchdown. The most glaring example of that type of running back is Tennessee's Eddie George. And, of course, the game brings back the untouchable speedsters, such as St.Louis' Marshall Faulk. The most frustrating factor is pass rushing. Since NFL 2K1 that had the easiest pass rushing system ever with which you could easily have 35 sacks per season with your right defensive end, Sega seem to have taken it upon themselves to make pass rushing harder. However, harder doesn't necessarily mean more realistic. Pass rushing in this game is very, very hard. Unrealistically hard. For defensive linemen like myself, it is very frustrating. I don't want to become a coach in gaming review, but when the easiest way of pass rushing (besides overloading the line and hope somebody comes through) is using your star defensive tackle, there's a problem. I'm not talking about Warren Sapp getting sacks being wrong, he is a pass rusher. I'm talking about when it's easier to get sacks with Kris Jenkins than with Julius Peppers. The worst offensive tackle can play decently against your best defensive end and the star offensive tackle are human walls that can literally never be beaten. And if you manage to get through before the quarterback gets the ball off (they get the ball off much too quickly), his running backs will never miss a block. Oh! did I neglect to mention that the A.I. will destroy your offensive line and kill your quarterback if you keep it for more than 3 seconds, which reduces the game to old-fashioned pocket passing. You still find yourself switching to THE player you don't want ; of course, that causes a big play and defensive backs are stupid and will try to intercept balls that go miles over their heads...and into the hands of the receiver that they left alone. Naturally, you can exploit the artificial intelligence on that point and tear zone coverage apart.

I get picky on the controls, but 2K3 is still a great game. The franchise mode is improved impressively from 2K2. The thing that's the most fun is that you get much more realistic and significant impact from your rookies.

Overall, 2K3 is the best football game on the market. However, there are some flaws that Sega needs to fix if it doesn't want the improving EA formula to regain the supremacy it had for years before losing it to Sega.