With the release of the Dreamcast in the United States, Sega turned heads with the first true "next Generation" system. Soul Calibur and Sonic Adventure showcased the pure speed and power of Sega’s machine, but more than any other title there was one game that sold itself (and the system), NFL 2k. Responsible for the title was Sega’s premiere (in my opinion) American developer, Visual Concepts. Spending more than two years in development there was some concern on the title not making the U.S. launch date. Sega needn’t have worried as Visual Concepts delivered the best football game ever made for any system.

What makes NFL 2k so special? First of all what you’ll notice on plying the title are the graphics… When I first saw a video of the game I thought an actual game was being broadcast. Imagine my surprise at finding it to be gameplay screens. I learned two things that day: Sega Sports was back in business and September 9^th was much to far away.

Graphically the game is that impressive. Motion captured players are animated down to the mesh on their jerseys. Also height and weight are factored into the mix. Watching 6’4 Randy Moss out jump some shrimpo cornerback and come down with the football will make you a believer. Visual Concepts also uses their official license to not only accurately portray every player in the league but also to capture all of the stadiums as well. Perfectly modeled versions of their real life counterparts with only one drawback, you’ll be too busy ogling the players to notice. Head and shoulders above the rest, the best looking sports game to ever be released. Period.

Sounds nice too. Utilizing the extra storage of the Dreamcast’s GD-ROM the game is loaded with accurate sounds and an extremely caustic (yet usually hilarious) play by play crew. From personal experience the on field sounds are exactly the way I remember the football field from my glory days. Players grunt, shoulder pads collide, and quarterbacks get knocked into yesterday. I love it. Crowd noise is accurate as well, getting noisy on third and short to urge on the defense, getting quiet (are they leaving?) when the home team is getting blown out. Little things like in Green Bay where they urge the "Pack" on really send a quality message home to the gamer.

"That pass looked like a drunk duck with a poor sense of direction, or He throws that like my paperboy throws the Sunday paper, getting it in sight of the porch is good enough for him!" Did I mention the announcers were hilarious?

Gameplay, top-notch graphics and sound would make a pretty if somewhat empty package if this compartment weren’t taken care of. Not to worry, game play is deep, very deep. Maybe it’s just me but I needed two games and another half on the tutorial mode before I started to get comfortable with the controls. Not that they are difficult, far from it, there are just a lot of moves to learn. As a running back carrying the ball you can do any (or all) of these moves: lateral, speed burst, shoulder charge, stiff arm, dive, hurdle, spin or perform a special variant of each.

New to the football genre is the "maximum passing" option available to be selected at the beginning of the game. This feature allows the quarterback the ability to lead the receiver (and by how much) throw behind him and/or choose to throw a straight and fast pass or a longer developing lob (dependant on how long the pass button is pressed).

After awhile the controls do become sharp and intuitive nicely complementing the game’s visual flare. You might not agree with that statement yet but wait till you stiff-arm the first would be defender, spin around the next and lay out to pick up the first down. That’s game control.

Presentation wise the game has what is now Visual Concept’s standard menu system, easy to use though occasionally requiring a precise thumb. Three skill levels in the game make for three very unique gaming experiences. On the easiest skill level the game plays a lot like Blitz. High scores, high hits and a plethora of turnovers. With the middle skill level the defense starts to act real and offenses start coming back down to Earth. Finally on the third skill level you have what I believe to be the finest football simulation ever made. Everything is tough, as it should be, even catching a pass requires you to pick the receiver and line him up to make the catch. Not as difficult as it sounds but it does a striking job increasing the feel or realism.

Many persons (myself included) were disappointed when Electronic Arts announced that they had no plans to develop for the Dreamcast. We needn’t have worried as Visual Concepts and Sega Sports have regained they’re role as the premier sports developer/publisher in gaming today. Is NFL 2k the reason for this? Absolutely. This is by far the greatest sports game I’ve ever played.

Grade: A