NFL Fever 2003

Now I know I'm just a tad bit late of writing a review for this game with the 2004 lineup of football games well out already, but oh well. I got Fever 2003 for $10 off eBay and I thought it was well worth the money. I'll do my best not to compare this game to any game part of the 2004 lineup.

Gameplay: 6/10

The most important game mode to many football gamers is the Franchise mode. This is known as the Dynasty mode in the NFL Fever series. The Dynasty mode lasts for as many as twenty five seasons which is more than enough. And you can do the normal stuff like trade, draft, and sign free agents. Those are the main important things needed, and they're there. But Fever is lacking compared to Madden and NFL 2K3. The Dynasty mode is just not as deep compared to the other football games. There's no rookie scouting process what so ever in Fever and I feel like that hurts the game. When the draft begins, you get the draftees overall rating straight up which is kind of...

THE GOOD:
ok graphics, decent control

THE BAD:
load times suck, detailed graphics...yet none of the players actually LOOK like their real-life counterparts

SUMMARY:
this isn't a horrible game, but why waste your time and money on it when you can just as easily purchase madden 2003 or nfl2k3. both of those games are miles beyond fever 2003, which is nothing more than an updated version of fever 2002...nothing new, nothing improved really. don't bother with it.

THE GOOD:
The teams are good and there is a lot of plays to do.

THE BAD:
It is on Xbox and the Xbox controllers suck

SUMMARY:
I dont like the controllers because they are so big and i sometimes hit the wrong button causing me to screw up in this game. There is a lot in this game. I like to play against my friends with either the classic teams or up to date rosters. There are so many plays and you can do some sweet audibles. This is a pretty good football game. Get it.

THE GOOD:
Nice graphics, good controls (with plenty of cool moves) and lots of plays to choose from.

THE BAD:
Long load times is what really killed me. I noticed that some of the voice stuff is a bit choppy (I suspect the files are read in on-the-fly from the CD-ROM). The team selection was slow (probably due to the same reason). During play selection the clock goes from 30+ seconds to less than 10 seconds. Hmmm...

SUMMARY:
I've been playing Madden football way back when it first came out on the Genesis (I think it in '88 or '89). Though football games have come a long ways since then, it hasn't really changed a whole lot in recent years. No real breakthrough, seems they only updated the roster. I played it for about an hour and got bored. Enough said, I'm ready to return this rental.