PlayStation 2
Released in 2001 by Sega
Grade: C+
This game is a lot like NFL 2K1, which means it’s a fun, slightly arcade-like take on football that’s limited in terms of depth and balance.
Where it falls in the series
This is the third 2K football game, the first on PS2 and the last on Dreamcast. The series progressed and scored big with ESPN NFL 2K5 before EA got the exclusive NFL license. 2K released one more football game, the criminally overlooked All-Pro Football 2K8, before retiring from football.
Praises and gripes
Like its predecessor, the football logic is decent, the controls work well, and the visuals are nice and clear.
But it also retains the same problems: floaty passes, limited playbooks, and almost no flexibility with adjusting strategy or your play at the line of scrimmage. Madden was certainly ahead of the game at this point in its competition with 2K.
Passing can be difficult. You can’t zip a pass fast enough, and low passes are often tipped by a lineman. There are very few play action passes or screen plays, despite new team-specific playbooks boasting more formations. The most reliable play is escaping the pocket and giving time for a receiver to get wide open, which feels cheesy.
I can’t cover a game in this series without praising its dynamic speed burst control, where you can hold the button to power up for a big move or simply tap rapidly to sprint. It’s a good feature, and tapping rapidly sure spices up those long runs down the field with a defender hot on your trail.
The players are easy to control but still feel mechanical to me. It wasn’t until later in the series that the players moved more like humans.
There just isn’t enough growth from the previous game to this game. I’m interested to review the next two versions, because somehow 2K went from this to one of the most beloved sports games in three years.