You'd almost imagine Sega resting on its laurels after the unbelievable NFL2K, and slack off and produce a sequel to the game that is "more of the same." Alas, Sega Sports didn't do that, and instead tried to make NFL2K1 twice as good as its predecessor. While it's far from the perfect football game, it is still the best playing football game of 2000 (Madden 2001 on PlayStation2 has a chance to top it, but who knows). What makes it stand out is it improves on what was good about NFL2K, and even attempts to improve on what wasn't so great. Though they didn't hit everything that wasn't great, on the whole it's still the best football game this year.
Features/Options - While NFL2K didn't slack on features, NFL2K1 takes those features and makes even more! In addition to the exhibition (in which you may play as old-school uniforms!), season, and playoff modes, they added a very deep franchise mode as well (there is also a fantasy mode if that's what ya like). The said franchise mode runs like what you would find in Madden - pick your team, name your coach, and get up and running.
An interesting part of franchise mode is you may elect to clear out all the rosters and redraft your players, creating entirely different teams. It also creates a lot of parity among the teams - pretty equal attributes. Doing this adds some fun to the party - you never know who is really good or bad. No "Oh I'm just playing Cleveland today" and expecting a big win. Who knows who is on that team!
The season portion of the franchise runs like your usual season mode - 16 game season and playoffs. There is an area to check out your stats, as well as make roster changes and proposing trades. Making trades is different because you can add draft picks - you can trade all 7 draft picks for Keyshawn Johnson if that's what makes you feel better. Thankfully the CPU can nix your trades if it gets out of hand (no trading Adrian Murrell for Terrell Davis straight-up in this game).
Also, you can add free agents to your team - but an odd quirk is you can sign Barry Sanders, Dan Marino, and Steve Young to your team - odd considering they are all retired.
At the end of the season you have to sign your own free agents before anything (well no actually you have to view who's retired before that). Once this is done you move on to the rookie draft. Unlike Madden this is a 7 round NFL regulation draft. Finish that, sign your players, and go on to free agent signings. You can set dollar amounts and length of contract as well (similar to Madden). Finally you get your rosters set up all nice and you can begin the next season.
Before we get to far I'll say this now - the menu screens are terrible. I do understand that they want them shaped like a football, but they are next to impossible to use. Very unintuitive. It makes signing players a chore because you have to figure out which buttons change the dollar amounts and years, and half the time you make a mistake and sign them to a contract you don't want to give them. It's nowhere as easy to use as GameDay (but Madden 2000 is an entirely different story, though that isn't as bad as NFL2K). I'm begging Sega to make the menu screens like World Series Baseball 2K1 for NFL2K2.
On the multiplayer side, NFL2K1 features a huge new feature - Online gaming. Just hook up through Sega.net or whatever ISP you had on your Dreamcast (I used to use FreeWWWeb but now it's gone so I'm SOL). Then you can go to NFL2K1 servers and get your ass kicked by a bunch of NFL2K1 hot heads. I personally haven't used this part, for I haven't signed up for Sega.net yet, but from what I've heard it's pretty darn fun, outside of some lag times (typical of online PC gaming). Unfortunately, there are no online fantasy leagues (something I'd personally love) yet.
GamePlay/Control - NFL2K1 probably has some of the best gameplay for a football game out there currently. Each team has its own individual playbook, so St. Louis has deep plays as well as the crazy slants and crossing plays that benefit speedy receivers, and teams like Pittsburgh have plays that expose the strength of Jerome Bettis (well, then again they don't have a good QB so..). The receivers actually run their routes as they are supposed to, and if you throw the ball into secondary traffic, boom it's going to be picked off or batted down. Sometimes you get lucky and make an amazing catch.
Where the massive improvement comes is in the running game. NFL2K was kind of bashed because the running game wasn't very good. NFL2K1 is completely redone from the ground up. Now running is much more realistic, with speedy backs like Marshall Faulk busting through the lines using his speed, to power backs like Eddie George bouncing off defenders and breaking tackles. You finally have a running game in NFL2K1, and a more well rounded offensive attack.
Defensively things are a lot better too. Sacking the quarterback isn't as easy in my opinion, and more fulfilling to see your DL smother the poor guy. The thing is, most of the time as you hit the QB he will just throw it out of bounds. Stopping the run is not as easy though, because that same improvements in your running game applies to them too. The backs can bounce off defenders and stretch for the extra yards. Playing against the receivers is also a bit better, and from my experience, it's easier to defend. But pass defense is not my strong point, so how would I know?
The referees are more involved, but the penalties are oddly called. Clipping, a pretty rare penalty, is called at least once a game, yet holding penalties (one of the more frequently called penalties). It gets to be a pain to make a great play and then get called back for a 15 yard clipping penalty, especially when it's not your fault. But the refs will bust you for a lot of neutral zone violations, so keep behind the line!
Two flaws though - first the playbooks. While all of them are different, there just isn't enough plays (I'd say around 70) and a lot of them are too similar. For instance, a running play pattern can be in almost all the playbooks in the same formation. What's the point if they are all the same? Plus the playbooks look like the menu screen - and you know how I feel about that now.
Also - again, this game is too easy on Rookie mode. You can barely make an effort and torch the computer for major yardage and points. Just run the right pass plays that let your receivers get wide open, and first down every time. Mix it up with up the gut running plays and you can score 100 points every game if you're motivated enough. Defensively, you can pitch a shutout every game too. Just find your speediest defenders (I used Jevon Kearse on Tennessee) and harass the QB into throwing the ball away every time and you'll be winning games 100-0 in no time. Upping the difficulty levels makes the game more competitive, but it is still pretty easy to win once you know what plays work best on both sides of the ball.
Graphics - What can I say about the graphics? While they aren't terribly improved from NFL2K, they are still really good. The players are realistically animated, and the mo cap animations are also top-notch. There is no ping-pong ball tackling like Madden or GameDay on PlayStation - these guys TACKLE. they grab you and pull you down, they slam you to the ground, they beat you up. Receivers actually stretch for the ball and the backs spin and juke their way to extra yards with some great effects.
The stadiums are also realistically animated - the turf looks like turf and grass is really grassy (some analogy huh). Each stadium looks exactly like its real-life counterpart - it even has Paul Brown Stadium for Cincinnati included. The crowd is also well animated - you see it best when a penalty is called and they rise to their feet to approve or disapprove of the call. There is even a referee on the field that looks just as well animated as the players do. For now, this is the most realistic looking football game ever (Madden 2001 looks a lot better though..but how is the gameplay?).
Another excellent part of the graphics is the in-game presentation - the on screen stat graphics are really nice to look at, a lot more so than NFL2K. It feels that much more like the real NFL experience.
Sound - Again for NFL2K1 they used actors for play-by-play, and for the most part they do a great job. Before the game they go over a particular player to watch for on a team, as well as the opponent. During the game they for the most part realistically call plays correctly - there is an occasional weird or repetitive call or two but it doesn't detract from the game. The best part though is they seem REAL - Simms and Enberg from GameDay seem thrown together to try to sound real, and Madden and Summerall from Madden sorta seem like they are in different booths. These guys seem like they are actually in the booth together calling the game. Even if they do repeat.
Player sounds are also in here, and they too are excellent. Players scream out commands on defense, and taunt star players (I've heard taunts toward McNair, Randy Moss, Kurt Warner, and Terrell Davis). The defensive players warn to watch for the run, tell others to cover this receiver, and all the typical playcalling and watching. It makes the game incredibly real.
Even the crowd gets involved - they cheer wildly at your touchdowns, and the PA announcer calls the name of the receiver/runner and the amount of yards picked up. When a penalty is called, the fans cheer if it goes for the home team and boo wildly when it goes against them. The PA announcer does flub a play too - but I rarely notice it because I'm too busy playing and listening to PBP.
Overall - NFL2K1 is no doubt the best football on Dreamcast (but there isn't much competition). While it still isn't perfect, it's still is a very enjoyable game to play, and much better than the rest of the football game releases thus far. All I can say is I've put off worrying about getting a PlayStation2 - I'll be too busy playing NFL2K1!
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No, this isn't just NFL 2K for the Internet this is a whole new ballgame. NFL 2K1 is loaded with new features, and you can up the stakes by playing pr...More at eBay
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