Great hands on of NFL FEVER by coremagazine!

Xbox Hands On: NFL Fever 2002

03.15 7pm EST

 One of the most important genres in a new console\'s lineup is sports, and no sports offering is complete without a solid football title. Sega drove hardware sales with it\'s NFL2k series, Sony countered with Madden 2001, and Microsoft may have the last word with NFL Fever 2002, due this fall.

While NFL Fever 2002 gets its name from Microsoft\'s PC football title, nearly everything else was built from the ground up for Xbox, according to Program Manager Kathleen Flood, who demoed the game for us at Gamestock 2001. Flood noted that only the "core AI" (or artificial intelligence) was brought over from the PC edition, and that all visuals, audio, and physics models were being created from scratch on Xbox.





The demo we were shown featured a game between the Tennessee Titans and Minnesota Vikings, played at the University of Washington football field (which is the Seahawks\' temporary home next season). The demo ran, like all others shown at Gamestock, on Microsoft\'s custom development hardware (dubbed the "Alpha2 SDK" kit), which offers only 50% of the power that we\'ll see in the final Xbox machine. Despite this and the fact that many elements still await polishing, NFL Fever 2002 looked like a slightly rougher version of Madden 2001 for PlayStation 2.

The first noticeable aspect of the game is the player models -- Microsoft\'s internal team has placed a high priority on close-up animation of players, a la Madden. The demo version showed helmets that reflected the stadium around it extremely realistically, along with shifting and blinking player eyes and noticeable facial changes (reacting to getting hit, for example). The general shapes of players was on the cartoony side, again resembling those seen in Madden 2001 rather than the more realistic models of NFL2k1. The projection television at the UW stadium mirrored gameplay as well, something typically left static in football titles. The turf texture used was among the most realistic we\'ve seen, particularly in normal gameplay mode (not in replays and post-play close-ups, which used a rougher version of the texture).





Gameplay is a simple enough affair. On offense, hitting "A" snaps the ball, and hitting "A" again brings up receiver icons. The final version will feature receiver icons that fade out if he\'s covered during the play, according to Flood. On defense, gamers can switch among players before the snap using either trigger button or hitting "X" after the snap. Gameplay, even at this early stage, seemed to run at a faster clip than Madden 2001 but a step slower than NFL2k1. Unlike Madden, the running game didn\'t seem sluggish -- Flood noted that handing off to a half-back or running back in NFL Fever will always be a viable option for gamers as well.

While the crowd seen in the demo appeared cookie cutter, Flood assured us that it was a priority. Specifically, the hard drive will be used to feature crowds that react according to the situation. A second-half blowout will see benches clearing out, while close fourth quarter or playoff games will bring packed, loud fans.





Online gameplay, currently being utilized with success by Sega, is a long-term priority for the NFL Fever team (think next year). For now, however, they want to focus on making the first title in the series the best it can be before release later this year. A dynasty mode will allow gamers to play up to 25 seasons and unlock past Super Bowl championship teams, which will become part of the season-by-season schedule that gamers will have to face. Another interesting feature is what Microsoft calls the "Dynamic Player Performance Model", or DPPM. This means as your players continue to hone their skills, their ratings will improve. NFL Fever\'s training mode is interesting as well -- instead of just boring game-day situations where you face only your own teammates or another team in scrimmage, Microsoft has added goal-oriented exercises aimed to help you improve your game. A tackling session, for example, pits you against a handful of players who either stand there lifelessly or run around as you hunt them down -- fun either way.

Microsoft isn\'t known for its sports titles, but what we\'ve seen so far of NFL Fever has us wanting more. With slightly quicker gameplay and some polishing up, NFL Fever 2002 will be a contender, if not champion, of the console football crop later this year.

-- Dane Baker

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