Hands on: 'NFL 2K2' on PS2

From...

By Dr. Zombie

(IDG) -- Sega Sports' crown jewel, "NFL 2K2," is primed to arrive in style on the PS2.

A preview version already sported incredible 60-frames-per-second graphics, silky smooth controls, and all the trash-talkin', fist-pumpin' pigskin action of its predecessors on the Dreamcast. Any doubts about the conversion from Dreamcast to PlayStation 2 were erased within the first few moments of play on the more ergonomically comfortable PS2 controller.

Graphics were clean and crisp, featuring more subtle details in lighting and texture than those on the Dreamcast. The players seemed huge onscreen, yet moved quickly and smoothly across the field of play. Big human pileups weren't cluttered as you could differentiate between every player in the logjam. Plenty of overlays, key replays and onscreen telestrations complete the TV-viewing experience. Background touches such as sideline players cheering a favorable penalty call will be an added kick.

Play was classic "NFL 2K" with a very intuitive interface and more pages of plays than "2K1." The speed of the game remained more accelerated than "Madden's," and had more of an arcade feel to it while retaining all the nuances of strategy and choice of plays.