The graphics? Very nice. Detailed uniforms, shadowing and stadiums make NFL 20-03 shine. I like the smoking fast frame-rate and new player animations, both tackling and end-zone celebrations. The music is serviceable and the SFX are quite meaty, but the great work done with Midway's commentary in the new MLB Slugfest series still makes mincemeat of Blitz. There is a two-man booth with some new one-liners and smack talk, but Slugfest still does a better job. It's not the absolute mismatch that the Pat Summerall-era Madden was up against vs Sega's NFL 2K commentary, but the differences are noticeable.

The gameplay is classic Blitz-style mayhem that everyone is familiar with - extreme football action, the encouragement of hits after the whistle, you know the drill. There are tons of plays available, as in the 20-02 version, cheap shots galore, and the introduction of the Houston Texans, naturally. Exhibition, Season, tournament and quickplay options are all present and accounted for. The tournament atmosphere is still palpable - Blitz has always been a great party game and 20-03 lives up to its pedigree here. The Impact Player introduced in 20-02 is here and useful, and the addition of some new running plays means you don't have to fire bombs downfield every single time in order to succeed. The defensive bug where nailing an offensive player will give him additional yards downfield has been fixed.

The differences between the 3 platforms are certainly noticeable - the Gamecube and Xbox versions have better graphics and loading times, although the PS2 version certainly is no slouch in the graphics department. As it stands, however, with amazing competition on the gridiron front from Madden 2003 and NFL 2K3, two franchises which continue to innovate and adapt, the stale presentation of NFL Blitz 20-03 wears very thin. Where are the detailed create-a-player options that other football games have? What is delivered here is anemic compared to the create options presented in Madden or 2K3. What about the deep replay value that Madden gives with mini-camps and such? The career mode presented here isn't fleshed out to its potential at all, and that is a shame. No Dolby support? No ability to map the controls to your liking? For shame, sir!

NFL Blitz 20-03 is a near carbon copy of 20-02, no two ways about it. If you like Blitz gameplay, you'll find it here...but the lack of innovation is startling. A few (admittedly hilarious) DVD extras aren't enough to recommend it as a purchase, especially with NFL Blitz 20-02 in the bargain bin. What you get with 20-03 doesn't justify spending the extra bones. Get a used copy of NFL Blitz 20-02 if you need a fix, because NFL Blitz 20-03's blatant rehash doesn't deserve more than a rental.