In NFL 2k3 the first thing you'll notice is the ESPN brand plastered all over the screen. This would be a bad thing if it were Doritos or Pepsi, but this is ESPN, the network that defines sports in America. The theme music, highlights, scoreboard and even Dan Patrick sitting behind a desk make the whole experience feel like the real thing. Most opening videos get you pushing the start button just to get to the action. These put you in the mood, just like the introductory montages of a real game. Whatever Sega is paying ESPN for their brand, it's worth it. This may be the best presentation for any sports game we've ever seen.

For those of you who grew up with money plays and over/under scores in the 100 point range, NFL 2k3 is your wake-up call. Years of tweaking are beginning to pay off, because Sega has given us a football game that produces realistic, sometimes brutal gameplay and statistics. The passing game is as unforgiving as you can stand, depending upon the difficulty level you choose. DBs and linebackers don't fall for the same tricks all day, but they are reasonably susceptible to things like crossing patterns, zone clearing and play action. In other words, you can't assume that the speed of a receiver, the fake handoff or the passing routes themselves will result in an open man. You'd better look before you throw, and you'll have to learn that a man that's open now won't be in another second and that a man who looks covered now might be open once he leaves the zone. This game should give everyone a new appreciation for the difficulty of playing quarterback.

One minor complaint is the number of hits after a catch that jar loose what looks like a completion. It's disappointing to find an open man, get the ball there, see the catch, then watch it get knocked loose by a stiff hit. This happens in football, but not this often. I realize it's just one way of representing tough coverage, but I would have preferred to see more passes swatted down as opposed to knocked loose. It would have been a little more realistic and less annoying.

Grinding out yards on the ground continues the pattern of high difficulty and low forgiveness for stupidity. If you've got a team of quick ends and linebackers on the other side of the ball and you try to run around the ends you'll pay for it. If you run right at them, there's a chance they'll block up the hole but you should get a few yards out of it if your line does their job. At first it seems far too hard to run, particularly outside the tackles. But the truth is that receivers and backs shouldn't be as good at blocking as the linemen, and this game shows it. They'll hold their man up for a brief time, but if you don't get by them quick you're in trouble.

There have always been a few specific plays that were apparently hard for the developers to get right. NFL 2k3 gets them right. The days of play action being the death of a drive because it took too damn long to develop are mostly over. Traps are usually stuffed by the defense, but this makes sense because they're complicated and hard to pull off for all but the most seasoned offensive lines. Counters and draws work only occasionally, as they should. Screens are designed to draw in over-aggressive defenses and keep them honest. But most defenses are a little too honest to begin with, and you don't have to deal with a ridiculously overwhelming pass rush most of the time.

Play calling is elegant and the defensive diagrams offer shaded areas of the field showing zones for which players are responsible. They help the player visualize what it means when certain formations call on a linebacker to cheat over one way or another in a zone defense. And even educated football geeks will appreciate the visual reinforcement of what it can mean to blitz. It means lots and lots of green for a smart offense to use.

Playing defense is a lesson in discipline more than anything else. Your best bet is to pick a defense that works for the situation, choose a player whose assignment you don't mind sticking with, and stick with it. If that means man to man, that's what you need to do (but good luck). If it means zone, stay in your zone. The offensive A.I. is unforgiving, and most QBs in the league will abuse you repeatedly for being foolish. To be fair, the offensive A.I. also makes mistakes, but you still have to capitalize and make the play. Defense in NFL 2k3 is challenging, humbling and rewarding all at the same time.

The controls are exceptional. You'll feel the hits and dives, but more importantly your players don't look or feel like they're sliding all over a glass coffee table. Stiff arms by a big tight end are far more effective than when employed by a wideout, and the players look and react fluidly during even the most crowded plays.

Of course, Sega offers all the game options you can imagine: Exhibition, practice, season, dynasty, etc. But the dynasty mode is key and this one is as deep as can be. The first season starts after draft day and rookie signings, so all you've got to worry about is contract negotiations and trades to get ready for the season. You can initiate trades of any kind, including offering draft picks instead of players, but the "Trading Block" is a lot easier. You can put players up on the block and wait for offers. You'll get counter offers, which is nice, but for some reason the counter offer is often rejected by the other team (wasn't it their idea?). You can also simply release players that don't fit your needs.

And while you do all this wheeling and dealing there's the ever-present salary cap hanging over your head. Cutting players doesn't mean you get out of paying them entirely, as most cuts incur a penalty of about half the original salary. Many clubs just can't afford to make many trades and odds are it will happen to you. Managing a salary cap can be a special brand of fun, not unlike root canals and IRS audits, but that's life in the NFL.

Draft day, and the days leading up to it, are where Sega has clearly put in a lot of effort. Your work begins with the scouting combine, and you've got a certain number of hours in each day to check out each player. Spend your time wisely, because that's the only information you'll have on these kids come draft day. You won't get rating numbers, as in, "This TE is a 72 out of 100." You'll get forty yard dash times, weight lifting ratings and other descriptors. Scouting represents hours and hours of work, but it's a labor of love for those that are interested. Obviously, the cpu can do all this work for you if you wish.

Come draft day, all your work will begin to pay off. The view of the big board, along with a countdown clock, background conversations and constant advice coming in over your PDA do a nice job of immersing you in the experience. The more research you've done, the more rewarding draft day will be, as strategies will have to change if things don't go exactly as you expected. Afterward, it's back to the bargaining table to sign your rookies and get them in camp. The sooner they show up, the more they'll improve before the season starts. If they come in late, you might as well write them off until next year.

Football games improve every year, sometimes by a wide margin, but usually just a little bit here and there. There are always issues that arise after playing a game for months on end, and most of us wonder, "Why can't they fix that?" This year they did. Sega has made seemingly all the right tweaks. It's not perfect, but it's as close as anyone has ever come. If you're a die-hard Madden fan, this is the year to give something else a try. This might not be the year that Sega's series tops Madden in the sales charts, but we might look back at 2003 as the year Sega's NFL 2k3 became the better game.