Operation Sports:

Practice Makes Perfect

By Shawn Drotar

Okay. You’ve just picked up your copy of NFL Fever 2004, and you’re ready to dominate the NFL world—online and off—with your dazzling pigskin brilliance, right?

Not so fast, my friend. When you play Fever, you’ll face the best the NFL has to offer—explosive offenses, crushing defenses, and some of the toughest coaching AI you’ve ever seen.

So if you want to be the best, you should do what the real NFL stars do: practice.

Fortunately, NFL Fever 2004 gives you all the tools you’ll need to enhance your skills, from the rawest rookie to the most seasoned veteran.

From the main menu, select “Practice.” It’s easy to find—just look at the top, “rook!”

In the Practice menu, you’ll be presented with three choices:

• Training Camp
• Chalk Talks
• Open Practice

Let’s take a look at each of these in detail and learn how they can help you become the next NFL superstar.

In Training Camp mode, you’ll run through a sequence of drills designed to help you master all the skills necessary to succeed in NFL Fever 2004. As a running back, you’ll learn how to sprint, spin, juke, stiff-arm, and run over the defense on the way to the end zone.

As a quarterback, you’ll try out NFL Fever 2004’s varied passing options. “One Button Passing,” “Trigger Passing,” and the most realistic passing mode to date, “Read and Lead,” are all at your disposal. Give them all a try, and find out which mode is best for you.

Of course, you’ll also need to learn how to kick and tackle—and the Training Camp has drills for that, as well.

Make sure you attend the NFL Fever 2004 Training Camp before you hit the gridiron, and you’ll be ready to take on all comers!

In “Chalk Talks,” NFL Fever 2004’s announcer Ron Pitts narrates six informative movies that cover not only Fever’s gameplay, but also the real strategies of the NFL and how they can be applied in NFL Fever 2004 to help you play your best. After reviewing all of Pitts’ “Chalk Talks,” don’t be surprised if you’re not only a better NFL Fever 2004 player, but you’re a more knowledgeable football fan, to boot.

The last Practice mode, and the most flexible and powerful as well, is Open Practice. From here, you can practice and refine every part of your game. Offense, defense, and special teams play are all available for you to work on and get your team ready for the season. In this mode, any and every play in your team’s playbook is at your disposal to work on for as long as you like. If you need to master your offensive playbook, select “Offense Only.” Because there won’t be a defense squaring off against you on the field, you can refine your skills, get your timing down, and turn your offense into a well-oiled machine.

Practice makes perfect—and you’ll need it to be at your best in NFL Fever 2004.

Shawn Drotar pens the weekly columns “Splinters From The Pine” and “Starting 5” for OperationSports.com and is proud to provide exclusive coverage for Xbox.com. Shawn’s e-mail address is shawn@operationsports.com.