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Summary STILL THE KING OF FOOTBALL GAMES....

Description The eternal battle of the premier football simulators rages on. Some people prefer Sega's "ESPN Football", a few (and I mean a few!) enjoy the Xbox exclusive "NFL Fever 2004", and even Sony's 989 Sports has contributed with the annual "NFL Gameday" series. That's fine and dandy for console players, but PC gamers only have one football game to pick from this year. That one game, though, is still the most popular football game in existence and, in this reviewer's opinion, is probably the best edition ever. I'm talking about Madden 2004! If you ever wanted to lead your favorite NFL team to the Super Bowl, this is the game to do it with. First things first. Let's talk about the on-field A.I. improvement which is critical to Madden's success as a football simulator. One common complaint in last year's version was poor play by the secondary. Too often someone could send a scrub receiver down the field and catch the ball in heavy traffic. EA Sports promised to fix this problem last year and kept its promise. Defensive back A.I. is vastly improved and defenders are much better at covering receivers. Now this doesn't mean that putting one defender on a star such as Randy Moss will keep you safe from the bomb but it does mean that effective playcalling will go a long way in stopping the vertical game. Another nifty improvement this year is tackling. I call this the "Roy Williams theory." No longer do receivers fumble the ball at the same rate regardless of how they were tackled. EA Sports has reduced the rate of fumbles from receivers dragged down from behind and boosted the rate of fumbles from receivers who are hit head-on by a defender. This further enhances the secondary's A.I. and provides for a realistic football game. Another common complaint in last year's edition was that running was too difficult. In fact, some players have defected to Sega's ESPN Football because they claim running is too hard in the Madden series. This is a matter of opinion because most Madden die-hards will tell you that running is realistic in Madden and they are probably right. Tailbacks shouldn't be able to run for 100 yards every game, good blocking should be rewarded, and defenses should be able to quickly swarm to runners. The running game in Madden is not newbie-friendly. In other words, it takes practice and an appreciation of blocking fundamentals. More than any football game out there, Madden rewards players who wait for their blocks to happen and good field vision is an essential trait of any player who wishes to succeed with their running game. While it can be difficult to master, as long as you're playing the CPU, you can always decrease the difficulty level to make it easier and adjust it as you get better. This year's version of Madden saw a dramatic change as, for the first time ever, an in-depth owner mode was inserted into the game. Owner mode allows a player to more fully participate in the annual general manager proceedings of their favorite team. In owner mode, you can hire coaches and offensive/defensive coordinators, set ticket prices, build and design a new stadium and also give your current stadium exclusive naming rights. Owner mode options don't take too long to manage and is a fun and creative way to enhance franchise mode which can sometimes drag on because of the sixteen-game schedule. This year's Madden once more allows custom teams and players. Artistic gamers can design their own uniforms, logos and endzone art. Be sure to check some of the Madden links provided in this review as you can always find custom rosters and other content for Madden 2004. EASO is back again in the PC version of Madden 2004. What may be the best news with this year's version is that EASO no longer costs a monthly fee. It's free! A new EASO browser helps players go online and play other PC Madden gamers. The online community is quite large and it's fairly easy to find a game at any time of the day. There is a new ratings system different from the PlayStation 2 rating system. When signing up on EASO, all players are given a 1500 rating and it will rise or drop depending on wins and losses as well as the skill level of your opponents. In other words, players with good ratings will not be rewarded many points for beating someone with a bad rating. EA Sports has fixed many of the cheating issues in last year's EASO games but there are still problems. A few gamers know how to lag games when they are losing so that their opponent is given a disconnect. Also, unless you set up a password protected game so that you can screen all potential opponents, chances are you'll end up with an opponent who doesn't play "str8 football" which is the term in Madden for realistic football. There are always plenty of goofs who will try to get away with unrealistic substitutions, going for it on 4th and 10, or running the same play over and over. Those types of players can usually be blocked but they're still too rampant on EASO and EA Sports needs to assert itself in player bannings. The best way to avoid these types of players is to browse Madden community sites and join a league with rules on how players can manage their team in a game. If you don't own a gamepad, you'll need to buy one if you plan on playing Madden 2004. The game does enable keyboard play but this type of game was never meant to be played on a keyboard. A controller will always provide the fastest and most efficient gameplay. There are several controllers on the market made by companies such as Logitech, but my advice would be to buy a PlayStation controller and then buy a PS to PC USB adapter. I've found PlayStation controllers to be the most durable and easiest to use. Keep in mind that Madden is designed for the PlayStation first and then ported to other systems so the Playstation controllers will always carry a certain advantage. Whatever you decide on using, make sure you have analog thumbsticks on your controller because they are necessary if you wish to use this year's playmaker option. Playmaker is a new control system in the Madden series which allows a player to make critical last second audibles and other changes. The graphics in this year's Madden are improved more than ever, Madden provides for different resolutions, model detail and shadows. Players with nice video cards will be rewarded but in the end, it's still a console port so don't expect breathtaking graphics. The sounds of the game are good. Tackles have a bone-crunching noise, the home crowd goes wild after touchdowns, and the Monday Night Football team of Madden and Michaels provide commentary on the game. EA Sports didn't do much to fix the in-game commentary and it can be annoying at times. It still doesn't compare to the ESPN Football series which takes game analysis to a whole new level with Chris Berman's Halftime Show. I've played all the popular football simulators in today's market and I always come back to Madden. I find that no game has yet to match Madden's gameplay. If you're a football fan and a competitive person, you'll love Madden. I live and die by my team's success in the video game world as much as I do the real pro team that I watch. No game has a community of more fiery and cutthroat competition than the Madden series. Because football season is over until this fall, Madden 2004 is fairly cheap now in stores and can be had for a small value trade on the Game Trading Zone. Do yourself a favor and pick up the latest edition. You won't regret it. Review Page Hits: 1 today (7 in the last 30 days) Create Your Own Review or