"One of the worst football games I have ever played"

The Madden series has been proclaimed as the best football series ever. Well last year Sega made a run but failed. So in Tiburon case they put out a game that was buggy, had no a.i. challenge, and was just a disgrace to the EA name.

Graphics-

To make it short and sweet, the players look great as while the animation look terrible. The tackling animation looks like superman. Don't know what that means? Well when you hit the tackling button, your player ''looks'' like he is flying. And to make matters worst, when the player gets hit he just guys flying across the screen. This doesn't happen on every play, but it probably happens on 35% of the plays, at least.

Another complaint is the crowd and sidelines. Why couldn't EA put in an option to let players(me and you) pick to have sideline players in 3d? Or like the PS2 version. The crowd at a lot of games looks like there is only 1,000 people watching. And something I liked about the PS2 version was that you could run over players/coaches/chain gang. But not in the PC version, they are cardboard cut-outs.

Short and sweet.

Oh yeah the game looks really plain after playing the PS2 version.

Score: 6

Gameplay:

One word, easy.

Passing Game: Want a guide for Madden? Just drop back 10-20 yards and wait for a WR to get wide open. Works for me on about 85% of plays. In fact my lowest passing game was 250 yards with a QB rated 68.

Running Game: Not really difficult to, just juke and you'll make a big play. Doesn't sound hard but when you been playing this series as long as I have it becomes a second nature.

Defense Game: Probably the hardest part(not saying much) in the game. While protecting against passing and running is easy. It's impossible to get a block fg/punt. I haven't done either one!

Kicking Game: Hardest part in Madden. Yes, you heard me right, this is the hardest part in Madden. If your are on an angle kick and it's windy out your better pray to God that you can make it. Tapping to far will mess up the whole play. So be careful.

I should work for EA, I need a year off.

Score: 4

Sound:

Get rid of Pat and John and hire actors. Put an attempt to make it sound like a crowd is there, add player chatter, a better PA, and beg coaches to put emotions into their words.

P.S. Get better writers for John/Pat and the coaches.

Score: 1

Playbooks:

Okay on the back of the package it says,

''Exclusive NFL Coaches Club:
Signature plays, styles, and voices of NFL coaches.''

If that is true how come it's the same playbook since 97? And why does every team have the same plays in them? How come NFL2k1 does a better job at signature plays?

Score: 0, NEW PLAYBOOKS PLEASE

Replay Value:

Franchise Mode:

+
Still one of the best franchise modes (behind FOF and HHBB)
Could player progression
A good start with the coaches license
Good signings

-
TERRIBLE INTERFACE
Bad FA AI (Computer puts no effort in signing FA)
No Trading (Yes I know the NFL doesn't have a lot of trading but how about some draft picks? *cough*saints*cough*

Online Play
+If I could play it could be great!
If I could play online, I would say the online franchise mode

-
Can't play one game, and after 4 patches.
NFL2k1 has a better online play get it.

Score: 5

Overall:

As you can see, this is more then a rant then a review. I'm just upset that I spend 40 bucks on this game and this is the end result. If EA had shipped FOF with Madden it would be worth it. And do yourself a favor and get Madden for the PS2 or NFL2k1 for the DC, it's a better deal.

Score: 3

P.S. You might get a lot bugs if you get this game.

Reviewer's Score: 3/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/00, Updated 11/25/00