Madden NFL 97

"The First Madden on PC... pretty good"

Madden NFL '97 was the first game from the Madden franchise to be playable on PC. It turned out well. The game filled it's purpose and had some very interesting features. Of course I am not comparing this game to Madden '03 or anything that would come out recently. I'm reviewing this game as if the time was '97. That's the only way to actually see how good this game is. Let me give you a run down of everything.

CONTROLS- 10/10

The controls as in most games were good. No complaints. You move, throw, hop step, etc. In menus, you select an option. That's all there is to it. Simple enough.

GAMEPLAY- 8/10

As I said before, this game had some interesting options. One option that I really thought was cool was in Madden University. In the Library, you can view little videos sharing John Madden's opinion on all 30 (at the time, 30) NFL teams. He tells of their strengths, weaknesses, and chances of going somewhere in the future. At this time there was no such thing as a Franchise mode, so you played a lot of season. In a regular game, it's pretty fun. It plays similar to the new versions, or any football game for that matter. You move into the pocket, you press a button to bring up the receivers (if this is a passing play) and then select a receiver. In a running play, you hand it off, and go. Another feature in this game is its ability the create a league. You can create your own league, own team, and own player, including fully customizable options.

GRAPHICS- 6/10

By today's standards the graphics are nothing more than fragmented pixels (exaggeration), but in 1997 (actually made in 96) the graphics weren't so bad. 3D football games, weren't very common. The graphics were good at the time, but right now, not so great. It should be worse but this game was made in 97..

SOUND- 8/10

The was good. During a game, all the sounds are noticable. You can hear the roaring crows. Then the hard hits, and the grunting players, breathing heavily. Not bad, not bad at all.

REPLAY VALUE- 7/10

The game play is the biggest category of a game. I believe that the replay value is the second largest category. In this game, you spend a good amount of time creating a league, some teams, and some players. For example, I created my own league with nothing but custom teams. Each custom team had customized rosters, and each roster included atleast one created player. In your league, you can play season games, etc. If you are not into taking the time to do that, then you should just play a season in the regular NFL. That's also fun.

BUY or RENT

I mean, this game is from 1997. I saw Madden 2000 on sale for PC for $10. I ,myself, have never played that game, but I would expect Madden 2000 to have better graphics, and more options. You can't rent PC games.

OVERALL- 8/10

Madden '97 packs in quite a bit of fun. You probably won't like the graphics, which could be the ''down point'' of this game. I enjoyed it, although I don't play it anymore.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/23/03, Updated 01/23/03