Madden NFL 2001

"John Madden may annoy a lot of people, but his football games are the best ever!"

::Scenario:: I spent 12 hours in a line for the Playstation 2. I was first in line by about 5 minutes. I get my ticket with the number ''001'' printed on it, and as I run into Best Buy, I make sure to grab one of the copies of Madden NFL 2001. By far, this was the game I was the most excited about! When I get home, I popped it into my brand new PS2 to see if it was worth the money, and the time...

STORY
The Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears run onto the field on a cold November Sunday night. It's snowing and freezing cold, and still, thousands of fans fill the seats, ready to witness a war between two midwest rivals. As the team captains go over to call the tip, the tension becomes so thick, you could cut it with a knife. The Green Bay Packers win the tip and choose to receive. As the Chicago Bears start the kickoff, the crowd stares as the ball goes into the hands of a waiting player of the Green Bay Packers. He's running it to the 20, the 30, the 40, the 50... The crowd gets up on their feet as they watch the Green Bay Packers get closer to the endzone!... to the 40, the 30, the 20, the 10, TOUCHDOWN!!!!! The crowd goes wild after the quick Green Bay TD!

This is NFL excitement, and this is what Madden is all about!

GRAPHICS - 10
The best graphics in the history of sports video games! Incredible detail to every player and stadium. Anyone that has ever played the game will appreciate the amazing graphics as well as the fluid animations of the players. The competitor, NFL Gameday 2001, doesn't stand a chance against these graphics.

SOUND - 8
The sound is excellent, and the soundtrack is perfect for this game. The main reason why sound didn't get a 10 was John Madden himself. His corny remarks come in at odd times, and the commentators could have thought of some more clever statements. Although many people are annoyed by Madden, the game just wouldn't be the same without him. It has become an EA Sports tradition to have his corny remarks, and I think it's one of the most faithful traditions that EA has kept throughout it's football series, so why stop it now? I say keep Madden.. just give him a few different remarks, because the ones he has now can become repetitive.

GAMEPLAY - 10
The gameplay is everything you would expect from a Madden game. It is simple to learn, but challenging to master. This is why many football fans love the madden series. The controls are basically the same as in previous efforts, and why not? Don't fix something that isn't broken! The gameplay for the Madden series has been perfect and it has remained that way for quite some time.

ENTERTAINMENT - 10
This game has a wonderful one player mode, and there are a lot of things that you can unlock by accomplishing certain objectives, but in my opinion, the true entertainment comes in the multi-player aspect. There is nothing like winning against a friend in OT! There is a lot of fun to be had here, and it is one of the most entertaining PS2 titles to date.

REPLAY VALUE - 10
If there ever was a game with high replay value, this would be it! The multi-player mode never gets old, and as for the single player modes, it will take you plenty of time to complete all of the objectives and unlock all of the secrets. The replay value in this game is probably the best of any game on the PS2, or any system for that matter! If you like games with replay value, look no further!

OVERALL - 10
As far as flaws go, there aren't many. EA Sports managed to create a terrific football game that not only has amazing graphics, but it is also extremely fun to play! If you like sports games, and you have a PS2, it would be wise to get this game!

RENT OR BUY? - BUY
If you are picky when it comes to sports games, you could rent it, but if you are a sports game fan, the rental isn't even worth it because you would have to buy it if you wanted to start digging into all of the Madden challenges that await you! I know a lot of people that purchased this game, and I haven't seen anyone that was disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/13/01, Updated 04/13/01