Madden NFL 2003

"Old Madden vs. New Madden,is there a diffrence?"

Madden 2003 is slated against what's considered to be the greatest football sim. ever,that being in Madden'02. How does it stack up?

I'll start with the replay value of the game since this is the heart of the game. You start the game with a very user friendly main menu. From here you can go to any mode you want,some of them are: exhibition,season,franchise,create playbook,tournament,and an all new mini camp mode. A lot? Yes.

Franchise is basically the same as it's been,but with a few extra's. You now have the option of scouting college players before you draft them,and the preseason mode gives your back ups and newly acquired rookies a chance to shine and get a lot more play time. One more thing about franchise mode(which is my favorite)is the fact that you can play your franchise in ANY mode of the game. Yes,you can now battle your's against your friends.

Next,I'll touch on the create a play book mode. This is a wonderful addition. You can now custom everything,from what formations you want to creating your own formations from scratch. The only limitation to your imagination is if,the formation you just made is a legal formation. Which is not bad because you can't make plays that are totally ridiculous.

Finally the mini camp mode. It's basically a mini game where you and Madden go from team to team completing objectives to earn point and Madden cards. It provides many extra hours of replay to your Madden experience.

Replay value score: 10

Next,how does it play? Very quick! The cuts,jukes,and general speed of the game is much faster than any Madden to date. Even on defense,there are gang tackles and just a quickness to the linebackers and even linemen.

Gameplay score: 10

The graphics.The graphics. Here is the down fall of Madden. It's seems to be the same engine it ran off last year. So they aren't overly improved,but are some what. While playing you'll notice they are more thinned down and not so blocky. Faces look a bit more real and the crowd looks very good. The players seem to not blend into the back ground,you can tell they were(what looks like)cut and pasted to the background. You can see they didn't add that final polish that would have made them a lot better.

Graphics score: 7

And finally the sound. With the addition of Al Micheals,it's a nice change to the old,dry commentary of Pat Summeral. The play by play is a lot better than it's ever been,but compared to some other next gen football games I've played,it's pretty weak. So yes it's better,but could be improved on. As far as the music in Madden this year is a change,in that they stayed away from all hip-hop and mixed in some rock and pop. You'll definitely recognize some top 40 hits and a couple new tunes from EA. It's a nice change,I'm sure it won't disappoint some.

Sound score: 8

Overall,Madden is the same old hard core football sim,but with a lot of extras and advances. Any veteran Madden head will love it,while anybody new to the series will find it easy to use. Because while providing a deep interface for the football sim. it still can provide you with some easy to play,arcade action.

Overall Madden score: 8

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/15/02, Updated 08/15/02