Madden NFL 2004

"Great..NOT perfect"

To start off, everyone knows what Madden is to the sports gaming world so I'm not gonna start off with some boring intro about the series. We all know its the best football game out there(if u dont believe me then check the sales chart). Now onto the scores...

Menu 9/10 - Very good interface. Even a first time player can learn where to find everything.Also, Madden points out everything that has new stuff with it this year with a small New sign next to the option. Not much else to say here.

Gameplay 9/10- This is where madden excels over the competition. The gameplay is different from past Madden games in that it goes much faster. A new and better defensive and offensive A.I. compliment the new gameplay. On Defense the Corners actually block passes instead of just not jumping at all. The defense also re acts better to runs/passes. No players letting the ball sail over their head while just standing there anymore. On offense the A.I. improves the WRs intellegence. For instance, I know most gamers were upset when a WR would try to make a one handed catch on a play where he should've just caught the ball with 2 hands. Not anymore. The WR makes the right decision for most of the plays on how to catch the ball. It also improves how the WRs use a speed burst. One thing i found out in Madden 2003 was that if u bombed the ball downfield your WR wouldnt even dive for a ball. Now they use the speed burst and catch up to the ball if you bomb it downfield.

Now onto the soooo cool Playmaker control. NOT!It barely lives up to the hype it has gotten. The playmaker is only useful on defense in my opinion. On offense you can use it for telling your main WR where to go on the field, or if your rushing you can tell your blockers who to block. The blockers dont even react well enough on rushes. The playmaker on passing plays is somewhat useful. But you will need it for maybe 1 play a game. It is very different on the other side of the ball. On defense you can use it to tell your safetys (if they are in a zone coverage) to cover the right/left side of the field before the ball is snapped. Once the ball is hiked you can use it to make your D chase after the ball if its a run or tell your corners and safetys (if in zone coverage) to play over the top if its a pass. In the end you should only being using your right analog stick on defense.

The new owner mode is pretty good too. It lived up to the hype it got IMO for the most part.

Graphics 9/10 - Another area where Madden excels.The player models look even more real and lifelike. No jacked up players like in NFL Fever. Some of the newer tackles look good but there arent very many new ones. Player's faces also look more like they belong to whose jersey they are wearing.

Control 9/10 - The controls are pretty good. Same as they have been for the past few games.I wish they would've made the controls like NCAA Football 2004 however. Where pressing Triangle makes the passing icons come down instead of throwing the ball away. Pressing L2 and Triangle can be a little too time consuming if your under some heavy pressure. One thing that has also been missing that i think could/should be added in is the option to lateral(sp?). They lateral in the NFL but you can't lateral in a game made by one of the NFLs big name announcers? Sorta messed up IMO.

Sound 8/10 - Decent soundtrack. I turned off 3/4s of the songs however because they simply either sucked or i got tired of them easily. I only ask one thing of EA sports when making 2005. PLEASE FOR GODS SAKE GET RID OF JOHN MADDEN!!!!!!!! If i wanted to take a nap id just put the game on and listen to him give the most boring commentary EVER on a football game. He of course states the obvious all the time and says some of the stupidist things ever said by a color announcer.

Ex:(after losing a challenge)Madden- Well they lost two things here. They lost a challenge and a time out.

Nothing else just that. ZzZzZzZzZzZz! There are barely any new statements by madden. All those old and retarded others are still there for all you madden fan boys.

Al Michaels comes in to save the commentary. He has a lot of new commentary. It seems he spent more time for the game then the man with the name in the title. Michaels' commentary is pretty good. Completely better than Madden. Id like to have the old MNF cast back. At least they were somewhat funny.

Overall Rating and Closing statements 8/10- Overall IMO its still the best football game out there. With some minor faults it gets a 8/10 for my overall rating. Its worth buying because it has a good Replay value.It couldve been better but it could be worse. Worth buying if you're a football fanatic like myself.

P.S.-Sorry for the long length

Small Notes

-One thing missing from the trading area is the ability to trade money. I mean if i got 20 million dollars worth of cap room id like to be able to use it for getting picks/players etc etc.

-The trading block option is good even though they got it off of Sega Sports. Good,not Great.

-Training camp is very useful if you were a master of the Training Camp of 2003. You can use the different drills to gain points which can be used to increase your players attributes.

-The owner mode is very good. So good that it makes you want to simulate the season just to get into all the offseason options like hiring new coaches, upgrading your stadium,getting a sponsor to get money or even moving your team to a different city.

Thx for reading...

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/03