Madden NFL 2004

"This game comes a yard short of being a Touchdown"

You know what, Madden 2004 was the FIRST game I reserved in my life, Why? I don't know, but there is something about madden that makes me excited. I stood in line Two hours just to get my copy of madden 04 and of course I was NOT disappointed.

Graphics 10/10- EA sports never lets us down on graphics now, If you create a player to look a certain way, he will. If you make him to have dreadlocks or a shaved head, you WILL see it and, this goes for every other thing graphics wise.

Sound 9/10- Music wise, I liked it, but I wish their was a little more rock. How madden gets such great songs like blink 182 im feeling this, or ailen ant farms These days is BEYOND me.. these songs are EXCELLENT and in my opinion, just buying the game NOW for these songs would be worth it. Playing wise The only thing I wish EA sports did was make it so that when you create a player, The announcers would at least TRY to announce it instead of saying number 45. This is a minor step, but it would be cool to have madden saying my name.

Controls 10/10- This is where I think NCAA has a disadvantage over madden, If you want a player To juke, he jukes without problem, if you want him to spin ONE way he will spin perfectly. Controls are a MAIN part of video games, and madden nailed it on the nose this time. One new feature is playmaker, that changes the play for you before the snap, or during the PLAY. It works extremely nicely when you know your player is running right into a defensive trap.

Game Play 10/10- Franchise keeps this score up. I received this game the DAY it came out and, I continued playing it until NCAA football came out a few weeks ago. In Owner mode, the options are virtually endless, as you can make your own promotion to attract fans, if you don't meet the fans standards they will get mad at you and refuse to come to your games. This is a huge factor, because the money you earn ACTUALLY goes and HELPS you in the long run. With the money earned from attendance your team can buy a medic, a big screen tv, or even drink holders, like I said the options are ENDLESS.
Another HUGE plus is that owner mode is available in franchise mode, So while you try to build a dynasty with your favorite teams, you can remodel your stadium, MOVE to another State, and hire the best coaches available for your team. Another cool thing in madden 2004 that I noticed was new, is when your players retire from your team their football career is NOT over with, Years later you can have rich gannon as your Offensive coach, or Randy moss coaches Special teams ( even though he defiantly would not be good at it) A coach that played as a kicker would obviously have a better rating as a coach at special teams then he would on offense making some sort of a strategy to make your players better, and your team better along with it.

Aside from franchise mode, Training camp is back again, This time, not only just to improve your skills, it can make your players BETTER in dynasty mode, the better you do on a drill the more points your player has for attributes, the better the attributes the better the player. This is a great way for training and I am glad that EA SPORTS decided to keep this great feature in their football game. Madden cards return again, and even better, you do NOT have to own another sports title ( or at least rent one) to unlock some cards. HOWEVER you WILL have to beat some certain in game tasks to unlock some cards, even though they really are not hard when you master training camp.

Buy/ Rent- Defiantly this is a buy, Madden is a football game, and in football games you expect one thing to be played, football. Madden does much more than this and I am happy that madden will be along for years to come.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/04