Madden NFL 2000

"John Madden may be old, but his games sure have improved a lot in the past ten years."

In the wake of the current football season, I decided to drag out and play my most up-to-date football game which just so happened to be Madden 2000. The Madden series has always been great at capturing the excitement of the NFL and putting it into a video game, one that both casual football fans and diehard simulation fans can enjoy. Madden 2000 is no exception to that statement.

Madden 2000 strives to be realistic, and for the most part it succeeds. Players are modeled down to their actual size and have accurate attributes - no longer will you see a 300 pound lineman outrun a 190 pound cornerback down the field. The computer AI is much improved over previous versions, showing that the computer isn't as dumb as you may think. For example, the opposing computer-led team will let the clock run out toward the end of the game if they are ahead. However, if they are losing then they will call timeouts and frantically try to stop the clock, just like in real life. Realistic football game = fun.

Madden 2000 features a wide array of new moves to use at the expense of your opponents. New to the game are breakable wrap tackles, gang tackling, diving catches, crafty juke moves, and the improved stiff arm. I found the juke moves to be the best of the bunch, simply because they allow you to dodge the defense with ease. All of the aforementioned moves are very useful during a game of football because without them, it can get difficult to gain any yardage at all.

Also new to Madden 2000 is the 'Madden Challenge', a simple yet very cool idea. The mode allows you to unlock secret codes by answering football trivia questions and by performing certain goals during the game. There are five levels of goals to complete in Madden Challenge. The first level of goals are usually very easy, comprising of tasks such as passing to three players in one game. The final level of goals is incredibly difficult, as they usually involve you having a huge offensive or defensive game. Also, the higher difficulty level that you play a game at, the more points you receive for each task. It is definitely a neat concept that adds a little bit of fun to the game.

There are actually quite a few different game modes in the game - there is the mandatory exhibition mode, a franchise mode, season mode, tournament mode, practice mode, and finally the situation mode. Exhibition mode is of course just a regular game of football, with no added stipulations of saving stats or anything found in the other modes. Franchise mode is the biggest part of the game, which I will go more in-depth on in the next paragraph. Season mode allows you to play a regular season in the NFL, with your team of choice. Tournament mode lets you play an 8 or 16 team single elimination tournament or conduct a fantasy draft. Practice mode is self explanatory, as it lets you practice using a playbook from any of the 31 NFL teams. Finally, situation mode allows you to make your own 'situation' where you start the game at any point with any stipulations you like. This particular mode also lets you play ten of the greatest games in NFL history to see if you can be successful in a tough situation.

Out of all of the game modes, the franchise mode is definitely the best. In it, you play the role of a head coach who also happens to be able to do stuff that normally general managers are allowed to do - stuff like signing players, drafting rookies, and releasing players. The whole idea of the mode is to play through several seasons one after the other, with everything acting taking place just like it does in the NFL. You can get fired for losing too many games and making bad calls, but there is almost always another team looking for a new coach. In the offseason, you get to go through a whole spiel of options, most of which I listed above (signing players, making trades, etc.). The franchise mode is a blast, as it is fun for every type of football fan out there.

There are many ways to customize Madden 2000's various game modes. First of all, you can choose the game's style (arcade or traditional). The arcade style is similar to Blitz and other 'extreme' football games, in which there are less penalties and more turnovers. You can also choose the skill level (rookie to all-madden), quarter length (1 to 15 minutes), tutorial mode on or off, and whether or not to play with modified rosters, all of which can be decided before you play a game. Consequently, you can also choose to make your own plays with the very cool play editor. It's no question that Madden 2000 is a very deep game, with something for everyone to enjoy.

Madden 2000's controls also fare well, as they are simple to learn and are very responsive. The controls vary from each type of way you are playing, whether you are rushing, passing, receiving, or playing on the defense. The passing system is particularly good - you press X first, which will show you all possible receiving targets. Once you have decided on who to throw it to, simply press the button that is hovering over the receiver's head and it will go there instantly. If you throw the ball into heavy traffic, there is a small chance of the receiver catching the ball and there is a pretty decent chance of it being intercepted. Each of the control systems are accurate and easy to understand, which is great.

Visually, the game is average at best. There's no doubt that it is dated compared to newer football games, and as a result the game does not impress with its looks. Animations are shoddy - players will often go right through each other. When players celebrate after a big play, most of the time the player that made the big play and the player on the receiving end of the play both celebrate. It is quite ridiculous to have the 'loser' dancing with joy after getting creamed by the defense. The collision detection is also poor - players will dive right into each other and not fall down, while other times they do fall down. It is inaccurate. And, as always, the crowd looks awful with its jaded and flat 2D 'fans'. Still, despite all of the graphical problems, it is decent for a PS1 game.

Sadly, the audio department is even worse than the visuals. The two man commentary by John Madden and Pat Summerall is the usual enthralling stuff from them, but they never become a nuisance to listen to. The commentary is pretty straight-forward, as even the 'Madden-isms' are tolerable. The music that plays while you are creating a player or browsing through statistics is very annoying. It appears to be decent at first, but if you play the game a lot (and you will) the music begins to worsen as your playing experience advances. This game even has its own Madden rap song, which is played during the video introduction but that is also not very good. As for the sound effects, they are the usual sounds that you will hear in a football game although the crowd shows no enthusiasm whatsoever. The crowd will sometimes chant ''Defense'' or ''Let's Go (insert team name here)'' but they do not seem inspired at all. Definitely not the best sound I have ever heard.

Overall, Madden 2000 is a fun little football game that is held back by its age. At its time, it was simply amazing and was worthy of a nine or maybe even a ten. However, time has not been friendly to this game. Everything is extremely dated and the audio/visuals are subpar at best. Those problems do not hurt the fact that Madden 2000 is downright fun to play. If you can find the game for $10 or less and you don't have a newer football game, then by all means buy it. If you do have a 'newer' football game, don't bother since most of the current football games have everything this one has and more.

Best Feature: Great variety of game modes.
Worst Feature: Dated.

Final Analysis:
Graphics 5/10 - average
Sound 4/10 - good commentary, but bad music
Gameplay 8/10 - many different modes to sink your teeth into
Control 8/10 - responsive and easy to learn
Replay Value 8/10 - I'm still playing it two years later (but I wouldn't be if I had a newer game)
Challenge 8/10 - game can get very hard on the higher difficulty levels
Overall 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/28/01, Updated 10/28/01