All over the
country, football fans are awaking from their hibernation and getting ready to
feast on a steady diet of chicken wings, cheap beer, and Sunday football. Of
course the onset of the NFL football season also means the return of the best
sports game franchise on the market, EA Sports’ Madden Football. The undisputed
champ of video football returns every year with a game worthy of purchasing,
even for owners of the previous versions, and this year’s edition offers the
best improvements in years.
Returning this
year are all the modes that made 2003 a fantastic game. Mini-camp, tournament,
two-minute drill, practice, and situation all return with little change, but
every Madden veteran knows that Franchise mode is what makes Madden the best
sports game available.
The incredibly
deep franchise mode takes gamers through the rigors of consecutive seasons on
their quest for the Super Bowl. As coaches trudge through the season, they’ll
have to deal with free agents, retirements, drafts, and injuries. New to 2004
is the much-hyped Owner mode. As an owner of an NFL franchise, gamers will be
able to adjust prices on just about everything, from ticket prices and parking
to hamburgers and hats in order to generate more revenue or increase fan
attendance. Owners will also be in charge of hiring a coaching staff, gathering
corporate sponsors, and even relocating the team or rebuilding the stadium. The
new Franchise mode also features a mini-camp session before the preseason. In
this session, coaches can turn young players into football studs by successfully
completing the mini-camp sessions. The better their performance, the more
statistical points coaches will have to improve that player. Players then have
the option to gamble those points by repeating the mini-camp drill at a higher
difficulty level. All eight mini-camp options are available plus a
franchise-only wide receiver drill. Gamers can only choose one player per
drill, so choose wisely.
Much of the actual
gameplay has changed very little. Passing and running are identical to 2003,
with the exception of stiff-arming moving to the L trigger and juking solely on
the R trigger and direction controlled with the left thumbstick.
New this season is
Playmaker control, which really comes in handy when playing against a friend.
Playmaker control allows players to alter plays on the fly without messy
audibles. For example, imagine you’re running a sweep right, but the defense
stacks its linebackers on the right. In 2003, the offense would have to call an
audible and press the black button to change the direction. Problem is, a big
‘audible’ flashes on the screen, and your tight end moves to the exact opposite
side, which is a dead giveaway of what was just called. With Playmaker control,
only the direction of the run is changed and it’s all with a flip of the right
thumbstick. After the snap, Playmaker can then guide the nearest blockers in
the direction of more favorable blocking, but it isn’t easy to pull off. On the
passing side, the routes of primary receivers can be changed to a wheel route (a
fly route), a quick out left or right, or a short curl. After the snap, QBs can
direct the receiver to exploit holes in the defense, but again, this is hard to
execute. On defense before the snap, Playmaker control can make the secondary
cheat to one side to give extra coverage to an A-list receiver such as Terrell
Owens. After the snap, Playmaker control can make the defense commit to either
the run or stay back for the pass. While Playmaker control is almost as hyped
as that Britney/Madonna/Christina publicity stunt, it’s not the best new feature
of the game.
Much of the time
spent on 2004 by the developers aimed to fix minor kinks and make the game more
user-friendly than 2003, and this is where 2004 shows its strengths. The
greatest addition to the game comes with Playaction pass plays. In 2003,
calling a playaction would almost certainly result in a sack. But just as in
NCAA Football 2004, the new playaction plays actually fake out the defense, both
CPU and human controlled. When the QB fakes the hand off to the running back,
the cursor actually highlights the running back for a split second as if he had
the ball. The cursor then returns to the QB, but by then it’s usually too late
and the defense has taken the bait. Another great addition to the game that
goes unsung is the ability to easily call different packages of players. Say
you’re third and goal on the two-yard line and you’re using the Raiders. With
one shot to get in for six, you will probably want to run it in with a big
bruiser of a running back rather than quick and agile Charlie Garner. On the
play-calling screen, simply press the B button to cycle through your lineups and
bring in Tyrone Wheatley to sub for Garner. It’s a heck of a lot easier than
going through the menus and subbing in and out. There are also new defensive
sets for each defensive formation. To add more pressure to the offense, simply
select a new formation within a defensive set just as you would add a third or
fourth receiver to an offensive set.
If last year’s AI
was smart, 2004’s is straight up MENSA. The computer does an excellent job of
mimicking a human player. The CPU is very adept at adjusting its defense to
player-called audibles, and much of the chess match of Madden 2004 is done at
the line before the snap, just as in the NFL. The CPU can also now finally play
punts well. Their special teams unit will down the ball on the 2 yard line
instead of just watching it roll into the endzone.
Other game tweaks
include a new playcalling screen that shows the replay of the previous play in
the middle of the screen instead of stopping the action to show a full-screen
replay. This speeds up the game tremendously and knocks game time down to about
half an hour per game. Defense has also been juiced up; meaning QBs can’t
simply throw to their number one receiver in double coverage and have a decent
chance of completing the pass (something my friends exploited all the time).
The range on the swat ball has been increased, and DBs make some extraordinary
plays in the backfield, keeping offense down and realism up.
Tiburon Studios
always does an excellent job of adding to the graphics with each successive
title. This year’s title makes the same jump as 2003 did from 2002. There’s
less phantom sliding, more realistic physics and character reactions (players
look at the ball now), and gorgeous character animations (QBs drop back after
the snap, players get shoved off-balance). The close-ups of referees still
leave a lot to be desired, but that’s nit-picking.
There have been
some minor additions to the sound of Madden. Most noticeably is the pre-snap
chatter between the teams. Cries of “Hit him in the grill!” or other threats
are common, and really drive intensity. John Madden, Al Michaels, and Melissa
Stark return as the broadcast team, but aside from the coach intros, there
doesn’t seem to be too much added. That been said, it still has the best
commentary of any sports video game out there. The soundtrack this year
features Outkast, The Roots, Blink 182, and Alien Ant Farm among others. New to
the Xbox version of Madden is the ability to customize the 25-song soundtrack of
the game (finally!).
Madden has clearly
done it again. The ads may push Playmaker control and the Owner mode, but the
real gems here are the tighter gameplay, user-friendly controls, and quicker
game time. Madden 2004 is the most complete football game out there.
Gameplay: 9.7
This is the
highest rating I’ve given to gameplay in a game, and it’s well deserved. Madden
2003 earned a stellar 9.5, but the tweaks to 2004 make this title the champ.
Graphics: 9.0
The new changes
aren’t great, but they will be noticed by Madden fanatics. Everything in the
game looks sharper and smoother than Madden 2003. Little details like uniforms
progressively getting dirtier on the big playmakers and injury specific
animations show that the guys from Tiburon Studios really know their stuff.
Sound: 8.5
Aside from the
custom soundtrack and a few new lines of commentary, the sound barely outshines
last year’s game. EA still needs to get crowd reactions right.
Difficulty: Medium
Veterans of Madden
2002 and 2003 will slip into 2004 without a hitch, but newbies might find the
controls a little daunting at first. It helps to have a great football brain,
as this game is very realistic.
Concept: 9.0
The addition of
Owner mode is great move for the game, and minor changes to the game really
submerge gamers into the world of football.
Multiplayer: 9.5
Madden is still
the one of the best games for bragging rights among buddies. This year’s
edition allows multiple users to compete in the same Franchise mode.
Overall: 9.3
Madden 2004 is
better than 2003 and 2002 when they came out. If there was anytime to purchase
Madden for the first time, it’s now as this is by far the best of the bunch.
The Xbox version would have received a higher score if it allowed on-line play,
but as of now that’s solely reserved for the PS2 version.
