Customer Reviews

Madden NFL 2004

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Sega/ESPN vs. EA/Madden, the ultimate debate. Madden's got better graphics, better extras, and better stats. Not to mention you can build your own stadium and even set the price the fans pay for a burger. As a guy who bought his first EA game in 1990, it actually pains me to say it but, ESPN is just the better game. Why? If only EA had spent as much time on the game play as it did at the concession stand. Sega spent their time making a game that has tighter controls, a better running game, and a easier play calling interface then EA's latest installment. Admittedly, it would be nice if you could save mid-game like Madden (a feature that is way overdue) and the first person view is a gimmick, but Sega/ESPN just makes a more playable, enjoyable, and fair game. I say fair because EA's shot at solid IA is the computer picking a run defense if you are going to run and a pass defense if you are going to pass. Despite the down or yardage to go, the computer chooses the right set, in advance, EVERY time. Trust me, if you run on 3rd and 20 out of the shotgun, the computer will play the 4-3. That kind of "cheating" makes Madden VERY frustrating, along with it's nonexistant running game and completely inaccurate kicking system. As far as extras go, ESPN does have fan celebrations including painted fat guys. Sure they are gross but they are also cool and add to the fun of a solid ESPN title. Sorry EA, maybe next year. Bottom line if you want to sell burgers, buy Madden. If you want to play football, choose ESPN.

After playing previous versions of the game on xbox, ps2, & ps1, I decided to purchase the new Madden 2004 and found some improvements on the 2003 version. The most obvious is the Owner Mode which can be fun, but for most gamers I would expect that it is too involved in the "non-game playing" aspects of the game and it takes too much time that you could actually spend playing football. Although I must say, it's a cool addition. The Franchise mode (with owner mode turned off) is very similar to 2003 but again improved as you get more stats to view and the layout of the mgmt & during-game charts look more like your standard football views from TV or the Web. You also get something new with Training Camp in the offseason where you can implement the mini-camp drills with players from your roster to boost their attributes.

The one thing to keep in mind though, the actual gameplay (vs the CPU, or another player) is nearly the same. To some extent scoring & making plays is more difficult, but that is probably to encourage use of the advanced gameplay features like "playmaker control" (which is cool but takes a while to master). Altogether, the game has improved in several small aspects, but remains a natural flowing, realistic footbal game with top-notch graphics & sound. Also, many of the game features like the Madden Cards are identical.

PROS:
- More team management features with Owner Mode.
- More and better organized stat views
- Advanced gameplay features while running, etc.
- Addition of Training Camp
- All things that made 2003 great are still there

CONS:
- Cannot use Owner Mode when you create-a-team
- Too many things unchanged (Madden Cards, Create-a-team logos, Minicamp drills, etc.)
- Misleading game preview item: Playbooks really haven't changed much.

I have always been a big fan of the series and I love the mini camp drills, i think thats a brilliant idea. The ability to set concession prices, hats, etc. is also a clever addition. The graphics are solid, though still need tweaking but I feel as if I am playing Madden 2004 Blitz. I am sick and tired of the computers magical ability to erase any deficit in the 4th quarter. Mind you, I have been playing football games, including Madden, for years.

I have had the Cardinals come back to beat me in the 4th quarter, erasing a 24 point lead. This quarter from hell included, 1. a blocked punt, 2. a punt returned for a td, 3. 2 fumbles by my rb (Ahman green) who was running great until this dreadful quarter. 4. a td return for a td 5. and a game winning 90 yard drive by the cardinals.

Sure this can happen once, twice, whatever. But when I constantly lose 4th quarter leads over and over again, it annoys me. I love games that are hard but this computer assistance borders on the surreal and it is enough for me to spoil an otherwise terrific game.

One last gripe, too much room for the QB to run. This is not NCAA. I think this was done to appease Mike Vick fans and I guess I can understand and live with that.

It's amazing that Madden NFL is in its 14th year of release!! The graphics and gameplay are almost photo-realistic at this point, and you can control EVERYTHING.

First, of course, the graphics. We play this on a 36" TV and even on the big screen the graphics are incredibly sharp. The characters are realistic down to their hair styles and tattoos. The fields each have their own configurations - including the baseball diamonds on some. The lighting, player moves, reflections and more are incredible. You easily get the sense that you're playing a real game and controlling it.

The gameplay builds each year on what came before. So you can create your own team, go through the draft, play it through a season, and get the full satisfaction of getting through the superbowl (if you're good enough). You get to make decisions everywhere from the owner level down through the manager and actual player level.

If you're not into that level of detail, there are of course many ways to just "play". There are training levels to get you learning the basics. There are many training camp features that feature great graphic/gameplay combinations to really help you learn about blocking, throwing and more. Once you understand the game mechanics and keys, you can jump into a wide variety of games under all sorts of conditions to see how well you'd do.

Like any strategy game, this is NOT a game just to pick up and expect to do well in after 5 minutes. If you're looking for an "easy arcade" kind of game, you might do better elsewhere. The strength of this release is with its details. Once you get into the great complexity of really handling a team, you learn real life lessons that help you understand how actual football teams are managed and developed. You can almost consider this game a training system for people who really want to enter the NFL and work there. You learn a great deal about how plays are designed, how managers coordinate the team's efforts and how owners work to make the team the best it can be.

I found the 'background comments' far less annoying than in previous versions of Madden, but on the other hand the choice of music in the background wasn't the best. I'm a big fan of all varieties of music, but what they have playing just isn't enjoyable after the first listen or two. So it might be good to mute that and play your own stereo while you play.

In general I highly recommend this for any football fan. Even if you're not really into "gaming", this becomes an incredibly well done football education tool which will be sure to open your eyes to something new - no matter what your knowledge level.

Let me start this review with some back ground. I have been playing video football games since the playstation one and have been a major Madden fan un until a few years ago. That changed when I bought the Dreamcast and the NFL 2K series was born. Even last year I chose to purchase NFL 2K3 over Madden. This year because of the attration I had with the owner mode and my 100% love for NCAA 2004, I decided to buy Madden 2004. To save you time I won't list all of the additions since you can read that on any gaming web site and on the box. Instead I will tell you what I like, what works and what doesn't.

Whats Great!!
--The owner mode, if you want to make the decisions to own your own team and make all of the decisions then this is worth the price by itself.
--The mini camp mode, which is inside the dynasty mode, which is inside the owner mode.
--The little things, for me I like the little things, when a player gets hurt they clutch the sore area and you see the grimace on his face, the new mode where even during the play calling part you can watch the field or replays. The uniforms getting dirty as the game goes one. The crowd changing its actions depending on the situation, on and on with the little things.
--The new play mode that allows you to change the play at the line of scrimmage this is not the same as an audible or a hot route, you can actually on the fly tell your running back to run left instead of right if you notice a blitzing line backer.
--Just playing the game is superb.

Whats good!!
--The commentary is better then the madden games that I remember, NFL 2K3 was really good. The main flaw is the emotion of Al Michaels, he counts down the yard lines when you make a long run like he is reading war and peace The 20, the 10, touchdown.
--The animation is good, gang tackles, side line views etc.

Whats not so good!!
Luckily for me it is only one thing. I am playing in Pro mode and as I have said I have been a major football fan in every way, I know the rules, the guidelines the formations the plays etc etc. Nothing is more annoying then when you have been making the right calls and doing what is right and then all of a sudden the game decides that it needs to win no matter what. Example, I was beating the Raiders by 10 points with about 4 minutes left in the game. At that point I was sacked twice in a row, my receiver who was wide open dropped the ball and then on my first down I was called for holding. Ok, that will happen, however the Raiders get the ball back, their running back breaks 5 or 6 tackles for a 20 yard run and then the next play their receiver catches a 60 yard touchdown with three guys covering him. Now the on side kick, they go for it and get it. Next play with no time left on the clock the receiver catches a 20 yard pass and breaks 5 or 6 tackles and streaks down the middle to score the winning touchdown. Now that is not cool. NFL 2K never did that. Yes there are always questionable catches and fumbles at opportune times but it is usually fair on both sides, this was completly one sided.

Overall!!
It is a five star game when you consider all that it offers and I would tell you to go out and buy this game if you like the kind of depth that this has. But I will also tell you if I encounter too many more games like the one described above on Sept 2nd I will once again be an ESPN Football owner (Formally NFL 2K) and Madden will be sold on Ebay. If not I will be playing Madden all football season long.

Picked up my early copy from a retailer in New York. For those who were concerned about the 'sameness' of Madden for the past several years will be pleased with the updates including a new 'owner' mode that allows control of the game down to the concession stand charges. Gameplay has also significantly improved with the ability to make changes in plays on the snap, more lifelike stadiums, lighting/shading, and finally, NEW HITS! Most important, graphics have significantly improved for the first time in several years along with player movement. If you've played Madden in the past, I'm sure you'll be pleased with this significant upgrade!

I have to say that madden 2004 is the best football game and i can't wait to get 2005. But the difference between madden 2003 and madden 2004 was very slim. John and Al commentating basically stayed the same and the graphics improvement was minimal. The good things are that it is the most fun game in the world. Also the new playmaker controls and the stadium upgrades. It is an amazing game but similar to the 2003 version....

I think that this has great gameplay, and graphics but I would suggest to EA sports that they need make each maddden year totally different. an example would be when you go to play a game and it shows all the players stretching and getting ready, first it shows the offense and then the defense huddled up jumping up and down together and I think that they did that in the previous madden and also some of the lines that madden or al micheals say are the same as last year. I think this game is great but they when it comes to lines and those warm up scenes that they need to start over and make that totally new every year and not bring the old same stuff back with the new version of madden that comes out

Pretty much everything has been said by all the other reviewers. The game is ok, but not innovative, so it comes down to whether or not you should spend [item price] on it. I say, "No!" based on my experience w/the game as well as all the negatives pointed out in the reviews that have already been done. This review was not helpful, but also not redundant.

Madden NFL 2004 represents a solid upgrade on Madden 2003 and is a worthy addition to any football videogamer's library. Some of the most hyped improvements deliver, some don't really, there are some surprises, and, of course, there are some things that still need work.

2004 does indeed use the same base engine that 2003 did. As a consequence, the gameplay will feel familiar to any Madden veteren. I really, really like the Madden physics engine. It is definitely the best of all the currently available football titles and it is because of the physics that I forgive Madden a lot of its faults.

One of 2004's biggest faults is its graphics. Madden is still the worst looking of the main football games. It isn't even really clear there were any improvements this year in terms of picture sharpness, attention to detail, and lighting and particle effects. One thing that did improve a great deal is the animation. The jerky running is smoothing out a lot and there are a bevy of new tackling, catching, and throwing animations that really go a long way towards improving the feel of the game.

The hyped inovation that really comes through is the Playmaker control. It is difficult to use at first, but it really adds a lot of depth to the game. It is a little unbalanced in the sense that it is a much more powerful tool for the offense than the defense, but it is still just a ton of fun to use.

The much anticipated Owner Mode, to be honest, falls a little flat. You can change the price of the beer at your stadium. Um, yeah, uh, woo. Yes, it is addictive, and yes, you will spend hours over the coming months agonizing over the price of foam fingers at your stadium, but in the end, it just isn't exctitng. What is nice about the Owner Mode is that you can finally hire and fire coaches and coordinators that can (supposedly) affect your team. It is hard to see the effects of a good coach, but I believe they're there and hopefully EA will continue to build on the idea.

There were some really nice surprises in 2004. The biggest by far (and reason enough to buy the game in my mind) is the Accelerated Clock. If you pick a play with more than twenty seconds on the play clock, the Clock (if you turn it on) will run the play clock down (and game clock with it) instantly to twenty seconds. This makes it possible to play games with 15 minute quarters much faster and the CPU will finally have realistic Time of Posession stats. Another great feature is the Substitute Packages option. At the touch of a button at the play call screen, you can spell your half back, swap recievers, move guys into the slot, bring in a jumbo backfield, or any of many others. This can really change the dynamic of a play and really rewards a good understanding of personell and match-ups. There are also a ton of new plays and formations, especially on the defensive side of the ball, that let you give your opponent all kinds of different looks. The two combine to add a lot of depth to an already deep game.

2004's biggest problem though is the one just about all the Madden titles seem to share. It's better than it was last year, but 2004 is a high scoring game if you play it straight out of the box. The Accelerated Clock goes a long way towards helping with this, but you will never play a 6-5 defensive slugfest in Madden unless you spend a long time getting the sliders just right. You can do it. It takes hours of work to figure out just the right set of sliders (and EA makes it harder on us by not using a numerical scale on the sliders so it is harder to share information with other gamers), but you can adjust the game to the point where you will actually see 20-17 scores in games with 15 minute quarters (keep dreaming on the 6-5 or 7-0 scores though). Just be prepared to spend a long time to get it right. Also, I still don't like the way scouting before the draft is handled. It is better this year (it's more position specific information), but I think they should put even more information out to reward hard workers who sift through everything, and counterbalance it by throwing in a few more surprise booms and busts.

Still, in the end, 2004 is a great, great game. If you love football, you'll love this one.