Madden NFL 2004

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Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00009B1UJ
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 7.2 x 1 inches ; 4.8 ounces
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: August 12, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #11,609 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

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  Video Games > PC Games > Sports > Football

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

• This is item 13 in The Madden Series.

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

In its 14th season, Madden NFL Football remains the undisputed leader in authentic NFL football simulation. This year, players can make adjustments after the snap and create championship caliber plays with revolutionary Playmaker Control. With new EA SPORTS Talk, online tournaments, and new Owner mode, no other football video game offers more depth. Madden NFL 2004 is the most complete, authentic sports video game ever, making it "The Ultimate Judge" for sports gamers.

Key Features for 2004:

• New Playmaker Control: Make pre-snap adjustments to your receiver routes, direct receiver routes during a scramble, direct blocking down field during a run, or read and react to the offense to deliver a crushing tackle.
• New Owner Mode: Hire your own staff, set your team's ticket prices, build your own stadium, reward key players with signing bonuses and boost player attributes in Mini-Camp drills.
• All-New Game Presentation: Keep your players on the field during the play-calling screen. Watch all the highlights in split-screen replay and revel in new player accuracy details like dreadlocks, tattoo replicas, and four new helmet styles.
• Most Realistic NFL Playbooks Ever: Tons of new trick plays, multiple formation variations, and the deepest NFL playbooks from all 32 officially licensed Coaches Club Head Coaches.
• New Animations and Enhancements: New QB scramble transitions to improve throwing on the run, stumbles, open field blocks, whirlwind defensive reaction moves, sideline wrap tackles, and out of bound pushes.
• More PC Online Play: Take online sports gaming to the next level with online leagues, quick match, online tournaments, quick games, real rosters, buddy lists, career stats, clubs, and message boards.

Product Description

This software is BRAND NEW. Packaging may differ slightly from the stock photo above. Please click on our logo above to see over 15,000 titles in stock.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fixed the glitches - multiplayer play has never been better, September 18, 2003

By A Customer

They finally fixed head-to-head play.

Single player is alright, but the real fun in these games is playing against your friends or legitimate players online. I was a huge fan of some of the earlier Maddens, but anyone who has played a bit against other people knows those games had gameplay glitches. Certain blitzes or passes made you have to design your entire gameplan around them, be it running out of the shotgun all day or having to always double-team a mediocre receiver because he always catches a certain pass.

For the most part, they fixed all that in Madden 2004. The game plays very well, and extremely realistically, with a few flaws that can be worked around. The deep lob is no longer unstoppable, good DBs play the pass very well now, except certain zones (Cover 3 -- DBs don't play it right and you get burnt on this). The "nano-blitz" is gone, so is the unstoppable sweeps from 2002 and the flags from 2003. They also penalize you for trying to do the "drop back 30 yards and chuck it perfect" routine from the earlier games. Madden was always a great game, but when you played people who exploited these flaws, and the internet seems to spawn these losers, it just gets frustrating. That is why I didn't bother with 2003. The removal of these bugs leave us with simply a great multiplayer game.

There are a few new features which people talk about that are really nice after-thoughts. One of the lesser talked about improvements though are to the playbooks. These are REAL plays that NFL teams actually run. I played some college ball and several of these passing plays we ran EXACTLY like that and the reads for the QB are the same.

In my experience, the people who talk about Madden not being realistic and prefer the other games, are the kids who think it would be cool if your running back could throw Hadoukens or LBs shoot be able to shoot lightning bolts. They watch some football and think the way the game works is you give the ball to your RB a lot and he gets 100 yards, then you throw it deep to your WR a couple of times and he gets 100 yards. And if you get into trouble, you go 5 wides and throw a bomb to your RB at slot. Duh. They don't understand how football strategy really works and so Madden is "unrealistic".

The single player has always had a huge problem in that when the computer gets behind, it just cheats to keep it close, as others have pointed out. It's not fun and does detract from the game. Nothing wrong with a comeback now and then, but sometimes it's just as fun to blow a team out and put your subs in. It's also annoying to have your defense's stats ruined for no other reason than your offense played a good game.

That said, playing against real people is where the real fun is at and where Madden excels. My best game purchase of the year so far.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of pluses, and a few minuses, August 25, 2003

By	"fiverbrandyman" (Arlington, VA USA) - See all my reviews

In response to "gamer's" August 8th note about using it for the PC over PS2 -- the solution is simple. Just BUY a game controller for the PC. You need a dual analog controller to be able to use the Playmaker feature on Madden 2004 -- that feature won't work on other PC game controllers.

Anyway, here's my spin on Madden 2004 -- it's a GREAT improvement over Madden 2002, largely because of the added features. The improved franchise mode is the biggest selling point of this Madden version, and what a franchise mode this is! Great for control freaks who want to rule the world and leave no detail unturned. Graphics and gameplay are terrific as usual, but not much improved over already fabulous earlier versions. Here are my observations -- a lot of pluses, and some minuses (fyi, I've never played Madden 2003):

1. Graphics -- both front-end and gameplay -- work very well on my 64MB video RAM, 2.2MHz, and 512MB RAM computer. But having stadium detail at "highest" setting slowed things down, so I recommend to all that you only use "medium". (The only difference is the cheering, jumping crowds are eliminated, which is good because I found them very distracting.)

2. Gameplay graphics are marginally improved over the already fabulous 2002 (and I assume 2003) versions, so you can't go wrong here. A little more realism is introduced to players' movements. For example, when a defender intercepts a ball, his post-interception reaction time usually slows down as he assesses the new situation. Be careful of that jarring hit from the rather ticked-off wide receiver.

2. The accelerated clock option sped things up quite a bit in gameplay. Clock runs down quickly between plays. A big plus.

3. Playmaker feature is very neat, but takes some practice to get used to, especially on defense. As mentioned above, you need a dual analog game controller to use this feature.

4. Franchise mode went VERY DEEP in this Madden version, which is great news for those who want a very realistic NFL simulation. Training camp, preseason (yes, those useless games), overhauled NFL draft system, time-sensitive free agent period, stadium upgrades, finances, relocations, even the entire coaching staff, etc., etc. are at your beck and call. It does make for a very, very long game experience, but if you like it that way, it's for you.

Training camp is composed of several drills where you can improve the ratings of a specific player. As for the draft, you actually get to research specific prospects via scouting combine and/or individual workout, and even then it's still a [blindshot] when you draft that coveted college star because the actual ratings are hidden until you ACTUALLY sign that pick. All you can go on are scouting reports and just a few physical attributes. I drafted a really top-rated college star punter in the high 5th round, only to find out during training camp that he was a bust. I had to cut him before the start of the season and sign a free agent. There's a lot less predictability in the Madden draft, and that's as close as you can get to the real thing (think Ryan Leaf). I'd have liked college stats and especially the influence of specific colleges on player development (e.g. NCAA Div I, II, III, etc.), but that's asking for a little too much, I think.

You also now have control over the income and expenses of a team -- set ticket prices, concession prices, hire and fire coaches (and their staffs, too), upgrade or build stadiums, etc. The coaches and their staffs even come with their own ratings that have an impact on players' ratings & performances. It's fun to give Steve Spurrier the boot if he doesn't send my Redskins to the playoffs this year.

5. As for signings: signing bonuses are now part of the calculation. Use that wisely, because they hit your cap seriously if players are cut before contracts are up.

6. You can download stat reports to Excel. Great, easy way to evaluate the talent on your team, especially as they progress from year to year. Madden also downloads complete franchise reports -- rosters, stats, contracts, the shebang -- to text files.

My gripes and suggestions for improvement:
1. GET A BETTER MANUAL!!!
2. Building a new stadium to replace your stinky and muddy football field is neat, but building tools are limited. More creativity in stadium design is needed. I don't want to build some generic Three Rivers Stadium knockoff (sorry, Steeler fans).
3. Every time you play a game in franchise mode, your controller configuration annoyingly reverts to default unless you select your profile at the start of EVERY game.
4. NFL draft information is not saved. Would be neat to see how the top picks fared over the course of several seasons.
5. Draft, trade, and even Pro Bowl/award history are not part of a player's stats in future seasons. Who would know the cheap free agent I signed was a MVP three seasons ago?
6. Madden only shows your team's cap room for the current season, and doesn't show you what the cap room would be like in future seasons. It's hard to evaluate the impact of accelerating contracts, which seriously hit the cap in later years.
7. The year-by-year salary and bonus contract structure is dictated completely by the computer. You can only propose total contract value and total signing bonus, which really hampers your flexibility in negotiations.
8. No comments offered on sounds and music. I always turn the sound off when playing the game, so I can't provide any critique here. :-)

4 out of 5 stars. If you care only for playing the football game itself, it may not be for you since you may already get a kick out of 2003's version. If you want the much-improved franchise mode, and the additional bells and whistles, get this game.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best Madden Yet, August 27, 2003

By	Blaine T. Jones "seismo" (Dahlonega, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've bought and played nearly every version of Madden since 98. While it took madden a while to get up to a *good* game, I always felt it hit it's peak with the 2000 version and the subsequent releases just added style over substance. No more! in Madden 2004, while the graphics are truly stunning, gameplay has improved greatly as well. The computer opponents are challenging, sometimes it seems a bit too much.
There are a few annoyances to the game. For example, in the normal camera angle if the offense punts to you, you can't see the covering team coming for you as you catch the punt. If you don't call for a fair catch, there's a 90% chance you'll get hit and fumble the ball. For that reason, I call for a fair catch on nearly every punt return.
Another annoying feature is the number of sacks that the computer's defense can get on you. There are times when you might have half a second to get rid of the ball from the snap before you're driven into the turf. This is something you can live with but it's frustrating when the computer has the ability to get rid of the ball much faster (if you want to fire a bullet, you have to keep the button pressed down for about a second anway - by that time you're dead meat if the pass rush is blitzing).
And of course, there's Al and John's commentary. My #1 complaint about this game has been the same for years - Al and John repeat the same thing over and over. If you play 16 games, you're likely to hear the same quotes 16 times...sometimes even within the same game. That seems to have improved a bit in this version but it's still there.
On the positive side the game is challenging, seems fairly realistic. and most importantly, is a lot of fun. Unlike previous versions, an effective running game is a necessity to consistently win at Madden 2004. Clock Management is key to the game as the computer's 2-minute drill [is tough].

There are a multitude of other features besides pure gameplay. Too numerous to mention and that I haven't had a chance to dive into just yet.

All in all, this is the best Madden yet, and probably the best PC football game ever.