Madden NFL 2004

THE BAD:
Sometimes the announcers say the wrong position, or yardage. Freezes occasionally mid-game.

SUMMARY:
If you like any of the EA sports titles, this is the one to have. All of the magazines rat this game in the high 90's which is amazing! Player holdouts make this game so realistic, they have all the same features as last year but a ton more. Smarter AI makes this game a little more realistic. Playing on the highest level is a little crazy. The CPU always intercepts and you can't do anything. The player who likes a challenge will have his hands full. You now have the ability to change players name and features.

Relocation teams that aren't doing well is a blast. The detail that goes into this game make it the best football game yet. I can only see better things in the future for the Madden Series.

There are a couple of glitches in this game but not enough to not buy it, like announcers not knowing whats going on during the play saying wrong names or stats. The replay has gotten better also, but its not perfect.

Online play for Madden 2004 is unreal. Better than the real game. Playing people across the country is the best thing that ever happened. It has the same gameplay and does not freeze or glitch at all.

Overall this game is one of the best ever. Madden has put another winner on the market!

THE BAD:
Still a few bugs in the graphics, such as hands going through people, but it's getting better each year. Also, the screen tends to shake when too many players get into one part of the screen. Then there's the deduction of the All-Madden team in Franchise, and the still inability to retire numbers.

SUMMARY:
All-in-all, this is an EXCELLENT game. The best football simulation out there by far, if you go for realism and strategy. I love it.

THE BAD:
The comentary gets boring, but i dont know if that would really bug u

SUMMARY:
The franchise mode was awsome, You configured prices on eveything from adverticing to food to souvineers, You could fire your staff and other coaches, you can sign free agents and extend deals.
There was also an option for fantasy draft, That was awsome making your own team and making them the best.

Now mini camp was awsome all the drills and game situation winning madden cheat cards and player cardsits pretty nice.

If you are looking at buying this game and the espn one i would go with both, espn has the first person mode but it is not all great, Madden would be a better pick

THE BAD:
commentary gets annoying, much much much harder than last years version

SUMMARY:
This is a great game. I loved it... execept for a few things here and there.

Lets start off with the good:

Playmaker Mode

Theis is the best! You can change a WR's route to get open for a big play, direct a blocker to spring open a huge run, cause the secondary to come up on the run or go deep to defend the Hail Mary, and more! This can really break open a game if you know how to use it right.

Owner Mode

You can set your ticket prices, concession prices, parking prices, heck, you can even throw a Fan Appreciation Day at the stadium if you want to boost your fan attendance! This is great! But beware, if lose money for 3 straight years, you will either have to sell your team and buy another or quit!

Mini Camp

With this, you can improve your players a lot. If you have a draft pick that you want to develop faster, you can use this to bost his stats! It's just like last year's Mini Camp, only if you get a cup, you get points to add to your players attributes. Beware on this, too, because if you try a harder level and fail to get a cup, you can lose all of the points you earned in the previous try!

Now on to the bad:

Commentary

The commentary is the exact same as last year's, and this gets really annoying. Madden sounds bland at times, and too often states the obvious. Sometimes I want to shoot the speakers on my TV.

CPU AI

Now dont get me wrong, the harder CPU AI can be a good thing if people want a challenge, but for people who are new to the game of football and really dont know how to read a defense or cut up into a hole, then you really shouldnt look into playing this game. For me, the first time I played this game I was playing on rookie mode and lost by 2 touchdowns. But, you can always learn from your mistakes and get better. Once you get the hang of it, Madden can get a lot easier.

Conclusion:

EA has made another great game once again. My only REAL complaint is the commentary. Yeah, the AI is tougher, but that makes for a greater game, if you know what to do.

In the end, I give this game a rating of 4.1. The commentary brought it down a bit, but overall, this game is a definite buy. If you're not into football games, then rent it and give it a try. You wont be disappointed.

THE BAD:
Ought Oh, We have LOCK UP!

SUMMARY:
Sorry to announce a lock up. The game will freeze upon hitting "end game" ,if and I'm only speculating at my own situation, a certain amount of points are scored in a season. I had a full team of 99's, the CPU's AI was as low as possible. I was playing 4 minute quarters on all pro. I was recording record numbers in every catorgory, scoring at least 200 points/ game. Got all the way to game 14 (season one). Played the game, hit end game and BOOM LOCK UP. Tried it three times, same result. don't know the exact cause, but there you go. Other than that, the game is another extrodinary effort by EA. The playmaker control, while a bit confusing at first, is a wonderful addition. I just don't know what EA will do for an encore.

THE BAD:
I just find the new accelarated clock annoying if on cause it speeds up play time

SUMMARY:
Hey everyone now Dash the Stampedes in control time to talk about Madden 04. This game introduces new features like playmaker and owner mode.

Playmaker shows your the boss and there the workers by having you tell people who to block, change course in middle of play, or where to block in back.

Owner mode makes you the owner of football teams going through stuff like ticket prices, couching staft to how your stadium looks like and where it is. You can pnly go into Manager Mode in Franchiser. Theres new music, new Madden cards, and new stuff. I say Madden 2004 is best football game out and I can't wait to see Madden 2005. Smell ya later!

THE BAD:
A few mess ups in commentary, but that's it.

SUMMARY:
Not much can be said about the Madden footballl franchise except for "Wow". Madden 2004 comes back this year with all new modes and revamped play.

This year Franchise mode has the all new Owner mode. In it, you can edit prices for tickets, concessions, and merchandise. Also, you can fire and hire almost everyone in your coaching staff(at the end of the season), after some time you can even hire former players to your coaching staff. As well as being able to improve your stadium or even move your team to a new city.

The defense has been upped alot since last year. Now the QB can't stay in the pocket forever. The pancake stats for Offensive Lineman fixed up so it is easier to get pancakes.

New to this year, you now cannot see your opponents formation when choosing a play. You have to go by the numbers they give you of how man WRs, RBs, and TEs they have on the field.

Now during Franchise, in the Offseason you can help up some of your players stats in Mini Camp. It works the same way as the one form last year did except you get points to help some of their stats. If you get a Bronze or higher you can either keep the points you won, or try a more difficult level for more points, but you'll be risking your points in the process.

The commentary is still good as the Al Michaels, John Madden team comes back. At some points the commentary screws up, but it's not very bad.

Madden this year is better than it ever has been. I strongly encourage anyone who loves football to pick this game up. You'll thank yourself later for doing it.

THE BAD:
CPU AI and game speed

SUMMARY:
As far as added features: Owner Mode, Training Camp, Online Play with headset (only for PS2/PC users) and
Playmaker Controls Madden 2004 hits the spot.

You can using your right analog stick to control more things in this game like changing the closest WR's route on the fly or telling your defense to react to the run. This is the added playmaker feature which is cool unless you are playing online with a headset. You might have the occasional pressing of R3 which turns the ehadset off. Didn't EA do any QA testing of online?

Owner mode is really cool allowing you to set prices for tickets, food, parking, mechandise, as well as coach and player salaries. You can change your team's uniforms and even build a new stadium if you want. These features add replayability to the franchise feature that makes Madden 2004's fun last until next year.

The best new feature is training camp in franchise mode. This allows 9 of your players to go through the mini-camp games and earn points that they can add to their attributes. No more counting on progression and rookies can be built up right away without playing time which is a very neat feature. Make sure to practice those mini-camp games though.

Online play is back and with broadband you can talk trash through a USB headset. Initally there are minor problems with online play, like people not getting wins and such. I feel like EA is doing this on purpose so they can charge for online play next year or maybe even later on this year and say it is to fix these "problems". The same thing is happening online for NCAA Football 2004 with disconnects. This is what really brings my score for Madden down!

The defensive AI is better in this year's version of Madden, but expect the CPU's QB to turn into Joe Montana when trailing. I've seen Jon Kitna go 12-12 on a drive before against a good defense. The "EA comeback" is still in the game and is stronger than ever. If you hate it when the CPU seems to complete every pass near the end of the game then be prepared to throw a few controllers this year. I think EA put this feature in to keep the games close, whatever...

You'll notice immediately that the game speed is a lot faster in Madden 2004. In fact the game speed is so fast that you won't have any time on defense to react to anything so you have better called the right play. On offense, don't expect more than a couple seconds if you are a pocket type passer. Oh and don't run with the QB, not this year... Slower game speed actually helps the game because you can react to what is happening.

Overall I had to give Madden 2004 a lower score even though it has so many new features that are great. Here is my report card:

Graphics: B+
Gameplay: A-
Online: B-
Replay Value: A+

Overall: A- (4.1/5.0)