Football in gaming is a funny thing. In fact this is actually the first time I've written a football game review. Now don't get me wrong, I'm no n00b when it comes to playing sports games; but I'm also not a purist who gets bent out of shape when comparing each season to the next.
With that said it has to be tough for sport giant Electronic Arts to keep things fresh for people to buy their games year after year. Heck, this is the 14th "season" that Madden has been pumping out the pigskin. To be truly honest, I haven't been following the series to a tee, so I won't be comparing it to previous years or with the other 2004 models. So what you will be getting is an eye-full's worth of thoughts and feelings on this game alone. I also won't mention that it's been since the Genesis days since I've played Madden. I also won't mention that the Sega Sports 2K line-up has been my football game of choice since the Dreamcast.
/me clears throat
Before talking about all of the bells and whistles that Madden brings to the table, all of that can be thrown out the window if you don't take into consideration the physics and gameplay. Luckily (for the most part) 2004 doesn't disappoint in the control and gameplay category. Early on in the play, however, I did notice that the learning curve was much greater than I anticipated. So, before you email me and leave nasty comments about how I "suck" at the game: hear me out. Even after my 20+ hours of gameplay, I still am not totally happy with the player control. I expect a much quicker response from my player than what it gives. Now I know what most are going to say: "In real life people can't be going full speed and turn on a dime." True, indeed. But this isn't real life and I want them to. So, once I got over that the physics were a bit "too" real for me, I was able to enjoy the simulation even more. Going from the 2K series of football to Madden is quite the jump. Sega Sports generally have a more arcade type feel to them, yet EA tends to rely on simulation. This isn't necessarily a bad or good thing, but something that should be noted prior to purchasing a football game.
Again, I hate classifying myself as a fairly casual football gamer, but I was a bit overwhelmed at first after booting up Madden 2004. There were literally scores of menus that were in front of me. Without hesitation I jumped right into "play now" (a la exhibition) and played a few quick games. I quickly learned that the computer opponent was either mind-numbingly brilliant or I just needed some practice. Practice I did, and this is the first thing that truly impressed me. There are dozens of tutorial-like options within the game, as well as extensive trainings. EA goes as far as showing you live video...of the game... for a tutorial. Amazing. For you Madden veterans there is also a nice section of "what's new", which was obviously a great idea. And the best part about the tutorials is that Al Michaels himself is giving you the skinny. Great stuff.
But as far as the learning goes, I was most impressed with actually starting my season. I'm not exactly sure if this was a new feature, but I loved it... What I'm talking about is the actual created season and starting off with training camp. How cool is that? Go to training camp, learn the ropes and then play a few pre-season games to get ready for the regular season. Needless to say that by the start of the regular season, I was well prepared and it really got me in the "football" mood.
Once knee deep into my regular season, I started to learn new things that I should have done earlier in the game prior to starting my season. Again, it just follows the rule of RTFM. If i would have taken the time to read the manual, I would have found a lot of cool features that would have made my first season even more enjoyable. Things like creating your own player, drafting and trading would have been the pumpkin pie on my proverbial Thanksgiving dinner. Without hesitation, the second time around was much more fun.
Now is it just me, or can some developers try too hard? It seems as though EA was a wee bit too detail oriented. Play calling (although highly functional) was so deep that it initially took a good extent of the fun out of actually playing. Luckily there is a nice little feature that says "ask Madden" and brings up three plays and one highlighted (that being John's first pick of play). Honestly, for the first six or seven hours of game time, I used this until I became familiar with the play tree as well as the gameplay.
Where would any sports game be without solid AI? I'm still not convinced that this is the best AI out there and far too often found it consistently frustrating. There needed to be a bit more balance in every game you play. My first season (with the default settings) was literally laughable. My baseline Baltimore Ravens easily won the Super Bowl and never lost a game. Not only did they go undefeated, they completed the entire season giving up only 24 points (no, really!). The next time around, I pumped up the difficulty a notch which made the game much more competitive. Games were much more balanced, but the frustration didn't come because it was too hard, but because the AI cheats. Oh yea. They cheat. I don't mind the computer cheating when it's a blowout, but when it's a tight game; don't be throwing this crap at me. Example. I'm up by ten points and trying to run the clock down. I'm forced to punt with 20 seconds left. Guess what? They returned the punt back for a TD, and there was NO way I could prevent it. So, I'm up by three now. I don't even have to tell you what happened next... They did an onside kick, recovered it and the next play threw a touchdown pass to win the game. Sure this stuff happens in real life, right? Right. But does it happen three times to the same team in the same season? Nah. I had two other instances where I lost in very similar ways. While I don't mind losing to a computer, I do want it to be realistic. If I'm playing as the Cowboys and get my butt kicked by the Falcons; I understand that... This is where most sport games truly lose value. C'mon EA, give us a break. And what's with all of the "critical fumbles" right before I'm about to go one up on ya? Cripes.
Oh well, what can you do eh? Even with shady AI, the game is still a blast to play. Depending on your viewpoint, Madden also allows you to... "unlock" cheats and other extras. This can be done by doing a variety of things. This can be anything from sacking the quarterback twice, to breaking a 30 yard run. Each time you do these things you earn "Madden Points". Once you earn so many, you unlock things... most notably, cheats. You get a card that can be played giving you a wide range of abilities. From increasing your completion rate, to decreasing your opponent’s kicking range. I never used these cards, and found it just a bit too girly for my tastes. Don't get me wrong, I like the whole Madden Card process; but let it unlock nude still shots of Melissa Stark or something...
For you Madden-a-holics, you are truly going to be in heaven. As mentioned, there are so many options and extras that it will take you until 2005 to get to everything. The most notable is the "Owner Mode" which allows you to take control of everything from the merchandise to the salaries. This was a great addition to the series, and football junkies should be foaming at the bit to try their hand at ownership. Well done EA, and a great idea. Another great idea from the minds of EA, is the new "Playmaker" feature. Honestly, a bunch of EA-gurus must have been sitting around their office thinking of "what can we do next" when they came up with this; for it's a brilliant idea. Basically, the playmaker feature uses your right analog stick to change and modify your previously assigned call. For instance: you see that defense has overloaded the right side and want to flip the call. Similar to an audible, this allows you to change the direction of this play without changing it all-together like an audible. Really a nice personal touch that puts you in full control of the play.
These are just a few of the options you have, rather than your basic game play modules and should really satisfy your sports tooth for a very long time.
As far as visuals go, I felt that they were acceptable and didn't expect more or less from what EA presented. The players are well detailed (tattoos and all), and even the create-a-player let you configure everything down to what size shoe you wear. Animations were stunning and flawless, (not to mention the perfect physics) which accompanied the gameplay and graphics perfectly. Instant replays are also finally enjoyable without having to sacrifice continuity. This little "feature" really sold me on the game. Right after a play and while you are calling your next play, you can see the previous play in all of its replay glory being shown right above your playbook. This keeps the game flowing nice.
After briefly comparing the PS2 and Gamecube versions of Madden, I noticed little (if any) differences in the visuals. However, I was a bit disappointed in some of the bugs that existed in the title. At least once a game I noticed a flicker... It didn't hinder any gameplay, but it was noticeable.
Backgrounds were just as impressive as the animation, and the dynamic effects really made the game realistic. For example: when playing on natural turf, by the end of the game the field was tattered and depending on the weather, changed accordingly.
Audio is another category that has to be difficult for any developer to successfully reproduce. As with any sports game, you can only have so many hours worth of audio and at times it really does become repetitive. Regardless of the extent of the variety, I was impressed with the over-fullness of the commentary. Al Michaels and John Madden do an outstanding job in announcing the play-by-play, and was even more impressed with the "statistics" and that they actually "remembered" things in the previous game. Let's say that you were shut out the last set of downs, Al Michaels will rub some salt in the wound. So in that aspect I was pleased. The commentary felt authentic, but after hours and hours of gameplay you are bound to hear the same things; so I wasn't unrealistic in my expectations. One thing that did disappoint was the fluidity of the specific names in conjunction with the commentary. So if you were playing as the Jets and Al Michaels was talking about the Jets (or a specific player) it just sounded un-natural... almost like Captain Kirk. Other than that, the ambient sound and the crowd were perfect. All of the grunts and cheers were dead on the money.
My last real complaint was bi-fold and pertained to the referees and halftime cheerleaders. The referees looked horrible, not to mention that whatever they were saying was so quiet that I had no clue what the heck they were talking about. I expected to hear a few clicks and a booming voice describe the penalty or the action on the field. Although I appreciate the cool-as-hell instant replay and challenging the plays, I was disappointed that EA couldn't refine this any better. The same goes for the half-time cheerleaders. They are horrible. They remind you of a bad wax model of girls with huge boobs. They looked like they were indeed once beautiful, but got a bit too close to the fire and are all melted. Yuck. Not to mention that they are all carbon copies of each other (minus either black or white). I'm not expecting EA to put as much detail in the cheerleaders and referees, but they should have been a little more aware of the end result; thus making it feel incomplete.
No matter how you summarize John Madden 2004, you can't help but recommend it. I think if you have loved the series before, you'll love this one even more. With all of the additional features, even if some are gimmicky, the disk is jam packed with tons of stuff to do. The replay value is off the charts, and the multiplayer is a total blast. Renting is out of the question, unless you are already a Madden veteran of 2003. Chances are, however, if you want the additional features of 2004 along with all of the updated stats; then this is a must have.
The bottom line here folks, is that Madden has once again set the bar high for its competitors and has flexed its digital muscles. It's gonna be tough for the other three or four football franchises to match Madden on just about any level. Keep it up EA, for Madden is your bread-n-butter.
