Throwin' picks with Michael Vick...err...Madden NFL 2004
Written: Aug 13 '03 (Updated Aug 23 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Some improved A.I., owner mode, add-ons
Cons: Horrid O-Line A.I., Playing Defense is still a pain, and more..
The Bottom Line: Madden NFL 2004
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| titan45's Full Review: Madden NFL 2004 for PlayStation 2 |
Madden has been the epitome of sports games for years, but maybe it's a good thing after all that Sega's and to an extent Microsoft's football franchises are moving in on what was once John Madden's territory. After becoming lazy for a few years, the Madden football franchise has kicked itself back into gear. With critics touting Madden NFL 2004 as one of the best football games to come along, you'd be conjuring up some great moments in your head. Unfortunately, it's not quite as perfect as the critics make it out to be. So now, the all so often asked question...does Madden 2004 beat it's predecessor? Of course. But it still hasn't reached the level of football perfection it wants because Tiburon still has left some bad seeds in the game. The name of the game in Madden is "counter", because almost every good thing Tiburon does with Madden, there is a counter for it that sort of ruins it.
First the good, though. Madden 2004 features some great new additions into it's gameplay this year. The first of these is the Playmaker option, which is one of those things that people will take for granted in years to come. It's one those "why the heck didn't I think of that?!" thing. The playmaker option basically is an advanced way of calling audibles and much more. The simplest feature is playmaking during the run. Basically, let's say you're tossing wide left, but the whole defense is pretty much stacked there. So, with the playmaker option, you can easily reverse the route without the defense knowing, and turn a potentially bad play into a good one. Of course, it doesn't always work this way.
On the pass, in addition to hot routes, you can direct receivers after the snap. If you find an open area on the field, you can send your closest receiver there, and get a big pass. Still, the counter to this is that your O-line is alot worse at protecting the pass, so you most likely will be running for your dear life instead of cooly directing traffic like the game movies show. In fact, the O-line suffers from some really bad bugs. First off, it's imperative you use the sliders to boost your O-Line, because at the default setting they hold their blocks for about half a second if they're good. Even if the A.I. is at full, there is still a bug concerning the CPU's defensive ends. Basically, if they line up to the outside of the Offensive Guards, they can easily bust through the line with the guard just looking around puzzled, and racking up sack after sack, no matter how fast your QB is. It's annoying to see Michael Vick rack up as many sacks as Mark Brunell in a game that is supposedly "realistic".
On defense, you can also direct traffic. You can tell your D to look for either a run or pass, or even cheat them to the side with the best receiver. While the Playmaker option is much more prominent for the offense, it's a worthy addition to both sides of the field and will be another oft copied feature for years to come.
A bunch of interface and animation changes have been made to the game as well. The play calling screen has been changed to integrate the after the play action. Ever been annoyed at how many times you had to jam the A button when Ray Lewis cheered for taking your HB down 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage (completely disregarding the fact that his Ravens had a record of 5-10 in the game)? Well, now you can just keep calling plays while Lewis or any other player wastes his time cheering. Also, the game has been redesigned to make Play Action passes a beauty to run. In past Maddens, PA calls were usually only going to fool your 80 year old grandma (who still probably beat you at the game), but now they really catch you off guard, sometimes even if you're the one calling it. The camera basically stays on the running back, with the circle under him highlighted so it looks like a run. Then, the camera pans back and boom! The D is off guard and you can throw the ball right by them. PA calls work very well now, but sometimes almost too well. For example, while you will have to actually look for a receiver after the fake, the CPU won't even have to look up to know where the receivers are, and most of the time will gun a nice pass in. I've never a seen a QB that can throw the ball a split second after the fake, yet it happens often in Madden. Draw plays also are nice fakeouts, panning back as if a pass play is being run, and then getting the ball to the HB for some extra yardage. That's on paper, though. In the game, Draw plays and delays are still very tough to run, because basically the defensive A.I. will rarely buy it. Speaking of the running game, Madden 2004 offers very little help for runners on your team. First off, the break tackle stat means absolutely nothing in this game. I played a game with Corey Dillon and Mike Cloud, both who performed roughly the same. Now, keep in mind that Corey Dillon's Break tackle rating is 93, and Mike Cloud's is 66. So how does Corey Dillon go down so easily behind the line? I understand that every run can't be big, but when it takes one half to break around 5 tackles, there's problems. The running game puts it's focus on speed, which means that it doesn't emphasize power running, which is a shame since running backs like Eddie George and Stephen Davis don't fare too well in the game.
Back to animations, a bunch of new tackle animations have been added. More dragging, shoving, pushing, and dirty tackles are here, as well as more helmet popping fun for everyone. Some previous tackles have been redone to make it easier to take down a juke happy running back, which makes those big runs harder to get off. The blocking is also more dynamic now, with weaker players being pancaked by bigger blockers, instead of the other way around.
Another significant new gameplay feature is the new and improved playbooks. These playbooks really define "team specific", as the formations seen in real life are basically in Madden. Also, player specific plays are now introduced, from the beautiful trickery of the Moss PA Fly to a play that just lets Michael Vick take the play into his own hands like he does in the NFL.
Usually the biggest problem plaguing Madden year in and year out is your team's defensive A.I. In past Maddens, the secondary was totally clueless for your team, and defense was one of those "lets just get it over with" parts of the game...at least for the weaker NFL defenses. While EA claims to have changed this, your defensive A,.I. is just as weak, if not weaker than that in Madden 2002 and 2003. First off, 50 yard passes and dashes to the endzone happen WAY too often when you are playing defense, which causes some ridiculously high scoring games. It seems that if the CPU can get the ball over a cornerback and to the outside, the receiver, no matter what speed, has a free path to the endzone. While this may happen once in a real NFL game, this happens on average 5-6 times in Madden. It's just so frustrating to see the CPU turn a small mistake by the CB into a 60 yard pass to the endzone. EA also claimed to add better chances for interceptions. Again, it sounds good on paper, but is annoying in Madden. While simulating a game with a player that had 90 pass accuracy, he threw around 5 picks per game. While playing against the Broncos, Jake Plummer threw 3 interceptions in the first quarter. The problem is that Madden makes linebackers just as good at making picks as defensive backs, which isn't realistic. Linebackers will get a few picks in the NFL, but will have a field day in Madden.
The CPU defensive A.I. is even more annoying this time around. The defense can pretty much stop, swat, or intercept anything throw down the middle or less than ten yards, because there's always some linebacker/safety with the precognition skills of a pyschic waiting to swat the ball, which was also the case with Madden 2002 and 2003. Now, with the interception rate boost, they can exploit even the smallest mistakes, even if you're playing a team like the Arizona Cardinals. Throwing to a tight end, for example. If he is running sideways and is near a linebacker in zone coverage, the linebacker will read the pass perfectly and jump in for the INT. Extremely frustrating.
Also, alot of the games are still duels to the finish, which is very annoying. Very few times will you get a decisive victory, because the A.I. just finds some way to score when it's down. 31-7 or 9-7, it's always down to the last second. Again, there are too many big plays in the game, basically plays that are over 50 yards. They just constitute for too many scores, and are the reason why Madden's games are still high scoring bouts no matter what team you are.
The biggest new tweak to the game is done on the Franchise Mode, which is alot more fun to play now. Now, Franchise mode has the benefit of running with Owner Mode and Training Camp. Training camp incorporates the mini-camp games into an almost RPG style attribute booster for players. Basically, you'll be able to choose from 8 different drills, using only one player for each drill. The drills in Franchise mode aren't position specific, because each drill boosts certain attributes, some that can pertain to more than one position. If you complete the first drill level, you can either take your stat points and use them, or gamble them for even more stat points. The camp drill is a nice little addition to boost some stats up quickly, but it's usually just to make star players better, since the pre-season progression does alot more for backups than training camp does.
Owner Mode gives Madden a little micromanagement edge to it. It isn't quite as amazing as it's put out to be, but it's still fun. Basically, you get to take the role of the team owner. When the season begins, you will get a rundown of your fan support, which will begin to move up or down depending on how well your fans perform. In order to generate the most revenue, you must set food, parking, etc. at reasonable prices while hoping your team will attract enough fans to make you money. You can also change coaching staff the way you want. At the end of the season, all your expenses and income will be tallied, showing if you gained or lost money at the end of the season. Continue to lose money and support over the seasons, and you may to have to resort to some drastic measures to keep the team alive. You can choose to relocate the whole team, from a selection of places that will pay you to move over there. You also need to design a stadium over there, and get the move approved by a panel. If everything goes according to plan, you can start a new life at a new place. If not, you're stuck with even angrier fans. Considering that you actually do generate revenue over the season, you can make fans even happier by building add-ons to the stadium, like arcades, computer bars, etc. While the owner mode is fun, sometimes it just plain doesn't make sense. For example, I had prices very low for Bucs games, a Fan Appreciation Day, and made the playoffs, yet the fan support and attendance shot down drastically. How exactly does that happen?
The rookie scouting system is Madden has changed a bit, as well as the off-season schedule. Rookie scouting now offers a bunch of new notes that are actually position specific, instead of the vague notes in Madden '03. Also, the NFL Draft cuts the music off and replaces it with a lifelike background track featuring fans waiting for your draft picks. If they like who you pick, they'll cheer loudly, but if they don't agree, they'll boo you and the player. I have to admit, I flipped the bird to the computer generated crowd more than once for booing my draft picks.
Another new add-on that will be appreciated by hardcore football fans is the ability to tweak rosters of historic teams. For example, have you been annoyed playing as the All Packers team with just a bunch of guys named by their numbers? Well, now your football knowledge will be rewarded as you can change the numbers and names of historic players to create a realistic historic team.
Madden's Jukebox has been significantly improved from last year's version, but still sacrifices good music for name recognition sometimes. For example, what are bands like Yellowcard and AFI doing on a football game? Some songs complement the game's aggressive nature pretty well, but some seem like awful choices. Still, EA Trax gets the benefit of choosing from some better artists and getting unreleased tracks for the album, which will definitely boosts sales as well. Plus as an added bonus for Xbox users, you can burn your own soundtrack into the game. This music is also used during training camp drills as well. PS2 Owners, though, get online play, which this reviewer is yet to try out. But soon, soon enough.
The commentary is still a weak spot in Madden, mostly because Madden and Al Michaels sound clips sound too broken up to flow. They may have chemistry on Monday Night Football, but it seems like they're announcing from two different booths miles apart during the game. Maybe Madden should take a lesson from Sega Sports for once, at least when it comes to commentary. Madden's lines are once again unbelievably annoying and so obvious it's funny. Lines like "The only thing worse than a turnover is a turnover returned for a touchdown" just make you wonder what the writers were thinking for this game. Al Michaels is also annoying to an extent, because he seems to get excited over the smallest things. He seems ecstatic when a QB throws two touchdown passes, which is a little scary. Still, if you've played a few Maddens, the commentary should be no surprise to you now.
The crowd isn't quite as loud as they were in Madden '03, which is kind of a shame. Usually, you'd hear a deafening roar from the crowd even from the results of an 18 yard field goal, but the crowd seems much more subdued in this game. They still make a difference in the game, but not as much as Madden '03, where sometimes you wished if the home crowd would just shut up. Still, the crowd noise and sound as a whole is very strong in Madden 2004.
Madden 2004's control scheme is pretty much exactly the same as it was in '03, except that now the L button controls the stiff arm, which is alot easier to do than pushing the scrunched in almost invisible black button. The right analog thumbstick is used for playmaker calls, which is pretty easy to use before the snap. During play, though, it takes a bit to get used to directing blockers or receivers on the fly. Still, the right stick is utilized nearly perfectly in the game, and soon enough, you'll be directing the whole team with ease.
The graphics pretty much have the same look as those in Madden 2003, except with a little more polish. The helmets and shadows are a million times better, though, and they look like they've been thoroughly waxed and cleaned, bouncing off beams of light and having a very glossy look to them. Also, facial detail is alot more realistic this time around, and given alot more attention. Player detail in general is excellent in Madden, as players in the game will sport the same helmets, pads, and now tatoos as they do on the field. The field design is also drastically improved right down to the retractable roof (or lack thereof...or whatever). You can really tell what field you're playing on with the great design that makes each stadium unique like in real life.
After playing Madden 2004 for a while now, I've changed my stance on the game a bit. While during the first few days I really enjoyed the game, repeated play has really shown me all the flaws and bugs with the game, and I seriously think that I've grown a few gray hairs because of all the frustrating elements in this game. Personally, the game serves more as an anger management tool than a football game, since half the time I'm cursing it. It seems that Tiburon, trying to make the game the perfect football game, has only ruined what was brittle gameplay in the first place. It's tougher to play offense, tougher to play defense, and easier to play on the special teams. While Madden touts itself as a the most realistic football game, that's only physics wise. Gameplay-wise, Madden seems more like a slower arcade football game. And it's just as frustrating. While critics are sure to tack this game on with 9's and 10's, don't take their word for it, and rent it instead. If you're in the mood for a high scoring offensive shootout game, you'll love Madden. But if your main focus is on gameplay and not physics, then Madden would be better left on the store shelf.
Recommended:
No
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titan45
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