Madden NFL 2004

Added February 13th, 2005 by echohype

Introduction:

Every true gamer knows the word Madden, and knows that tied with that word is an amazing football game which steps up every year. Madden 2004 does not let down gamers at all, Madden 04' is the best game in the long running series to date, and will provide you with many a many hours of quality football fun!

Gameplay:

Making its debut this year is the brand new Owner Mode, which ties in with the already successful Franchise Mode. In owner mode you are thrown into the duties of a full-time GM of your football team and have to make critical franchise decisions. Want to raise parking tickets to gain some extra profit? Or how about lowering the price of the beer and letting your fans get drunk? You can do it all, from parking tickets to food prices, merchandise, and even advertising! Don't forget your fans though! Support the fans by throwing a fan appreciation day and giving out free items to them. All in all, Madden's Franchise Mode takes a bigger lead over competitors franchise mode's by the addition of the new Owner Mode.

So after your set all your prices, hop into the GM box, and make personnel moves, what's next? Why not follow the NFL way and use Madden's Franchise mini-camp mode! The mini-camp mode from last year's game has been carried over to give a more realistic effect to the Franchise Mode. During mini-camp you will compete in several drills and attempt to earn skills points, which then go towards your player's stats. But wait, after you complete level one of each drill, you have a chance to re-try that drill on a harder difficulty and earn more points! This mini-camp addition to the franchise seems to give off a RPG feel, and is lots of fun!

After completing your mini-camp it's onto the preseason, which is a schedule of 4 games before the actual season which allows your players to raise stats, and for the backups to increase their stats and playing time as well. Use caution during preseason though, injuries can occur and you do not want to lose your star QB in the preseason, so limit your star players' playing time! Once you complete the preseason schedule (you can sim it or play it) it's onto the regular season, and the options of your Owner Mode become available. New things this year include a trading block which allows you to look at what teams are trading and what they are looking for, or you can place some offers on the table and see what other CPU controller teams offer! Following your regular season/playoffs you then have the ability to make stadium decisions (move/rename/rebuild/build new/etc), hire, fire, promote a new coach, and many more things.

Aside from the impressive Owner/Franchise modes, there are many options for any type of football gamer. Tournament, Mini-Camp, Practice, and Situation modes all make their return in 2004, and Football 101 is a tutorial mode which John Madden will guide the newbies in. Create-a-Playbook and Create-a-Team options both make a popular return and are even more in-depth this year, which tons of options to create your ultimate play, or a much more advanced interface and system for creating plays/playbooks.

This year EA Sports has decided to recognize just how much gamers play Madden and other EA sports titles, so they have implemented the EA Sports Bio systems which will track your accomplishments in ALL EA Sports games, which are saved on the Xbox. Some things the 'bio' tracks are total playing time, games played, accomplishments in each game, and much more. While playing, this EA Bio will also unlike special rewards and features in games, so it pays to play!

The defense in Madden this year is vastly improved, with the defensive backs being the key area of improvement. No more easy over-the-top passes or torching of the stud DB's, you will actually have to work for those passing yards this year! Although the passing defense has been improved, the run defense still lacks in reality and toughness. If you know how to run correct and understand the fundamentals of football, it is easy to break many big runs through the gaps. Another new addition this year is the ability to change packages between plays and not having to pause the game. This feature allows you to exploit certain weaknesses your opposition may have, and it duplicates what many NFL teams do!

By far, one of the biggest additions to Madden 2004 this year is the completely new Playmaker system. Playmaker allows you to make on-the-fly changes and moves like real-life situations. See the defense stacking the left side of your line and you want to go to the right instead, without calling an audible, simply press the joystick to the right and your running back’s route will change to the right! You can also tell certain blockers to block where you want them to while on the run with your RB, WR, or even your QB! Playmaker doesn't stop on offense; you can even make changes on defense! Shift your secondary side to side depending on how many receivers are stacked on each side, or direct your attention to Randy Moss! The Playmaker system makes and awesome addition and sets a new bar for other games to match.

Graphics:

Visuals in Madden NFL 2004 are improved, at least a little bit. There have been a number of new animation additions which take the total to up over 800 animations within the game, but some of these are very old and need to be replaced in my opinion. New helmets, equipment, hairstyles, and more are new additions to the create-a-player feature as well. Comparing Madden 2004 on the Xbox to its competitors on the PS2 and Gamecube easily shows there is no contest. The Xbox easily shows off a better look with nice helmet reflection, correct shadows and an overall display which does a very nice job in the graphics area. Cinematic cut-scenes are another bonus, even though at times that may not connect to what is actually happened or has happened, they still have a nice addition.

Audio:

So, what good are all of these nice visuals and excellent gameplay features without some quality audio? In 2004's edition John Madden seems to become more of a "state-the-obvious" sort of guy, always saying things that are, well, obvious. Although his repetitive talk can be annoying, at times he does provide good insight during games. Al Michaels does a nice job in the audio department, providing some excitement and emotion to games, but still can be a little bit choppy at some times. Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround support is a huge bonus while listening to the incredible crowd noises, player sounds and hard hitting! Finally, the Xbox supports custom soundtracks in this year’s version of Madden, which makes gameplay that much more fun and even the default EA Trax aren't bad! Sound in Madden 2004 this year is simply, very, very good.

Controls:

An new camera system has been planted in this year's version which allows you to successfully pull off play-actions and draws. Say you call a play-action and your intended pass is to your tight on running a ten-yard out, well the camera will lock in on your running back as you fake the handoff to him (the camera will simulate an actual running play), then after a couple of seconds it will shift back to normal camera and you can easily toss the ball to your tight end. On a draw play the camera will shift to show all the receivers like the camera usually does on a pass play, but then it will quickly shift back to lock onto your running back to take the ball up the middle. These new camera additions make your competition with real-life enemies much more fun and entertaining, and surely will catch them off guard at least once! Within Madden the controls differ on either side of the ball, and are easy to pick up and remember after a few games.

Replay:

Madden 2004's replayability is above and beyond that of many other videogames. By offering an intuitive franchise mode, mini-camps, different game modes, and endless hours of gaming with friends, Madden 04 never gets old. Even when you think you've experienced all there is you stumble into an intense game against one of your buddies, and rediscover the joy of this game again. In the end, everyone loves a little competition where they can earn bragging rights, and Madden 2004 gives you that chance again and again.

Summary:

Final world on Madden NFL 2004: the best football game on the market. With the addition of Playmaker controls, Owner Mode, custom sound tracks, and much more, it is clear that Madden has set a new high for games to follow. Although there was a bug with importing draft classes into Madden, this year’s version is a very good game and lives up to what Madden should bring to the table every year!