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Developer: |
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| E.A Sports |
Tiburon |
Sports |
1-4 |
Everyone |
Madden NFL 2003
Reviewed by: Gundam
I think all of us remember the old Sega Genesis days of John Madden football, It all started around 1989, a small company (EA) asked the legendary coach/announcer if he would be interested in helping there new football series. John told them the basics of football and how they should be implemented into the video game. One could say the results were great, Of course that would be a huge understatement, the game enjoyed much success on a variety of consoles. To this day the Madden series has been the number one selling Football game ever.
After last years version of Madden 2002 I was very content on the series transition from the older consoles to the Microsoft Xbox, I think the greatest addition to the last years series was the Madden Card feature, Basically you would be rewarded for various achievements during games or any other mode besides practice, Points would be rewarded to your profile (number of points depends on the “greatness” of the play Example=a touchdown might be worth 5 points and a sack would be worth 2 points) You can then take these points to the “shop” to buy a pack of cards, the cards hold many surprises, you could pick up a card of your favorite player or you could end up with cheats cards that you may use during a game to “enhance” your playing, So I was wondering about this years copy of the game would it pack the same punch? Or would it be a mere roster change?. I put all of that to rest when I went to pick up my copy on the 13th for the Xbox. I booted it up and was greeted by Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens “EA sports, it’s in the game”. I was hoping for a classic video displaying last years biggest sacks but its no loss. The menu for the game is great there is a small clip of different teams on the right hand side, and when a new soundtrack comes up it shows the artist and the song, EA’s new “Sound Trax” feature is great u get Songs from Good Charlotte, Bon Jovi, Nappy roots featuring Marcos from P.O.D. Not my favorite selection of songs but it works great for the game, all and all there are 11 songs. Practice is a great mode to get your skillz back and learn some of your favorite teams playbooks, not much has changed from the mode though. My favorite addition to the game has to be the Mini Camp, You ride around the U.S taking challenges to prepare you for the upcoming season, Such as QB pass accuracy test, Or tackling drills, Once you have completed a good portion of your task you may enter “situations” It gives relief to the game, if you are ever sick of just playing the franchise mode or exhibition, it adds great replay, Ohh did I mention you get rewarded for beating the top scores, yep you earn the Madden Cards, there are more Cards in this years version for you to earn as well. These are all good features to the series, but how has the gameplay changed? The Gameplay has changed dramatically, There are a slurry of new animations, ranging from gang tackles to coach’s muttering on the sidelines, also one of the biggest changes is the loss of partner and legend Pat Summerall, But A.B.C Monday Night Football commentator Al Michaels joins the crew giving the Commentating a much needed boost, He works great with John Madden as well. The gameplay has had a rather fast pace to it in the past years, The momentum has slowed down, giving it more of a T.V style of play. Well how could I miss out the series most popular mode, The franchise mode is back, You can see what the life of a general manager is like with rookie training, a full team N.F.L draft, 30+ years of Fantasy Football. I’m a huge fan of Football and this mode sums it up, You can experiment with different teams, I have enjoyed making teams dedicated to Defense only, a disciple of the “Steel Curtain”. I have made teams that consist of “sleepers” and teams that are filled with “super stars”. It’s all your choice here, or if you want you can just play as any of the current rosters. When you have completed your team you can spend your time in the Deep create a play feature and make plays that tune to your teams style of play. Of course all of the necessities are back (Create a player, Football 101).
Gameplay: It's Madden the gameplay is supposed to flow solidly. This year its no different, my only grudge against the gameplay is that sometimes on defense its hard to tackle a player when using speed burst, But its the same ol same ol this year i wouldnt say much is different.
Graphics: EA has raised the bar once again by adding new animations, the animations are all different this year you might see a QB side arming a pass or a RB jukeing out a defender in a different way. The faces have not changed much but are still great as ever, you will notice sweet running down players faces or blinking, it sounds stupid but a few years ago people were dreaming about this in games, The vibrant sidelines are back!, Now we can all see our favorite coaches bitching at the QB’s for not completing a 3rd down pass. The stadiums look incredible as always, New additions include CGI field for the super bowl wining Patriots and the expansion Houston Texans turf. My only grudge against the graphics are some of the players skin colors and weight are off, But it doesn’t take away from the gameplay at all. The graphics of course look the best on the Xbox Ea went out of there way to add additional graphics that couldn’t be done on any other console
Controls: The controls are a breeze, The xbox controller works well with the game. Doing all of the moves: Stiff Arm, Juke,Dive,Spin etc is simple unlike the ps2 there are only two "trigger" buttons for xbox, so xbox gamers have to compensate by using the "white" and "black" buttons which can be a tad bit out of reach depending on which controller you chose.
Replay: The game has great replay value with a amazing fantasy mode that offers over 20 years of play, My grudge with that is it gets boring after the tenth year when no real players are around and you start getting "Marshall Warner's"
Sound: As I stated before, the sound has vastly improved, The addition of Al Michaels really helps the voice talent in the game, Now all we need to the cast is Dennis Miller’s sarcastic jokes. John Madden as always is at the tip of he’s game offering much “constructive criticism” to your plays. The hits are more dynamic this year with the Xbox’s sound system u can hear the crunch of Tom Brady as the Patriot’s line men fail again, You hear the players grunting and doing there “Blue 72‘s” once again which can only add so much to the gameplay experience, especially Grid Iron fans such as myself will enjoy the minor “noises” of the game.
Overall Presentation: Great,the game all comes together well
Scores:
Gameplay:  9
Graphics: 9
Controls: 9
Replay: 9
Sound:  8
Total Score: 9
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