Start of the regular season
Every Madden NFL game since the series conception has been released with roster updates and a few minor gameplay changes. This year's major changes include the new owner mode, a new on-the-fly play alteration feature called Playmaker, the new EA Sports Bio feature, as well as a bunch of tweaks to the graphics, gameplay and commentary that only Madden NFL veterans will be able to pick up.
The thing about football
Due to the fact that a lot of our readers aren't familiar with American Football, a brief explanation is in order. There are two teams on the field at a time, one offense, one defense, with the offensive team trying to get the ball in the other team's end zone, while the other team tries to prevent this from happening. The offensive team has 4 "downs" or attempts to make an advancement of 10 yards, which will net them a First down, or another set of 4 downs. If the team is in range, but doesn't have enough downs to make it to the end zone, they can attempt a field goal. The game is split up over four equal quarters and the team with the most points at the end of the fourth quarter wins the game. Of course, the game is actually a lot more complex than that, with a variety of plays and tactics that will be employed by both teams in order to win.
The most notable addition to this year's Madden is the Owner mode. Owner mode is an optional extension to the existing Franchise mode which allows you full control over the financial management of the team, as well as the ability to alter other factors such as the team's uniform, coaching staff, location and stadium. While Owner mode adds a bit more depth to the Franchise mode, it feels rather inconsequential in the end, as the end result of playing without Owner mode on isn't all that different, though you don't get to alter how much a hotdog costs. It's a nice addition, but not enough to make a huge difference. I'm sure EA will build more on this feature in the next few years, though. The major change to Franchise mode this year, other than the Owner mode, is the training drills that take place before the preseason. Choose a player to participate in each drill (which is a mini game based on an aspect of American Football), and if he achieves a decent score in the drill, you'll be able to assign extra points to certain attributes in his depth chart. You can also bet the points that you earn by replaying the drill on a harder difficulty.
Owner mode isn't the only new thing in Madden NFL 2004. Tiburon have added a new feature known as the Playmaker, which is similar to calling an audible, but is much quicker, and alters the existing play. Playmaker is executed by moving the right stick in the direction you wish to alter the play, so if the defensive line moves right, flick the stick to the left, and you'll have a much greater chance of gaining yards. Playmaker isn't just limited to offense either, as defensive plays can also be altered in the same fashion. Another new feature is the EA Sports Bio, a tracking device which checks how much time you've put into each EA Sports title this season, and rewards you accordingly with cards, hidden teams and more. After every few hours of play, you receive a level up on your bio, and a few goodies. Basically, you're going to get more out of EA Sports' lineup this season if you play each one of the games.
Madden NFL 2004 plays virtually identically to last year's edition, but with enough enhancements to the overall presentation to enable players to distinguish which version they're playing. Our main problem with Madden NFL 2003 was the horrible pass defense AI, and while this has been improved a lot this year, it still pales in comparison to Visual Concepts' NFL2K3 (now ESPN NFL). The running game is still a little hit and miss, as the runner occasionally gets stuck in between several defenders, and gets thrown around like a rag doll. Other than that, most of our issues with Madden NFL 2003's gameplay have been solved by this year's edition.
Face masking
Madden NFL 2004 may be the best looking game in the series yet, but the graphics are beginning to show their age. The stadium environments, excusing the crowd, are looking quite good - you can see that a lot of effort has gone into accurately recreating the real grounds, right down to the most minor details. There's a lot more detail in certain parts of the grounds, such as bump mapping on the turf, while other parts of the stadium, such as the crowd, have received the short end of the stick. While the environments are looking rather schmick, the players do a bit to bring the game back to the level. The players' models look great from afar, with all sorts of detail, right down to the air holes in their jerseys and grass and dirt marks after a tackle. Getting up close to the players is a different story, as their facial textures are of a rather poor quality. This is worse for the coaches and cheerleaders, who have no helmets to hide their god awful faces. On a more positive note, the game still runs at a constant 60 frames per second without a hitch, though EA Sports' continued reluctance to place 60 Hz modes in their games remains a concern.
John Madden may endorse this game, but his presence in the game is more of a burden than an asset to the game these days. Madden isn't a very good commentator to begin with, due to his brand of slow, bland and obvious commentary so he doesn't translate too well to a videogame. Al Michaels and Melissa Stark do their best to hold the commentary together, but it becomes a little too much after a few games. Tiburon have implemented an interesting idea in the form of the Gamestory, a special commentary feature which provides better overtime commentary, half time analysis and better finals and Superbowl commentary. EA Trax are back again, featuring a variety of rock and rap songs from artists such as AFI and Blink 182. If you don't like EA's music selections, you can use your own soundtracks via the Xbox's custom soundtrack function.
Full time
There's no doubt that Madden NFL 2004 is an improvement over last year's release - it's more of a question of whether people can justify dropping another $AU99.95 on a game with a few roster updates and gameplay tweaks. The few NFL fans we have in our part of the world won't need to heed my advice, but to the rest of us, the Madden NFL series is like a young adult - if you see it all the time, you won't really notice the changes, but if you go a few years without it, it'll be like a totally different game, and that's why Madden NFL 2004 isn't recommended to anyone who isn't a diehard NFL fan who has played the game since Madden NFL 2000. If you've not played a Madden NFL game before, add 1.5 marks to the score.
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