Madden NFL 2004 (Original Xbox) by Electronic Arts



Madden NFL 2004 (Xbox) by Electronic Arts Box Art




North Amercian Release Date: August 12, 2003.

Region(s) Released: North America, Europe

High Definition Resolutions Supported: 480p
Widescreen Supported (16:9): Yes
System Link Support: No

Average Overall Score:
8.71 / 10
87.1%


There has been a problem with Madden this year that has dampened my spirit with the whole franchise. I even got Crazy Cougar angry enough to threaten me with because of my profanity laced tyraid about the faux pas that has messed this game up. However, I won't go into it."

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Description

In its 14th season, Madden NFL Football remains the undisputed leader in authentic NFL football simulation. This year, make adjustments after the snap and create championship caliber plays with revolutionary Playmaker Control. Featuring new Owner mode, EA SPORTS Bio and an EA SPORTS Trax with custom playlists, no other football video game has more depth. Madden NFL 2004 is the most complete, authentic sports video game ever, making it The Ultimate Judge for sports gamers.

Screenshots

Wednesday, July 16, 2003
Friday, May 2, 2003

User Reviews

Score: 87
Overall User Average: 8.75 / 10 (87.1%)
Gameplay User Average: 8.70 / 10
Graphics User Average: 8.35 / 10
Sound User Average: 8.10 / 10
vman
Date reviewed: July 16, 2005.

Overall: Its Madden, what more can you say? Great football with intense and in-depth commentary by you guessed it, Madden himself. A very interactive Franchise mode is the heart and soul of this game. Taking you through years of football to create and build an elite dynasty for all to fear.
Gameplay: The gameplay is very well done but hard to get used to when you transition from Fever. But with a few tweaks like Playmaker then you are in complete control. Slight adjustments before the snap and a would be touch down turns into an I-N-T! It really lets you make sure that the play you picked will run to perfection when you see and predict the defense and offense of the opposing team. On the run Playmaker is also a challenge but it may be the only option you have to get the QB/RB out of a tight spot. Finesse is the name of my gampeplay and with madden, I am able to do just that. I juke and spin my way to break tackles left and right. This game franchise is a must have for any football fan.
Graphics: Madden, never too big on graphics but they get it done right. Looks good enough to not ditract from the gaming.
Sound: Not really too big on sound either. The music is alright with recent musical hits. But what is important are the sounds of the field and I believe they do a good job recreating the experience. However, you can't forget the prestigious commentary done by good ole John Madden. Personally, not a favorite. He states the obvious rather than provide some wholesome commentary.
Suggestions: Next Gen will be beast!


Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 80 %

rpgreligion
Date reviewed: February 20, 2004.

Overall: Madden NFL 2004 is the latest game in the long lasting Madden series. And considering I have not played a football video game since 1999, I was definetly impressed. I'm not a harcore football fan by any means, but I thoroughly enjoyed this game. A fairly steep learning curve was required, considering it's a sports title, but all in all it isn't too bad. I'll openly admit, I have played this game, hours upon hours. I'm sure hard core sports fans, found more flaws in the game than I did, but I still believe that it's a excellent game. EA Sports has had it's ups and downs with the Xbox community, and I consider this game a definite up.

Gameplay: The learning curve in Madden NFL 2k4 is a bit steep. It took me awhile to figure out the entire control scheme. I found myself throwing interception after interception, no matter what team I selected to play with. Basically you can throw two types of passes: A low bullet, and a high floater. Both of which can be picked easily. The low bullet is the easiest to intercept. It gets to the receiver much quicker, but much closer to the ground. If a defensive player is anywhere near he can easily jump up and grab it. For the floater the ball can be thrown very high and far. But the great AI of the defense can spot it much easier, and get in position to pick it off. But to use the two different types of passes, you actually have to know how to pass. To snap the ball, as with most football games, you press A. Then your passing icons are brought up. To throw a high floater, you tap the button of your chosen receiver quickly. For a low bullet, it is exactly the opposite. You hold the button of the chosen receiver. If you find yourself unable to throw the ball before the insuing blitzers attack, you can scramble with the ball by pressing Y. Your quarterback then acts as a running back, but probably much slower. I was pleased with the kicking system, as I believe the developers finally got it right. The more powerful you kick the ball, the harder it is for accuracy, and vise versa. Rushing doesn't involve a very steep learning curve, in Madden NFL 2k4. You just select your running play, snap the ball, and it is handed off to your running back. Your abilities to break tackles in rushing mode, are to juke, spin, hurdle and throw a stiff arm. Stiff arms are effective, but it is much easier to strip the player of the ball and force a fumble. One bug I have found while rushing, is that you can get 5-6 extra yards sometimes by hurdling. This sounds reasonable, but hurdling is supposed to be used to get past downed lineman. To get the extra yardage, you simply have to hurdle through still standing lineman. Jumping over lineman shouldn't be that easy if you ask me. The AI is very good in this game. The defense, depending on which team you are facing, will call audibles to match your offense. You have to outwit the other team, by selecting a play they cannot audible out of, or audible into one yourself. The audible feature in Madden 2k4 is noticably improved from most games. On a rushing play you are able to switch the direction of your running back. When passing you can hot route the primary receiver, and change the pattern. This can all occur by the simple movement of the right thumbstick, and all of it can be done before the snap. You can also do similar audibles when playing defense. You can change your pass coverage, to cover a certain receiver more strongly, or totally switch the direction of your blitzers and lineman. After the snap you can even commit to a rushing play, or a passing play. This has led me into making many mistakes. I'll commit to a rushing play, and the AI will use a fake, and throw a long pass. Committing to the rush is effective for sacking the quarterback, however. One annoying element of M:2k4 is the weather. No matter what team I pick, I end up fumbling multiple times in the rain. If my skill to contain the ball is high, then why should I fumble every 2 seconds? Penalties are of course generally random, though when attempting to strip the other team of the ball, you can occasionally grab their facemask. This results in a sometimes nasty penalty. In Franchise Mode, there is an Off-Season. You have to make decisions real coaches and owners have to make. This game even goes so far, to allow you to change the ticket prices and buy upgrades for you stadium. Eventually you will have to release, resign, draft, and train your players. At first I thought training camp was a very pointless feature. But after a couple of seasons, I realized just how useful it is. If you succeed in the training camp tasks, you get to change player's skill levels. The game goes into much detail, as player weight and height also play a factor. Pre-Season is an optional mode, where you can decide how you want your teams to play (Type of defense, focus on pass or rush, which players to use, etc.) Other modes in the game include head to head gameplay, and 2 minute drills. The two minute drill allows you to practice getting as many points as you can during the last two minutes of each half. Head-to-head gameplay is decent. I imagine it would be much better if EA sports supported xbox live. Being able to see the other person's plays is very annoying, but not much can be done about it when playing split screen. Madden Cards are also a new feature to the Madden franchise. Some allow you to improve interception percentage, amount of broken tackles, fumbles, etc. I've only touched on the gameplay with Madden NFL: 2004, but I'm sure that if you buy it, you won't be disapointed.
Graphics: Graphics are very nice in Madden. EA really went all out on character models. They aren't the greatest, and are a bit blocky at times, but it's great being able to distinct your favorite players and coaches from one another. Some of the players are a bit bland though. Size ratio between players is pretty well done. A big guy is big and bulky, naturally, while a little guy is small and skinny. A complaint I've had with some football games in the past (Remember, I haven't played one since 1999) is the unability to see through field-goal posts. I was pleased when I first rented this game, because when backed up to your own goal line, you can easily see through them. Weather effects are nice and realistic. When playing in the spring, you may encounter a sunny day, or it could be pouring the rain and foggy. This decreases the user's visibility. Snow is well done, except levels never really increase no matter how hard it snows. Another thing I have noticed is that bad weather never goes away over the course of a game. It rains or snows at the same rate the whole game. The field looks very well done, and if you by chance you run out of bounds, there are photographers and camera men just begging you to knock them down. Occasionally the graphics can be glitchy, and lag, when many players are crouded into one small area. For those of you who are sticklers for a victory dance, don't worry--if you score a touchdown, I'm sure your players will please you with some sort of endzone celebration. Collision graphics are superb in this game. Depending on what portion of the player you hit, how big they are, and how hard you hit them depends on how you go down. Sometimes you will simply be tripped up, and sometimes you will get absolutely body slammed. On other occasions you may get dragged down by the face mask, and flip over another player. Instants replays are well done in the game, but I don't believe it is neccesary to show a replay after every single play. When challenging a play, you'll be sure to see exactly what took place when that inevitable fumble, or other disasterous event occurs.
Sound: This is the only portion of the game that can be very repetitive and annoying. I am yet to see a sports game with non-repetitive commentary. John Madden never fails to annoy you, whether it is real life, or in a video game. They may do that on purpose, who know, but my god...does that guy ever shutup? And he says the same thing every two or three plays. I will honestly be impressed when I see a sports game that has good commentary. To get a bit picky about sound, I keep noticing a little flaw when the score of the game is announced. The announcer says both the scores in totally different tones. I'm sure this is because the numbers were all recorded at different times, but like I said...that's getting a bit picky. Another sound glitch I have found, is that grunts from the players are a bit delayed. Especially in instant replays. Sometimes I watch instant replays in slow motion, and the players grunt before they are even hit. But collision noises other than the grunts of pain, are very well done. Especially on DD 5.1. I don't really have any complaints about the music in this game.

Suggestions: None really. Besides the basic shutting up of John Madden, I have no reall problems. Keep up the good work, I can't wait until Madden NFL 2005.


Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 80 %

GimmeSomaThat24
Date reviewed: January 29, 2004.

Overall: Greatest football game I have ever played. This game provides football fans with the best of both approaches to a football video game. Some people are into actually playing the games, others enjoy the owners mode, starting a franchise, establishing a dynasty, or taking a losing team and re-building the franchise. Originally I was an NFL Fever fan, but once I played this game, I instantly turned.
Gameplay: Gameplay is great, although it is tough to run the ball when you up the difficulty level, Madden 2004 has the greatest gameplay of any football game I have ever played. My only complaint is that I wish the recievers would drag their feet when they make a cathc near the sidelines. Gotta love knocking the helmets off the players :)
Graphics: Good. Other then the receivers reaching through the defenders body to make a catch and the fact that they also make the catch when the ball hits them in the leg or something and their hands are nowhere near the ball, the visual is pretty good.
Sound: I can't stand the music that they have on the game. It gets annoying to the point that I actually mute the TV so I don't have to listen to it. Thank God for the custom soundtracks! Great sound on the tackles and collisions though.
Suggestions: Make the receivers drag their feet when making a sideline catch!


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 80 %

gt5688d
Date reviewed: January 16, 2004.

Overall: Madden 2004 is of course the next in the series of excellent Madden games. The additions this year make this by far the most complex football game available.
Gameplay: I started on Madden 2001 for the PS2 and I played NCAA 2003, so the feel of the game hasn't changed much. The playmaker control is a great idea, it can take a little bit of practice to get right. The idea is that you can direct players other than the specific one you're controlling. Take time to figure this out because you can really dominate using this feature. Also be careful because INTs happen more often in this game than previous Maddens. You won't get blown away if you practice a little and get into how the system works.
Graphics: They've improved on the model from years past, although only slightly. The Madden camera view is pretty good, and there are lots of options for what information is or isn't displayed. The replay mode is awesome, just like in past years.
Sound: You can add custom soundtracks to the ones that play by default, I haven't explored that completely. The commentary isn't bad, it's less repetetive than in previous versions.
Suggestions: I like an idea I saw here about downloading updated rosters. The AI still needs some improvement, especially in working with the new playmaker control. The expanded franchise mode is awesome, and the training is a great idea.


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 80 %

oldi1knoby
Date reviewed: December 26, 2003.

Overall: I bought this game for one reason. Multiplayer. I love to grab my sister or one of my brothers and play a game of football. The game rocked right away with a small learning curve.
Gameplay: The teams are so different, that I had to switch around to find one that fit my playing style. I loved to be able to run the ball and throw it a bit, so Dolphins ended up as my favorite team.
Graphics: The graphics on this amazed me. My mother walked in while we were playing and asked, "Who's playing today?" She actually thought it was a TV game. I love the reflections off the helmets. Very cool.
Sound: The sound in this game was realistic and very engrossing. The only reason I am not giving it a 5 for sound is because of the commentary. How many times can Madden say,"That's a good special teams play." when I pick Field-goal... Way too repetative.
Suggestions: Don't have Madden comment on the "Suggested Play", because it gives away to the other person I play with that I picked the highlighted play....


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 70 %

MikeMan91389
Date reviewed: December 15, 2003.

Overall: This game is good. Best from EA yet! Wish it was online however. I really enjoyed any and every minute of this game. It was just awesome. Great in every aspect
Gameplay: The gameplay is sweet IMO. I really liked the dynasty mode. It was so fun. You even got to charge for certain seats, and the price of the beer! Training camp was awesome. It was the most realistic gameplay, from a football game yet, except for First Person Football on ESPN NFL
Graphics: The graphics are good. They are very similar to the ESPN football game. ESPN NFL Football does however edge this game out. Beyond that, this game has the best graphics for a football game by EA
Sound: The sounds in this game were good. Once again, they dont compare to that of ESPN NFL Footballs. The commentary in this game, IMO, was awesome. The on-feild sounds were pretty good though. I really liked it.
Suggestions: COME TO XBOX LIVE!!!!! DONT LET PS2 HOLD BACK YOUR GRAPHICS CAPABILITY


Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 80 %

Sharky53
Date reviewed: December 9, 2003.

Overall: EA Sports Madden NFL 2004. Starting with this game is the best football game out this year but has a few flaws with it. 1. Can't import NCAA Football 2004 draft class but that was taken care of which is nice. 2. This flaw people may have not noticed it but I sure did I call it the punt return flaw. It starts with punting and if there are a few people around you and for about 2 or 4 yards if they hit you don't matter how hard you will fumble. I don't know if that was just my copy but it got annoying after awhile. That's all the flaws I can think of here's the good points and great. more then about 35 but I'm only going to name a few. 1. Owner Mode is the best thing I've seen in a football game ever. 2. Gameplay that probly take's 20 good points alone. 3. The feel of playing is true and great everything from running which could be tweaked alittle better but overall Passing game Very strong and running Very strong but as I said before could use Tweaking. 4. The game itself Fun, Fast, and Friendly with easy to use menu's fast with loading and therefore the fun part everyone knows that. 5. Game Speed it's true to life game speed and if you don't think so you don't watch much football. That's my review of EA Sports Madden NFL 2004. The version was For the Microsoft Xbox.
Gameplay: Great overall nothing much more to say. I love the new defenseive game. You have much mroe control over your players.
Graphics: Good graphics kinda the same as last years version with a few improvements. Some of the animations are meh... but very good.
Sound: Good overall sound with cheer and boo's and the commentary was done good but could have done better.
Suggestions: GET ONLINE FOR THIS!


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 90 %

mnsfldbing
Date reviewed: December 2, 2003.

Overall: Grat Game. Playmaker option allows for mobility that every game should have. Creates much better defense capabilites and bigger runs. Can finally break a route and not throw the ball to where that route is supposed to be. Like the minicamp feature...resembles the NBA Live 04 a little bit.
Gameplay: I cannot believe people are complaining about this game. Only thing I do not like, cannot make cuts either with or without the ball. Sure you can juke, but a juke is not a cut. In two player mode, on the same team, the lead blockers could be a little more helpful, always out of the play after blocking one defensive player.
Graphics: Great. EA Sports always impoves on this aspect every year. No sense in complaining about about anything, they will make any necessary improvements next year.
Sound: Average sound for a football game. Harder hits would be nice. We all know there is some serious smack spoken on the field how cool would it be to hear "..I'm gonna break you at the knees.." or a few slams like that. Should be an insult slider...
Suggestions: This maybe and NFL rule, but why can't we trade kickers or punters? Everyone wants XBox Live? Maybe a multi system hook up where the TV focuses on that players defensive guy while on D. I would rather you guys improve on everything else like you do every year than worry about Xbox Live. Would probably just ruin the quality of the game.


Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 70 %

DocHoliday78
Date reviewed: November 30, 2003.

Overall: The newest addition of Madden. The new features are owner mode and being able to make playmaker decisions. No live though.
Gameplay: Same madden as every year just a few teaks. The new playmaker mode allows the user to pull back the secondary. On the fly audibles and choose blockers as your running. THe gameplay comes up short compared to espn's.
Graphics: This looks barely better than the ps2 game. Being a port dont expect anything woo you over. Just basic standars here.
Sound: Al Micheal and John Madden do a decent job of commentary. However they just sound really flat. Also the refs can be barely heard over the crowd and madden.
Suggestions: Needs online capability like all stupid EA games.


Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 60 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 80 %

herp510
Date reviewed: November 18, 2003.

Overall: The game is alright but it could be better. The playmaker control is awesome. I think it should be on every game. The menu music is terrible, who would want to listen to this. The visual is like evry game great.
Gameplay: Playmakers contol iis awesome because you can change the players action during the play. The defense playbook is impossible to pick to make a great play. Offense has difficulties of making a first down.
Graphics: I can't complain about the visuals but the players has problems with the ball going through there bodies on a pass play.
Sound: The sound is terrible. Who wants to listen to rap music while playing football. The commentary is horrible.
Suggestions: Make the game better or i won't buy it again.


Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 20 %

JediMasterChief
Date reviewed: November 8, 2003.

Overall: Unlike its predecessors, major improvements can be seen in Madden NFL 2004. Both the PC version and the Xbox version, including all the other versions of the game bring lots of entertainment and an excellent football experience. Thus the Xbox version towers in visuals, although it lacks online play.
Gameplay: What can be said about the gameplay...football? Nothing new has been changed to gameplay, apart from the addition of several new modes and controls. The Create-a-Stadium is feature is neat and fun, because it provides something to play aside from playing football games. The in-game play is still very good and provides a tool for playing good football games.
Graphics: The improvements in visuals can be slightly seen, although the graphics themselvs are satisfying. The Xbox version probably has the best visuals comparing to the other versions. The players and everything else is still quite polished and modelled nicely. The visuals, in general, provide a grand sense of reality to the game.
Sound: The sound is quite good in the game, but not too perfect. EA has wrapped up a fair number of sound effects and voices into the game, which are still quite good as they are. There is also some music, but as always, it is just an addition.
Suggestions: First of all, improvements to the series should be made. But of course, EA does improvements to the series every year, because a game from the series comes out annually. As every Xbox gamer would insist, EA should bring Xbox LIVE online play into the Madden NFL series. Hopefully we might see this next year.


Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 70 %

bretman1234
Date reviewed: November 2, 2003.

Overall: This is one kick !&%$@#* game! I love the franchise mode! I just can't get enough of this game, it says I have played it over 50 hours! The gameplay is good ole Madden style, which you can't beat. The only downside of this game is the fact that it isn't online. Maybe one day EA will get on its horse and make its games XBOX Live compatible.
Gameplay: I love the playmaker! Defense crowds the left side of the field, I send the reciever to the right using playmaker! Its just like real life! The gameplay is DEAD on real life, and the AI is very intelligent.
Graphics: EA did a good job with the graphics, yet not a great one. The players look good with their helmets on, but what happened to their heads? When their helmets are off, they look like they have shrunken heads! The field, stadium, and fans look good. Ill give it a 4.
Sound: Madden and Michaels are top notch on the commentary. I love listening to them commentate on the game. The music is awesome, with a ton of new hit songs. This game has great sound FX's when you hit someone hard.
Suggestions: MAKE YOUR GAME ONLINE! This game would be the ULTIMATE football game if it were just online. *sigh* maybe someday.


Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 100 %

Strongbad
Date reviewed: October 13, 2003.

Overall: Madden 2004 is the best football game ever made. Bottom line. Number one good thing from last season: they let you play your own music instead of listening to Bon-Jovi on the madden tracks. Then along with all the updated rosters, perfect passing control, and for once they actually made Steve McNair good, this game has really dominated any other football series. Especially fever.
Gameplay: The gameplay is great. So far I've just been working on franchise mode. Haven't gotten into owner mode yet, although it doesn't look too appealing to me anyways. Football is football, i don't really need to jack the price up on beer in my stadium.
Graphics: Super Graphics. They made the Titans have all their uniforms, and when I put on those old Oiler uniforms, it's so sweet.
Sound: Finally people start to realize that they should allow people to put their own soundtracks on the game.


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 100 %

Wolfboy_888
Date reviewed: October 13, 2003.

Overall: well this is really the 1st madden game i have ever played or owned...while it is deep, the gameplay and ai is not very impressive
Gameplay: poor ... ints are way too easy to get and get against you. The controller scheme is a little unique and the game is so unrealistic... The computer cheats by switching the lines to go directly where my play is going ...and not to mention the fact that it makes a point of it to make the most unrealistic things happen... i have lost about 5 games now on the last play where some no name wide receiver would burn all the secondary and be 20 yards wide open or have some screen pass where some garbage RB like james stewart stiff arms the entire steelers LB core....All in the 90s for ratings. This game is really deep but the AI is so bad and thats whats most important..Not to mention no LIVE


P.S. Playmaker Control...I found it somewhat good..but dont really use it...Offensive playmaker control is very hard to control...and if you pick the wrong playmaker option for defense you'll get burnt for a TD all the time ...i rarely use it..
Graphics: Not as good as fever or espn(player model wise)..just another case of EA sucking up to PS2. I do like the little "it's in the game" thing that they do at the beginning...dont really know if that would be considered a visual..anyways players are ok and the stadiums look nice.
Sound: Nice announcers but mostly the same things over again. I love the music and I'm actually contemplating downloading some of the songs that i hear.
Suggestions: Do something with the AI. The EA bio thing really isnt such a bad idea and i love the mini games but come on with the AI ..im sick of playing franchise and having my games score be 112-90 when all the other games are 20-17....and when i try to play realistic with play calling and such i still get lopsided numbers..i remember one game where all i did was rush the ball in the 1st qt and by the time it was half i had 400 yds rushing???


Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 50 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 90 %

db808
Date reviewed: September 2, 2003.

Overall: Wow, the game that finally unseated halo as the game that is on the TV in my living room 24/7. An average of 20 Madden matches occur daily in my living room.
Gameplay: It is awesome...a lot like REAL football. I havent played this years Fever or ESPN football, but it kicks the hell out of both of those games' 2003 versions.
Graphics: FINALLY!!! An EA sports game that supports progressive scan. About time!!! Yeah, it looks amazing. A lot better than last years madden, and crystal clear on the HDTV.
Sound: The announcers say a little less of the same stuff over and over again at least a little bit less than other games.
Suggestions: Downloadable content. You can do whatever with xbox live, wont bother me, there are too many people here to play to worry about playing over a network or whatever, but at least let us download roster changes and results so that halfway through the season im not playing with players that are no longer on a team or are injured or whatever. Just another degree of realism that you could add.


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 90 %

MFFL
Date reviewed: August 25, 2003.

Overall: Madden 2004 builds upon a franchise that is 14 years in the making. It has the same great gameplay that you would expect, with a more indepth football experience.
Gameplay: The Gameplay is similar to NCAA 2004. It has the new inovations that NCAA has, ie the "Roll Out Cam", the Play Action Cam, and many more gameplay enhancing features. At first it takes a little to get used to, but after a while, you will love the feel of the game.

And for all you SIMS lovers out there, this game has it all. Not only can you affect what you do on the grid iron, but you also affect what happens in the "Owners Box" with the new Owner Mode. You can hire and fire your training staff...coaches...players... Fix your ticket prices... Move to a NEW City! Build a new stadium, or add to your exsiting one. This game has it all.
Graphics: Is there a word that can best sum up the visual effects of Madden 2004 than simply AMAZING? I am not sure. The graphics are simply put, the best ever for a football game.
Sound: The only thing from the sound department is, the fact that sometimes you can not hear the officials making bad calls. For some reason the officials volume level is considerably lower than everything else. The ingame music is good, and the commentary is what you would expect.
Suggestions: Just keep making more innovations for next years game.


Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 90 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 90 %

JimX
Date reviewed: August 18, 2003.

Overall: Another year another Madden. It seems that every year, even if most other football games fall on their faces, you can count on a good Madden game to make you forget about the others.
Gameplay: The game play is what matters most especially in sports games. Madden must have spent the off season securing itself as the game that others just wish they were. It achieves this by the addition of the play maker. This allows better control of the whole team and not just the QB. This game is pure simulation fun so if you like the arcadey hits of NFL Blitz then maybe you should wait for that. One other thing. For some reason the on line play has been scraped from this version. Why the hell is that???
Graphics: The graphics are very good and are above almost all other football games. The crowds look pretty good and the players look amazing. The game also runs without any slow down.
Sound: The crowd sounds fine. The hits sound real. Almost everything in this game sounds great. Almost everything. Madden himself is the exception to this. The commentary is really the only thing that wasn't improved on this year. Madden's mindless chatter still sucks. Most of the time you won't even be able to figure out what Madden is talking about.
Suggestions: Bring the on line play to Xbox live. Oh and replace Madden as the commentator with... well anyone.


Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 90 %
Sound: 80 %

ARONO129
Date reviewed: August 17, 2003.

Overall: All the hard hitting action you would expect from the #1 NFL series. The A.I. is solid and console football doesn't get more authentic than this. Excellent Franchise mode with the all new Owner mode and Playmaker feature.
Gameplay: The A.I. is rock solid. This is the most authentic football I have ever played. I traded the competition because I grew tired of blowing out the other teams. This is not likely to happen with Madden. Deep Franchise mode and all new Owner mode. Owner mode is Sim City meets NFL. Playmaker is useful if you don't like the way the opposing team is lining up.
Graphics: Identical to Madden 2003. Not a bad thing but not Fever graphics either. Some player's skin tones appear "off". If you liked or disliked Madden '03 graphics you will like or dislike this years.
Sound: Al Michaels more than makes up for having to listen to Madden. Big John doesn't seem as repetative as in last years version. You can rip your own music this year.
Suggestions: Work on the graphics in next years version and make future games Live enabled. If you don't you will lose fan support. You already are.


Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 100 %

Madden NFL 2004 News

EA Sports Now Doing Fantasy Football
Well why stop at video game football? Fantasy football has become very big to football fans and EA wants to get into the action. EA will now be offereing fantasy football leagues.

EA Cuts 117 Jobs In Reshuffle
In an effort to consolidate some of their developers, EA has done some recent reshuffling which cost 117 people their jobs.

EA goes Live! - official
Xbox Live service has been so hot since it's launch that even EA can't stay away forever. Last night, it was announced that EA will now make games to support Xbox Live!

EA says sold 2 million
Video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. on Tuesday said its newest "Madden NFL" football game had sold more than 2 million units in its first three weeks, making it one of the year's top- selling games.

EA SPORTS Bio Awards for Playing More
New in all 2004 EA SPORTS titles is EA SPORTS Bio, a comprehensive customer reward system that credits sports gamers for their gaming across the EA SPORTS lineup.

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