Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: Madden NFL 2003

Written by Adam Woolcott on July 02, 2002

First Impressions: Boom!

With Madden NFL 2003, EA's celebrated football series is now in its 13th year Ц the longest running sports franchise ever. While the series has had some shaky years, the Madden games have pretty much been on track in the current generation, with both 2001 and 2002 versions of the PlayStation 2 football games' receiving rave reviews across the board. Facing stiff competition in the NFL 2Kx series from Sega and a slowly rejuvenating GameDay series from Sony, Madden has to keep improving to keep receiving the rave reviews Ц and the additions put into this game could do just that. Most likely, this will be the best Madden game yet.

As always, Madden will come stocked with all the usual features, from basic exhibition games, to a season, to the almighty Franchise mode, and of course the very cool Madden Cards will make their return to the game Ц easily one of EA's best new features in a long time. The Franchise mode will be much improved Ц up to 30 seasons can be played, plus the draft is much more realistic Ц instead of just picking players at random, your scouts will return tips to you, so you can go with their advice & actually pick a player with potential, or find a diamond in the rough who improves drastically. And of course, Madden lets you import your NCAA 2003 rosters into Madden, so your old players from the college game could go on to be big stars in the NFL.

Included in the new features is a Mini-Camp mode. Here, you go around completing drills & exercises. EA is touting it as a new way to teach important skills, so newcomers (as well as veterans) to Madden are broken in this way Ц and the challenges are enough so even the veterans could surely get something out of it, and even learn something they never knew.

The biggest addition, however, is the inclusion of online play. And for PlayStation 2 owners, online play is exclusive to the console Ц no other systems (besides PC) will get their chance to play it online. EA Sports has had years of playing online with the PC, so I'm sure their online mode will be just fine Ц from the looks of things, it should be pretty easy to get hooked up and into a game; and both 56k-ers and Broadband players can play (nothing has been said otherwise), so any kind of internet connection will do. Madden's lobby will let you chat with other players before playing, or use it to find your own game.

The core gameplay will be familiar to Madden veterans; with just a few tweaks here and there, Tiburon (the developers) is taking an Уif it isn't broke, don't fix itФ approach, though admittedly it is hard to change the gameplay of a football game. Madden is a straight-up simulation, so any major tweaks would deviate the point of the game. New animations have been included, but that's probably about it. A new УcinematicФ replay system also sounds cool, and is one of the many graphical enhancements Ц Madden 2003 will certainly be an impressive looking football game.

Another change in the series comes in the audio Ц now that Pat Summerall has decided to retire (and at age 240, it's about time), and John Madden (you know, the guy they name the series after) has moved on to ABC (ending the Dennis Miller reignЕunfortunately), he gets a new partner on both Monday Night Football and Madden 2003 in the great Al Michaels. The guy who got double-humped by Dan Dierdorf and Frank Gifford finally has a chance to show his stuff again. But that's a commentary for a different time Ц let's talk Madden's commentary. Since Michaels actually appears alive, instead of Summerall's УI'm like 3 seconds from the grave, here's my last wordsФ dirges, the commentary of the game should be completely different. And it apparently has improved, with much more commentary from Michaels and much more exciting play-by-play. This leaves room for Madden to just be himself, letting out his Уlook at that guyФ Уboom!Ф and УwhackФ phrases every 5 minutes (these are the only phrases the crazy old guy knows how to speak anymore, it seems), and not carry the Уbroadcast.Ф