Genre: Sports
Developer: Tiburon
Publisher: EA Sports
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Memory: 251 Blocks
ERSB: Everyone
Also On: PS2, Xbox, GBA, PC.
Presentation
Enjoy the excitement of the NFL football season in EA’s latest title, Madden NFL 2003. Madden NFL ’03 promises to deliver one of the best gaming experiences in the history of football gaming. And it easily does. The competitive standard for interactive football gaming is back and it’s going to be a very big year for football fans & video gamers everywhere! The Madden series was always built on excellence. And 2003 is no different from the rest.
Graphics
The graphics are great, they made a major change to the crowd, making them look more realistic.the game look more clear than last year version, player faces are more noticable. they have better reflection on the helmets, and the suns reflection on the players faces make it look like the real thing. But it still looks like last year’s game. This is hardly a knock against it as last year’s title was a real looker. There are a lot of new animations this year. The diving animation when tackling seems to have been boosted just a bit. It’s not as insane as in the old Madden days when players dove up to five yards to make a stop, but the dive is certainly more prominent this year. The stadiums are as gorgeous as ever, the shadowing in some of the stadiums is simply incredible-there really isn’t much else to say. The graphics are great, period. If you are looking for a review that spouts off all kinds of technical jargon about why the graphics are superb, you’re reading the wrong review. Besides the weird blur effect. The game is really, really attractive. Let’s move on.
A face only a mom could love.....
Sound
The sound in the game has been revamped from last year, centered around the departure of long-time video game and real game voice Pat Summerall. They’ve replaced a legend with another legend, Al Michaels, since Madden took his act to Monday Night Football. Also appearing as an announcer this year is Melissa Stark who is a personal favorite for various reasons. The announcing has been beefed up a bit more with more interactvie responses and more lines. Melissa’s sideline reports are basic, yet realistic. The crowd is much better this year, getting pretty loud and obnoxious when the home team is doing something good. Also, EA Sports finally got around to adding more in game chatter between the players especially on defense.The trademarked EA-Sports Trax or whatever they call it now also delivers a new soundtrack of music from different bands. Some of the songs are pretty darn catchy and you’ll be singing them in the back of your head so watch out.
Gameplay
While I hear people degrading the game for its gameplay, I’m content with the realism involved with it. The truth is that while Sega’s product is good as well, it really comes down to your preference. A lot of people like myself wll not have any problem whatsoever with the speed of the game. The frequency of injuries, turnovers, and dropped passes seems about as realistic as any football game I’ve ever played. Games are about as realistic as they’ve ever been whether you’re playing a quick exhibition game or going deep into the playoffs with your franchise. The tide can turn quickly on a missed third down conversion or a turnover. Games aren’t necessarily over when you think they’re over. A lot of closer games will be decided. You can’t always trick the CPU.
In addition to the actual gameplay, the options are robust as always. It’s loaded with tutorials, drills, situations, exhibition games, historic teams, madden cards, trophies, franchise options, playbook creations, create-a-team options, deluxe create-a-player options, stat books to measure user statistics, Madden goals, record books, export/import rosters and teams, bring NCAA players over from the other game, music, game previews, tournaments, practice modes, hidden stadiums, hidden players, and more. To say this game is lacking anything major would be as nitpicky as you can get.
Conclusion
After coming in 2nd place in the videogame Super Bowl last year. Madden 2003 lashes back on Sega NFL 2k3. And takes it’s spot back as NFL videogame champ. As Tiburon staff shines there Super Bowl rings and EA Sports lifts the heavy trophy. They get ready to go to Disney World. And trust me they earned the right to party with Mickey Mouse.
~ditto~
