My jaw is still on the ground from playing ESPN Football. No game on the market even comes close to the graphics or gameplay. After playing it a bunch last night my only gameplay complaint is that sometimes when running the ball players turn, pivot really in unrealistic ways, the only rough movements in what's generally a very smooth game. The DL fix is very noticable and on target! Last year if you took charge of one of the front four all you could hope for was a runner to come your way and maybe, MAYBE you'd find yourself with a tackle. This year you can take Sullivan, shed a one on one block and get to the QB. Passing game is dead on. If you think you're gonna zing a 25 yard out by hitting the pass button just before the blitzing linebacker hits ya, think again. You've gotta give your QB time to work the mechanics and get the ball out there. If you're feeling pressure it's not recommended that you huck downfield. Really like this aspect. The replays are phenominal. Berman's halftime report is amazing, the game looks great. It gives timely stat tracks, really impressive. No lag time either, gets right to it, they plugged a lot of nice sequences in to cover any load time, the game doesn't miss a beat. First person football is plenty playable and a lot of fun. I was playing it a bunch last night and it's simply amazing. I can't imagine what it would look like in HDTV. Oh, by the way, i'm playing this game on standard television and I can tell it was designed for high definition! There's occasional wavy lines that I can tell exist because my TV's not up to scuff. Things I don't like. Picky details but they were little things that i thought they could fix without too much difficulty last year but didn't. Controller options, there are three settings for your controller and that's that. And if you like the offensive settings on one but the defensive on the other, tough. Either stick with one or keep going to the options page after every change of possession. I'd really like to customize my controls, or at least have more options. Offseason looks fancier but the engine still needs some work. Free agency isn't very smooth, the interface isn't totally user friendly. Madden really has a big leg up here. Scouting potential draftees is once again, BORING! For starters you can only see three players on screen at a time, i'd rather be able to scower to list of prospects. Also, if you look at an individual player it shoots you back to the overall list, so if i'm looking at third round receivers, a little bit down the list (that only shows three guys!), if I take a closer look at on of them, in order to check the next one out i have to go back to the overall, move back over to receivers, and scroll down again. No, this isn't life ending, but it slows down the process and makes it not worth doing. They need to completely overhaul the scouting next season! Re-signing players is boring, both games fail in this department. It's too easy to re-sign all your players, there should be an option at the beginning of the season that calls for more realistic movement. In EA's NCAA football such things as coaching strategy, location, team style, team prestige come into play when recruiting. I think this is warrented in an NFL game, money will still reign number one, but there should be other factors. There should also be more communication, rumors from around the league that a team is sick and tired of so and so, as it is it's pretty dry. Basically, ESPN's off-season is identical to to 2k3, only it looks better. But I would be SHOCKED if they did much work to the engine. It's still pretty dull. Madden wins this battle hands down, ESPN needs to revamp their off-season completely. Don't know what they can do to better Training Camp or Owner mode, but they gotta do something cause right now it's not even close. But while I'm critical of the off-season, I do want to reiterate that everything within the action isn't close either. ESPN's presentation is amazing, the gameplay is phenominal, they've done an amazing job of bringing together the programming expertise of Visual Concepts and the entertainment production skills of ESPN. And while the off-season needs work, I realize too that these guys only have eleven months to develop new things, revamp old things, and then make sure it all works. And they have definately used their past year wisely. Can't fix everything, but they concentrated their efforts on the important parts, and the game is amazing. Big props!
This is the best football game made to date! Madden still can't compare with the realism of the 2k series. Madden is an established franchise. It isn't a bad game. Most people are afraid of changes and don't like trying ... Read Full Review
Superb if you have to describe this game in one word.Lets start off with gameplay its great for anyone.for newcomers its not that hard or not that easy for expereinced players like myself you can even take the challenge ... Read Full Review
