John Madden Football Championship Edition was released as a rental exclusive and is somewhat hard to find in good condition. JMCE is an exact clone of Madden ’93 except it has 38 Championship teams (the best teams ever!) instead of present day teams. Game Play: (7 of 10): You still have all the great features of Madden ’93. The CPU is still not all that smart, but at least it will give you a challenge. The biggest problem with the game is it is way too easy to find “money plays” (Plays that will almost ALWAYS work) and with these plays it is easy to get a first down on every play. You do not need to worry about mixing up you play calling like present day football games, because you could just run the same play over and over again the CPU will not catch on to it. Just like all sport games the real fun comes when you grab a friend and start whipping his butt! With the arcade style you will enjoy talking trash when you run over his best lineman or burn his DB to score the go ahead TD. This game is geared toward the running game, if you take a good running team you could just keep running with you top RB and score on will. Options: (4 of 10): The options in this game are not as well done as most Madden games. You only have Pre-Season, Regular Season, Playoffs and Sudden Death. Pre and Regular season are the same thing because you cannot take a team through a full 16 game schedule. You can choose how long you want your quarters to be (5/10/15 minutes.) The best and only real reason this game was made is the Playoffs, in this mode you pick one of the greatest pro teams ever (Green Bay ’77, New York ’68, Dallas ’71, ’75. and ’77, Pittsburgh ’75 and ’78, Los Angeles ’79, Cincinnati ’81 and ’88, Chicago ’85, New York ’86 and ’90, Oakland-L.A. ’67, ’76, ’80, and ’83, Minnesota ’69, ’73 and ’76, Washing ton ’72, ’82, ’87, and ’91, Kansas City ’66 and ’69, Baltimore ’68 and ’70, Miami ’72 and ‘84, Denver ’77 and ’87, Philadelphia ’80, San Francisco ’81, ’84, and ’89, New England ’85, and Buffalo ‘90) and try to beat the other greats and try to prove who is the best team ever. You also get two All-Madden Teams ’92 and Madden Greats that features all of Madden’s favorite players. They added a battery to the game meaning no more need for passwords. No stats are kept through the playoffs though. They have also added the No huddle offense that was so popular in the early ‘90’s. They added a lot of plays that you can run both offensive and defensive. You have Goal line, 4-3, 3-4, Nickel and Dime to chose from on defense and goal line, far, near, pro-form, shotgun, and run & shoot on offense as well as special teams. There is also the option of playing in a dome on turf or a stadium on grass or turf, as well as weather conditions (Rain, Wind and Snow). Audio/Video: (5 of 10): The graphics in this game have not improved much sense ’91. The players are a little bigger but that’s about it. Players don’t have their numbers on their backs unless the player’s number is 11 (all players have 11 on their back.) But they do have the number around them when you are controlling them or they have the ball. They have added little things like head butt celebration, clothesline tickles, and shoestring catches. The grass or turf looks plain with little texture. The audio is just okay; Madden will drive you nuts with his Maddenisms. At first they may be funning, but after ten times they become old! Replayability: (3 of 10): Not very good. The best thing about older sport game to me is that you can play with teams and players that that a unavailable to play anywhere else, but most newer football games like Madden 2003 you can play all the older teams that made it to the Super Bowl, so it just doesn’t have it’s own niche. You will have fun with game for a while but it will get old fast. I would still recommend buying it if you find it in good condition because I feel it is a very hard game to find in good condition.
--