Here's the story of a game called Madden, that kept getting better as the years go on. Yes, yes its true, its damn true, Madden NFL 2003 is the best pro football game to hit the consoles this year. You will not be disappointed when you pick up Madden and play Madden; that is, unless you don't like having bloody thumbs and hate breaking prior commitments.
The gameplay has gotten better, and faster and smarter. The AI, as always, is totally adjustable and you can tweak this game to your liking. The gameplay is lightning quick when compared to previous Madden titles, and you'll find the transition extremely welcome. I found that this year's Madden did a great job representing breakaway speed of players, helping give you the opportunity to bust off a big play, or stop one if the guy breaking away doesn't have much speed or acceleration. With Madden, you're always going to have your Rookie, Pro, All Pro and All Madden difficulty settings; this year's offers a smoother transition between the levels of difficulty. I, myself, picked it up and began playing on All Pro right off the bat and had much success on the offensive side of the ball, but couldn't stop a team's attack for the life of me. It takes getting used to, but eventually, you'll get the hang of it. The All Madden difficulty is just that, difficult. You won't always wow with numbers, or drool in awe, what you will get, however, is tight football with defensive stands or storming shoot outs.
When the game itself plays, you notice the smoothness of the players and the tightness of the field. Everything looks so damn cool from Ford Field to Candelstick Point. There are plenty of new animations to make you smile, and the simple fact that the players run faster and can adjust quicker really makes this game, the game to beat. This year's player models look truer to form than ever before, Brett Favre looks like the pain killer popping packer and T.O. looks like the loud mouth, show boating, TD scoring machine. Watching a player make a catch this year looks like he's making the catch, and watching a receiver get decked after a pass over the middle also looks smoother and more impressive than last year's title. When all is said and done, Madden simply plays best and looks the best this year.
Onto the ever so important replay value of the game. As usual, Madden has a stellar franchise mode that allows you to take a team for the course of 30 years and build a dynasty. Your players can get injured and their ratings will become affected, and this plays a vital factor in managing your team's starters. Also, before each season begins, you play 4 preseason matchups which lead to the progession of rookies and other role players, or starters. At the end of every season, you must scout rookies that you plan to draft in the NFL Draft. You spend a certain amount of time and points with players to determine who will be a great pick and who will be an early round bust. This is great, as you do not get the actual ratings of the players until you have drafted them, so you could be looking at getting an 80 rated CB in the second or third round, if no one pays close attention to the scouting reports. The franchise is the best yet, with simple, but key additions to make the fanatic and casual player happy. Also added to the mix is the Mini Camp, which allows you to get used to certain aspects of the game. You will find yourself putting a lot of time and effort into this mode, trying to attain all the cheat cards and gold trophies for your record books and madden cards. This mode will really help you time out swatting down passes, spying on the running backs, and attacking when necessary on run plays. You'll also learn how to become more mobile and agile in the pocket, as well as fine tune your running backs skills by learning the best ways to beat defenders.
The bottom line is this, if you like football, if you like games, then Madden NFL 2003 is the game for you. It is heads, shoulders, knees and toes above the competition. Do not believe the hype for NFL 2k3 and it being the Madden Slayer, as it is simply an ESPN Arcade football game that plays well, but not excellent like Madden NFL 2003.
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