Posted: August 30 2004 at 8:23pm | IP Logged

Tonight was the night I finally realized that Madden is my preferred game of football this year for its gameplay. While I've been playing Madden since the Genesis days, I can't blame my familiarity for my favortism since the Genesis and PS1 Madden games played nothing like the PS2 versions of the game. Besides, I've owned as many copies of the 2K series on the PS2 as Madden (4 each).

For starters, the passing game feels much better and is much more enjoyable for me. The ball physics just seem more realistic too. I'm also beginning to establish a reliable running game in this year's Madden and I've always loved the game's momentum-based physics. When you hit a hole, it feels like you're hitting a hole and I was forced to change my gameplay style to improve my running game in this year's version.

Madden's new additions have really impressed me a lot. I've always loved the playcalling aspect of football and this year's version really puts you in the role of offensive and defensive coordinator. The number of pre-snap options is unmatched with the new Formation Shift becoming a favorite option of mine. If EA only included the option to change controller configurations, I'd be in football heaven.

The one thing I don't like in ESPN is the ability to "Charge Up" moves. It just seems unrealistic and I've played people that have used these moves to gain big yardage on plays I had shut down. It feels like players are rewarded more for their button-pushing skills rather than their playcalling and knowledge of football.

To be honest, I will continue to buy ESPN and Madden every year as football games are my favorite genre of games. It just that Madden will get more playtime this year.

Posted: September 18 2004 at 8:06pm | IP Logged

I gave up on playing random opponents during the 2003 series of games. I also think Madden has more "cheesers" because it has a bigger fan base. For some reason I also think that the average ESPN player is older than the average Madden player. I don't know this for a fact but just feel this way.

To be honest, I've owned Madden 2005 since the day it was released have haven't played an online game yet because I don't know anyone with another PS2 version of the game. We had a good Madden 2004 league earlier in the year that was alot of fun though.

Posted: September 18 2004 at 8:21pm | IP Logged

I wasn't even aware that there was a punt blocking glitch. The only thing I heard about was the fatigue issue when using formation shifts.

It really seems like more problems are slipping through the QA process these days. I understand that games are more complicated than ever before, but take that into account when you debug and test a game.