The penalties are pretty accurate, except for the false starts, which happen in strings of two, three or even four. Of course, the AI can beat you downfield as well, even if you have your best pass coverage out (which you almost always will, because they can’t run either). To its credit, the computer will catch you if you try the same play too many times in a row. You’ll soon have to ramp up the difficulty level to even pretend that the computer is a threat.
You’ll be connecting down the field so much that you’ll quickly learn to dominate the computer. What’s scary is that the running game has actually improved over last year’s installment.
You will occasionally break a run to the outside for a decent gain, but it's rare. This may not seem to be a big deal, but when you consider that running is nearly impossible, especially up the middle, it quickly becomes frustrating. So when you’re going for that 1 yard touchdown run, getting the ball across the end zone is not enough. The movement of the players is a little choppy, and the players are considered down where their feet or knees (it can be hard to differentiate) hit the ground. The only major problem in this area is the limited view of the field, which would be disastrous if you needed to see the field to play the game. The graphics and sound are serviceable enough. As it stands, it’s mediocre gameplay wrapped in a very neat little package. If EA had actually bothered to update the game in any significant way from last year, Madden 2004 could be amazing.
All the normal features are present, including 32 teams, season play, trading and creating players, and a large playbook. Unfortunately, this is more a statement on just how lacking the other games are than on what Madden does right. Madden 2004 is probably the best football game available for the GBA.
0 kommentar(er)
