Madden 2004 GameCube ReviewMadden 2004 Game Review
Madden 2004 was the madden game for the year 2004 and was released on August 1st 2003. The game may be old, but I feel as though it is one of my favorite madden games, even after I have gotten and/or played Madden 2005, 2006, 2007, 2013, 2014, and Madden mobile. The game was just such an amazing football game (my first Madden Football game) that I still remember it as being an amazing game overall.
Overall: 9.8
As I said and what I will get into, this game is just completely amazing. Everything about the game to me is just almost (if not) perfect. The great choice of the soundtrack, the amazing team customization, the story mode, the all new play maker controls, just everything about the game is amazing. It is what I look for in a Madden game. Great teams, great play books, the ability to make your own play book, it is just all here! I really enjoy all that happens in Madden 2004. Some things could be made better, but I would have to be seriously picky about those kinds of things to point them out, so the game get's a 9.8 overall from me.
Graphics: 9
I must say, the graphics in this game are just absolutely amazing. I mean, was the game play looks during the game is quite good. All of the characters are formed well, they aren't all pixelated, and the colors aren't all messed up and spew into the space around it (like Madden '99 was). The transitions when a player snaps the ball, gets a hand off, runs, jumps, spins, just all of the movements that take place in a normal football game are executed perfectly. There don't seem to be any glitches that happen when any strange moves are made, and even the extra things (such as helmets flying off in the case of a hard hit) are great. Everything is smooth. The replies are in really great definition and you can see everything that is happening in the replay (it's sad that you can't challenge a play after you had seen the replay, that would be too easy). The game just flat out looks really good and amazing. I love to play it and it doesn't make my eyes hurt. These graphics are pretty dang great for a game made in early 2003. (Even now a lot of games still have worse graphics, 11 years later).
Sound: 10
The sound in this game is perfect. The song choice in the game is amazing. Some of the songs I actually listen to every so often now. The music is good to listen to when you are doing things such as making a team or player that takes a good amount of time. The music isn't like those few games where it just makes you want to shut the system off. I hate those kinds of music choice, and it really annoys me. The in game sounds are really good too. Like most madden games, there is the perfect amount of commentating. They don't just go on and on about the game, they only say what is needed. (Unlike some other games *cough* backyard football *cough* that have too much stupid commentating). The sounds when you snap the ball, and the collisions are how they should be in football. The sound track overall in this game is just plain down right amazing.
Addictiveness: 7
The game is pretty darn addicting. You can play as all the NFL teams, plus a ton of teams that you can create, along with some of the (horrible) European teams. You also have access to a few fantasy teams and the all star teams that you can unlock. You can play with all these teams in a few different difficulty levels. You can also play the story mode which is pretty addicting once you get going on in your season. The game is really fun, and if you win a game, you'll just want to play another right afterwards. If you lose a game, then you'll want to beat the team that you just lost to! Overall, the game will keep you hooked for a long time and you'll be done with it in no time.
Story: 10
The story (Career, season) mode, is pretty dang fun. What happens is that you get drafted by a team, and you get to play as that team (and mostly your character) for his entire NFL career. You also get to pick your parents at the beginning, allowing you to have a personalized character. This mode is pretty long and pretty fun, and after I played some just flat out normal games for a few days I started this and I just keep playing it. The season mode is just where you play as a team for a season and try to win a super bowl, not too much there, but still very fun.
Depth: 10
As I have hinted on earlier, there is a ton to do in this game. In the game, you get to play as roughly 40 teams (without taking all of the teams that you COULD create into effect) against the same number of teams. Now, you can pick all of the difficulties ranging from Beginner (easiest) to All-Madden (Hardest). There are also all of the story modes that are available to you with all of the different ways that you can play those. You can also create a player ( or two ) for every single position on the football field. You can make them horrible, or you can make them amazing, it's up to you. You can make a team of all 55 custom players, or of just 1 and 54 regular people or any combination in between! There is literally just so much that you can do in this game, you'll never get board! ;)
Difficulty: 8
Just like on my Mario Kart DS game review (which you should check out) there are different difficulty levels that you can play on. I am saying that the overall difficulty level (All-Madden) is a 8 out of 10. (coming from someone who is amazing at madden, for most people it is probably higher. The game can be seriously easy, probably not even a 1, on the difficulty beginner. (I blew out the best team with the worst team 217 to 0). The game, however, get's harder quickly. With just pro, the game is really difficult (Highest blow out with worst team against best team 126 to 3). From there it get's harder until it gets to All-Madden, which is notorious for being extremely difficult. (Highest blow out with worst team against best team 98 to 21 ) The game just takes spikes, you should only move on up the difficulty when you are ready, or else you'll find yourself quickly getting frustrated. However, the All-Madden setting in this game isn't THAT hard and is still playable, why I gave it an 8 out of 10.
Overall, if you have a Nintendo Gamecube and you are a fan of the madden series (or football games in general) I would really recommend that you try out Madden 2004.
If you have any questions just post them below.
I hope you enjoyed reading my Madden 2004 review! :)
~Barathemos
Graphics
9 Sound
10 Addictive
7 Depth
10 Story
10 Difficulty
8
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