I picked up Madden 2004 last night. I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me, but I like the gameplay of NCAA 2004 a lot more.

A lot of it is probably just the fact that I'm used to NCAA, but Madden just doesn't feel right. In my first game I'm playing the Falcons vs the Bengals. I fumble the kickoff return and they return it for a touchdown. On the next kickoff, I fumble again. Note to self: you can't juke in a crowd like you can in NCAA. No problem there, just something to get used to.

Anyway, I score 21 unanswered points, so it's 21-7. No problems at all. My defense is shutting them down and I'm moving the ball on offense (it's the Bengals after all ).

Then everything falls apart. I throw an interception and suddenly my guys have forgotten that you have to run towards the defender who now has the ball. It looked like a simple turnover and quick tackle but instead it was like the Red Sea parted and this guy ran it back for a TD. It just looked weird. Same thing on a punt return later in the game. The coverage seemed pretty good but then it was like my guys were 7 year olds playing pee-wee football and suddenly became entranced by a funny looking bug. Once one of 'em sees it, they all have to come over for a look. Meanwhile the punt returner is streaking for the endzone.

At this point my offense can't do ANYTHING. But when the computer went up after 31 unanswered points, my offense suddenly started moving the ball again.

In NCAA the juke move is the "bread and butter" move. In Madden, it appears to be the spin move. These guys are doing 360's faster and tighter than a figure skater. I also think the tackling and associated animations are better in NCAA. In Madden guys seem to break tackles and bounce around between defenders like a pinball. It just doesn't feel realistic to me.

I wonder if Madden has "it's the NFL, all the teams are very talented so the games WILL be close" code. It seems like the game looks at the current situation and makes things happen to keep the game close.

Again, I'm probably just not used to Madden yet and I really love NCAA 2004. I can't argue with the great reviews and general opinions of the new Madden. The game obviously appeals to a LOT of people. But if you're willing to give up the NFL license, check out NCAA 2004. Hopefully I'll play some online Madden games with some guys at work and get my money's worth, but for single player, I'll play NCAA more.

I agree with you Gromit.....I don't mean to crap on this thread, but I rented Madden 2004 last night, and I was a little let down. I didn't really find the graphics or gameplay to be stellar like all the hype on the net. I'll give it some more playing time the weekend, but on first impressions I was a little let down. I'm going to wait until ESPN is out to decide which game to toss my green at.

I'm still reserving final judgment. I was a huge fan of NCAA last year... played the hell out of that. Picked up Madden on Wednesday... still a good game... but I'm just not as fascinated.

I find myself wanted to play Mario Golf instead. Damn that Bowser course.

Anyway, it might just be me, but I find this game to be harder than other Maddens. I did a fantasty draft... ended up with a team of Fiedler, Tomlinson, Hines Ward, Driver... a decent offense... but I couldn't score for the life of me. Maybe I'm running like an offense like I would in NCAA, but it's just not working. The CPU blew me away. Mike McMahon was running all over me on defense. (I took solace in the fact that I had high school biology in Pittsburgh with this guy - so it was okay that the Lions' second stringer was beating the crud out of me.)

I was gonna start a new season with the real Bears but got so enamored with the Mini Camp that I never got to play a game. Oh well, maybe I'll get more into it... if I find myself playing Mario Golf more than Madden, I might just shop it on Ebay to get my $ back.

I'll also give my vote to NCAA 2004. I like the feel of the game much better (especially on defense). I can't believe how many times the CPU has run 80+ yard runs for touchdowns on me.

I've seen a lot of complaints about "catch up" logic. I'm up by 3 touchdowns with 0 ints, and then turn over the ball on the first play of my next 3 offensive drives (2 fumbles, 1 int). I haven't wanted to throw my controller in a long time, but this game was getting me close to that point.

Also, in my first game (5 min. quarters) there were a total of 15 interceptions. Yeesh!

I'm also in agreement with Gromit...I had always deemed NCAA as "madden-lite", but I think its the superior game this year.

Do the graphics in Madden look dark on your tvs?

Yeah I noticed that too.

I picked this up Wednesday for PC and absolutely love it, just like i did Madden 2003. The game is definitely harder then the previous version, with defenses being a lot tighter. After the first 3 games or so, i shared the opinions of many detractors... that interceptions happen too often, as well as fumbles and what not. But playing some more, the last two games i've only thrown two picks and only gotten a few defensively. I've yet to see the computer come back from a huge deficit late in the game too, as i've had two very close games that were even throughout all 4 quarters, as well as 2 blowouts where the computer never really made a comeback, nor did my offense just die.

I'm only up to about Week 8 (Raiders, 5-2 ) but i'm loving this game just like i did Madden 2003 (which i thought was superb). I can't wait to get into the offseason to see the new features there. I even played online last night and destroyed my friend until i started fooling around :P

Best Football Game Ever.

All you NCAA lovers need to get online in Madden so you can be punished for blasphemy.

Has anyone seen the strategy guide. I havent played madden in a few years and need some help and was wondering if it is worth the money to get the strategy guide if I am a novice to the madden gameplay.

Strategy guide, .

It's a waste of money, IMO.
Just do the mini-camp mode to hone your individual skills and the practice mode to learn the plays.
Better yet, play against the computer or online. There is no better way to get better than continuously playing. The better your opponent is, the faster you learn.

I flipped through the NCAA "strategy guide" at BB and all it was was a listing of the teams.

Each team had a little snippet about formations and good plays, with last years record. As it goes, I doubt it would be of any help at all.

Oh my god, i dont get how a game could be "voted the best football game of all time" and even inducted to the Football Hall Of Fame ("and here next to Joe Montana we have Madden 2004") and be so flawed, how is it possible that i play against a friend and out of about 5 games only about 3 or 4 times did i ever complete a full drive to his endzone, all the rest of the times we both scored either on a 90+ kickoff/punt return or a running play in which once he broke free of 1 blocker he ran all the way without a problem

i definately had more fun playing nfl2k3 than this.....real football this is not in my opinion

Maybe it's because you're not that good to begin with...

um, this happened to both of us, me and my friend, and alot of other people playing this game on other forums as well as this one funny man.

Maybe you and your friend suck equally?

nah i think he sucks a bit more than me...definately

Ok.

Good story.

Has anyone compared the PS2 and Xbox version?

Oh yeah, I bought both at the same time. I like having the exact same game on two consoles.

The only difference is that the PS2 has online play while the Xbox has better graphics and resolution.

Anyway, i played my friend online the other night and there really wasnt anything ridiculous that happened at all, except for a few costly fumbles (including one time where my friend picked off my pass in the end zone, only to fumble and let me recover for a TD). So i dunno, drives and what not were fine in our game. If anything, it felt like the defense was more lax which made things more fun in offense. Shrug.

And i think IGN mentions the differences

Having read through this thread...

Plenty of people at forums, such as OperationSports' Madden one, have pointed out the AI problems on punt and kick returns.

And a very large number also pick NCAA 2004 as the better EA effort this year (not even factoring the Xbox draft class problem, nor the sometimes bizarre AI depth chart ordering).

I had Madden 2003 on PS2, this year I bought it on Xbox and I have to say I'm disappointed with the graphics on Xbox.