Gameplay

The actual play

Madden 2003 offers up a very solid simulation of a football game. It is designed for 5 minute quarters so if you play the whole season, game by game, your stats will be off. There won’t be as many attempts, sacks and tackles. Scores are about right, we found the Pro difficulty a nice balance though while Rookie is easy, it’s not ridiculous. “Madden” difficulty was maddening, pardon the pun. Runs were totally ineffective, but that could just be the ineffectual coaching decisions of the writer.

Speaking of run and pass balance, and balance in general, Madden 2003 has reached a nice compromise between the two. Again, defenses are on the losing end in terms of stats, but the offense is fairly balanced. A problem comes with created players. Even ones with all 99s are generally not super-dominant, with one exception – the almighty fullback. You read that right. A maxed-out fullback is the most imbalanced player in the game. Defense AI just doesn’t seem to be able to handle him. In fact, he gets 500,000 Pro Bowl votes whereas star quarterback Peyton Manning, having a career 4500-yard, 31TD year got only 190,000. There’s something rotten in Denmark.

Gannon looks so elegant

I really hate hypersnap...

CRUSHED

Of course, EA offers fine-tuning of various settings for the computer AI and human-assist AI like passing accuracy, interceptions, tackling, awareness and so on. Turn things down properly and we’re sure you can get those 15-minute quarters with accurate stats and scores. Of course, we’d be a lot happier if EA had those pre-sets for those options out of the box…

Where the fun is at

Madden isn’t about football. The strength of the game isn’t in designing and calling a fake HB weakside smash while the QB sneaks in. It’s not about throwing the long-bomb to Jerry Rice Jr., your created super-player who will break the original Jerry’s records. Nor is it about even calling plays from the sidelines and watching them develop. No my friends, the reason to play Madden 2003 is that it’s the best sports management situation currently out on the market.

Pancaked

If he gets up, it'll be a Divine Miracle

Brown with the touchDOWN!

There is absolutely no feeling as satisfying as starting with the Cincinnati Bengals and bringing them to the Superbowl with nothing but pure moxy and management skill. Scout and draft wisely, make sure your picks start in the pre-season and get regular season experience. The more time they spend on the field, the more they’ll learn. Negotiate contracts for free agents or contract extensions for players currently on the roster, or re-sign that holdout star player. Every EA Sports game, particularly the NHL series, should have these management features.

Drafting has changed dramatically from previous Madden games. You no longer see the stats a player has, but are just given their 40 yard times, cone times, bench reps and other stats. Scouting reveals what the scouts think of his abilities, and each player is ranked according to the probability of going in a round. I’ve yet to make a smash draft pick, through about 60-odd simmed seasons.