Don't get even, get Madden: NFL 2004 screens and movie

EA's Madden series is one of the longest-enduring series' in videogames history. Our first memory of the game is from 1991 on the Mega Drive. Since then, the title has appeared with astounding regularity.

Oddly, even though some in the office couldn't give a tinker's cuss about the actual real-life game, there's something hugely enjoyable about the Madden series - it almost seems to make for a better videogame than it does a real sport!

We've been playing the first build of Madden 2004 on Xbox, and it perhaps won't be the grandest surprise of the year to learn that the gameplay isn't markedly different from past titles.

Short of equipping the linebackers with machine guns and forcing John Madden to face off against the Denver Broncos by himself, there's not really too much you can do to change the game - though we're promised even more plays (moves) are at your disposal.

Firstly, Madden 2004 looks astonishing. Detail on the players is impressive, animation is faultless - if Madden 2004 were a girl you'd be hitting her with one abysmal chat-up line after another. There's no way round it - this is one of the most visually impressive games we've ever seen, and we just didn't expect to be saying that about a bunch of sweating hulks chasing after a pigskin.

Whether Madden is an essential purchase or not, should you have one of the more recent titles, probably depends on how important details like an up-to-date roster are to you.

But there are new additions above and beyond the stats - added to a previous franchise mode, where you can select formations, train players, and make various managerial decisions, there's even an owner's mode now, where you can thinker with your stadium size, ticket pricing and such like.

Add the already exhaustive list of features - you can play a whole season, a tournament, a practice, a one-off or even a special drill mode, create your own players or plays, select your team from a choice of contemporary or classic squad - and NFL fans have enough here to keep them going 'til, yep, Madden 2005.

Madden 2004 will be available on pretty much every format known to mankind - namely GameCube, GBA, PC, PlayStation, PS2 and Xbox - from September 12.

Madden NFL 2004 movie (PC, PS2, Xbox, GC)
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