Madden and ESPN Reviewed by OXM

[Dorbin]

Just got my new OXM in today, and they gave Madden a 9.1, while they gave ESPN a 9.3. It's refreshing to know that people besides Sega fanboys see the quality that ESPN has to offer.

Their main beef with Madden was that it wasn't a major step forward this year, despite online play, and that the control scheme actually seemed slightly dated compared to ESPN - I bet the Madden fanboys will be up in arms about that. OXM said that ESPN was "the best NFL title on the Xbox at any price." So, what do you guys think? If you are interested, I can post a few more key quotes from each review, seeing as this is the first review of Madden I've seen.

BTW, apparently Madden does not have Live Aware like ESPN does. Also, Sega is supposedly fixing their server problems.

[Wraith554]

Man all those madden fans are going to be pissed about this, but oh well the best game won.

[Spartan 04]

I agree, Madden is really no different each year, oh and boxart doesn't count.

[Crow]

i still prefer Madden, im not pissed at all since they can give their opinions like you can, there's is no bigger than yours but Madden just feels like a good game whereas ESPN doesn't

[dork]

1 w@nT an ecks B0x juz 4 dis GAM3!!!111!

lol

[Dorbin]

^ Poor Dork...No Xbox :(

And Macca, you are right, it is just one opinion. But jeez, you don't think ESPN is at least a good game?

[[[tavis]]]

i am not pissed but i do feel they pressed the same negatives for madden and the same positives for espn.

ESPN - 20 20 20 20 20 fucking dollars, talk about a pressed point. They even admit about the faults but say "hey its a video game."

Madden - nothing has changed, the franchise mode is so indepth but its boring, HUH?
Seariously people.

I like ESPN more and more everyday, is it better than even last years madden without live support, MAYBE by a hair. Espn tried to hard and came up short on many things, commentary is annoying, the voice on that guy sucks and they say that damn war and peace thing too much, free agents in franchise mode, where are you? intuitive controls, hardly, I am still trying to figure out how not to give up a 80 yard pass TD and why goaline is like , "hey here is a touchdown", why the right thumbstick is worthless while running, and the online lag is annoying. again i like espn alot and if it weren't for it being 20$ i wouldn't look at it, next year for 20$, no sir i won't buy it

[Dorbin]

^ They didn't rate ESPN on the fact that it was just 20 bucks - here is a quote: "...its also the best NFL title on Xbox for any price."

Yes, I think they said that Madden's franchise mode was boring (I didn't check again, but I'll take your word for it); however, they said the same thing for ESPN. "Hardcore fans will love the insane level of detail [in franchise mode's weekly prep], but casual fans will loathe its unintuitive design." They also say in the recap that weekly prep is "poorly designed." So, there is no double standard there - they gave the thumbs down to the intuitiveness of parts of both of the games' franchise modes.

Oh, and lag should be fixed, anyway. :)

[Kevin]

I am a Madden fanboy.. but seriously, this year it's not much different at all. The graphics are the exact same, and the franchise mode is basically the same with a "story"? I'm still getting used to the controls, and I liked Madden's alot (but how the fuck do you call a fair catch in the GameCube version!? .. at least in 2004?).

When I play Madden, I can play 1 or 2 games before getting bored. ESPN just seems alot more fun to me and I can play 4 or 5 in a row.

The commentary is 1000x better than Madden. John Madden is a fat piece of shit that never should have been able to be a T.V. announcer because everytime he says something, it makes me stupider. Al Michaels is awesome though.

[Dorbin]

Yeah, ESPN is typically described as more exciting to play and watch. At least, thats what I think, and I've read it elsewhere.

[Pro A.]

ESPN was a lot of fun to play. I rented it for three days.

[Shayde]

Yeah, ESPN is way more fun to play to me. Cribs > Madden cards, I haven't unlocked anything yet (saving for trivia machine), but Madden cards just sucked. Its also cool to see the trophies you won for getting an INT for a touchdown or a 50 yard FG. Also, the custom soundtracks on the menu screens is a plus (dunno if Madden had that...)

[Dorbin]

Nah, Madden didn't, and doesn't I don't think (not positive about that for this year though). You do know that you can customize the stadium music too, right Shayde?

[Dwhitten]

This is actually good news for Madden fans. If I know EA they don't start "stepping up" the pace until they get checked in competition. I think that they now know that they can't take for granted each year that they'll be number 1 every year.


It should be interesting next year.

[Dorbin]

I was just thinking about that; ESPN is making Madden (or will make Madden) better by supplying competition. However, while EA will try harder, it certainly doesn't mean that they'll always be number 1 because of it, hehe. :)

[r33hash]

Guess I should be glad that I didnt get Madden last year then, eh. This means that it won't feel all the same to me as it does others.

[Shayde]

You do know that you can customize the stadium music too, right Shayde?

Yeah, I tried it once. Didn't like it much, I didn't want it to play the whole song, but it sounded weird when the song just cut off out of nowhere.
Unless there is a hidden fade feature that I'm not seeing I doubt I'll use it.

[Dorbin]

Yeah, haven't tried it myself, but I am suprised then that there is no fade feature.