olyeller01
09-17-2003, 12:16 AM
There may be a thread on this already, but if so it's not near the top of the board, so bite me.
After being somewhat impressed by NFL 2K3 last year and somewhat disappointed with Madden 2004 this year, I bought ESPN NFL 2K4 last Thursday, and wanted to play a few games over the weekend before making up my mind about the two. Here's what I think.
Features: Yeah, Madden's owner mode and training camp are cool, but they ain't even close to the coolness of The Crib either. For the uninitiated, ESPN's The Crib is like your house. There, you can display your trophies, decorate your pad with everything from game balls to jerseys to paintings, and even change around stuff like your entertainment center. Plus, there's Trivia, Air Hockey, and Paper Football mini-games to unlock and play as well. ESPN's First Person Football is neat to mess around with, but it's more of a gimmick than anything else. Sega Sports really got around to using the ESPN license
this year, and they make the presentation slick, slick, slick, even if I find Chris Berman only slightly less annoying than John Madden. At least Chris tries to put some emotion in his voice-acting.
Graphics: Madden's players look more realistic. You can't make really big beefy guys on ESPN. I don't like how the shoulder pads constantly show through the jerseys on ESPN's players. However, ESPN kicks Madden's butt when it comes to the stadiums, the fans, the weather effects, and everything else. For example, Reliant Stadium's roof is actually open in ESPN (weather permitting) unlike Madden, where they must assume it rains all the time in Houston. The game will occasionally switch to show individual fans decked out in your team's gear, or with face/body painting and the like. Madden's graphics, while nice, can get very, VERY, VERY choppy sometimes, especially when there's a lot of players on screen during a replay. C'mon, guys, this is a PS2, not a Nintendo!!! ESPN's animations, for the most part, are more realistic. I don't like the QB motions quite as much as Madden's. The only bad thing about ESPN's graphics are the player animations when they're running in the field. The players run straight up like they have something stuck in their butts. It looks both ridiculous and funny. I think whoever they mo-capped for their running animations had to take a crap or something while he was performing them.
Sound: ESPN's commentary can get repetitive sometimes, but the guys aren't bland and dry like Madden and Michaels. They aren't (NCAA 2004's) Corso, Herbstriet, and Nessler either, but they aren't too bad. I like ESPN's music more. The grunts and yells on the field are more realistic on ESPN (as well as the trash talking, which is sometimes player-specific). The crowd also gets more involved on ESPN.
Gameplay: Playmaker control works well for one thing: changing direction of a play without guys moving. This is good for busting a big gain, but that's it. Try and direct your blockers or receivers and you'll get killed. ESPN's tackles are more realistic, the RBs fight as hard as they can for yardage, and there are some wicked, wicked hits (you'll wince the first time you get the crap knocked out of you when trying to dive over the pile. I like the charge-up moves on ESPN but I wish I didn't have to constantly tap the speed burst. The one area of gameplay where Madden beats ESPN is the physics. Madden's momentum physics are spot-on, as they have been for the past few years. ESPN players can stop on a dime and change direction at will.
Bottom line: EA Sports put too much time into developing their new game modes and not enough into updating their game. Madden is no longer the best NFL football title. Fix ESPN's goofy running, make the AI a little smarter, get some momentum physics goin' on, and get an announcing team like NCAA's, and it would be haaarrrddd to beat ESPN. For now, the best football title out there is NCAA 2004, but the best NFL football title out there is ESPN NFL 2K4.
I'm ready to debate some points now:)
After being somewhat impressed by NFL 2K3 last year and somewhat disappointed with Madden 2004 this year, I bought ESPN NFL 2K4 last Thursday, and wanted to play a few games over the weekend before making up my mind about the two. Here's what I think.
Features: Yeah, Madden's owner mode and training camp are cool, but they ain't even close to the coolness of The Crib either. For the uninitiated, ESPN's The Crib is like your house. There, you can display your trophies, decorate your pad with everything from game balls to jerseys to paintings, and even change around stuff like your entertainment center. Plus, there's Trivia, Air Hockey, and Paper Football mini-games to unlock and play as well. ESPN's First Person Football is neat to mess around with, but it's more of a gimmick than anything else. Sega Sports really got around to using the ESPN license
this year, and they make the presentation slick, slick, slick, even if I find Chris Berman only slightly less annoying than John Madden. At least Chris tries to put some emotion in his voice-acting.
Graphics: Madden's players look more realistic. You can't make really big beefy guys on ESPN. I don't like how the shoulder pads constantly show through the jerseys on ESPN's players. However, ESPN kicks Madden's butt when it comes to the stadiums, the fans, the weather effects, and everything else. For example, Reliant Stadium's roof is actually open in ESPN (weather permitting) unlike Madden, where they must assume it rains all the time in Houston. The game will occasionally switch to show individual fans decked out in your team's gear, or with face/body painting and the like. Madden's graphics, while nice, can get very, VERY, VERY choppy sometimes, especially when there's a lot of players on screen during a replay. C'mon, guys, this is a PS2, not a Nintendo!!! ESPN's animations, for the most part, are more realistic. I don't like the QB motions quite as much as Madden's. The only bad thing about ESPN's graphics are the player animations when they're running in the field. The players run straight up like they have something stuck in their butts. It looks both ridiculous and funny. I think whoever they mo-capped for their running animations had to take a crap or something while he was performing them.
Sound: ESPN's commentary can get repetitive sometimes, but the guys aren't bland and dry like Madden and Michaels. They aren't (NCAA 2004's) Corso, Herbstriet, and Nessler either, but they aren't too bad. I like ESPN's music more. The grunts and yells on the field are more realistic on ESPN (as well as the trash talking, which is sometimes player-specific). The crowd also gets more involved on ESPN.
Gameplay: Playmaker control works well for one thing: changing direction of a play without guys moving. This is good for busting a big gain, but that's it. Try and direct your blockers or receivers and you'll get killed. ESPN's tackles are more realistic, the RBs fight as hard as they can for yardage, and there are some wicked, wicked hits (you'll wince the first time you get the crap knocked out of you when trying to dive over the pile. I like the charge-up moves on ESPN but I wish I didn't have to constantly tap the speed burst. The one area of gameplay where Madden beats ESPN is the physics. Madden's momentum physics are spot-on, as they have been for the past few years. ESPN players can stop on a dime and change direction at will.
Bottom line: EA Sports put too much time into developing their new game modes and not enough into updating their game. Madden is no longer the best NFL football title. Fix ESPN's goofy running, make the AI a little smarter, get some momentum physics goin' on, and get an announcing team like NCAA's, and it would be haaarrrddd to beat ESPN. For now, the best football title out there is NCAA 2004, but the best NFL football title out there is ESPN NFL 2K4.
I'm ready to debate some points now:)