Madden NFL 2000
Reviewed by Dyson Turner
Madden NFL 2000 is one of the best football simulations at
ever had a chance to play. I was never a real avid fan of
the series only a few games grabbed me Madden 94, Madden 97
then this one. Well since it was 2000 and I had the other
titles in the 2000 series I decided this one would be a nice
addition. I was just hoping for a better 97 with better
graphics and new players. Well I got that plus a lot more,
Madden NFL 2000 blew me away. The graphics were great they
had realistic size characters and they really made them move
the way NFL players were supposed to. This is due to great
camera angles and some primo NFL stars who were the models
for the real player. No longer can a 300-pound lineman come
barreling down the field and stop your star runner.
Even if your star runner is tired the juke move and the spin
looks much improved over the previous version. Stiff Arms
actually work this time and they made it more realistic too.
It seems players some how have hidden ratings or things that
are unique to their positions. For instance say if you catch
an interception although Offensive Lineman are big they
don't catch tackle well, and even if you have a skinny CB
you can usually break them off of them. This is way more
realistic than other games where even the Qb can break you.
When I first played this game I wasn't too impressed it took
me a while to actually see the things that were around me.
To figure out the more precise controls and to -play this
game to it's full potential.
I have to say I'm glad I did because once you got everything
squared away this game is a blast and one you will go back
to again and again. This is probably going to go down as one
of the best football sims ever created it was so full of
innovation and realism two things that people look for
nowadays. Game day 2000 is not touching despite what you may
have heard. If you are looking for the good football sim and
you don't have money for the recent one by all means get
this one. It's well worth it and just as fun as the newer
one because it has everything you will need right here.
Visuals 9. 0/10
These graphics are so great and some of the best I seen on
playstation in a long time when it comes to football
although they too have their problems like most of the games
in this series. For starters they improved on the look of
the football players lineman in the past only looked wider
than the other players, and in some cases there was no
distinguishing a lineman from a Free Safety. Now they
improved on this lineman actually show their true girth and
they actually look the size the actual player is. That's
called realistic weight, which makes the game look better.
Wide Recievers and Cornerbacks are all skinny and lanky
looking Running Backs with the big legs, and the perfectly
shaped Quarterbacks. All of this looked as real to the field
as possible.
The fields even represented the realistic locations that
these teams actually played in, and weather conditions were
on cue perfectly. No longer does it snow when you're playing
the chargers in week 2, or a beautiful day in Green Bay at
week 14. This may seem like a small detail but that is what
this game is all about it's about working with the small
detail to make the game look overall better. I think the
refs could of used some reworking, because every season we
get those tall skinny refs, when I watch a football game the
refs are barely near the players, so this is unrealistic
right here on the graphics front. But the refs are not a
major detail so I figure Electronic Arts didn't even care or
they for went it.
The crowd well looks as flat as ever even though you barely
see the crowd and when you actually play with the suggested
camera angle the crowd is not really chown much. This is not
much of a sign of detail and I heard that the crowd would be
much improved in this version, I guess those who said that
were wrong. Overall though the graphics did do a good job
they did look realistic but some things were missing very
noticeable things, but all in all it did do a good job of
actually representing the game of football itself. Also this
year player movement has gone up a notch the players move
and react more like real players each time you actually look
at the game. You get all the things that happen on the field
with two different type of injury animation.
Also the ambulance is back but the ambulance looks as cheesy
as possible. I guess since injuries aren't an every day
occurrence you shouldn't worry about how the ambulance
looked. Despite this small fact the overall graphics really
did it for me. When you caught the ball the full motions
were in it, although players unrealistically some times and
this is only rare they caught the ball with their backs.
This means they were not looking nor could you see their
arms go up to catch it. When I seen it I was pretty annoyed
by it. But the bottom line is that except for a few mistakes
the graphics did a great job.
Audio 8. 0/10
Big John Madden and his colleague Pat Summerall are back in
the commentary booth as usual. Well Summerall sounds like he
always did doing the plays by play while madden came in with
witty phrases. Although Madden is packed with new phrases
something is missing. That something is for the most part
Madden is pretty quiet. I mean when you actually watch a
real NFL games on TV madden is blabbing about hotdogs tapped
fingers and the guys shoelaces. On this he barely says
anything while we have to listen to the droning voice of Pat
Summerall although Summerall has gotten some improvement
over the older games. He actually says comments along with
the play by play and this reviewer feels that it is about time.
I was sick of Summerall being forced to do just play by play
and nothing more. He says things like 'That kick sure was a
boomer' and maybe 4 other phrases. Although this isn't much
this is way better than what use to be there. Well the main
thing about audio is music and even though this is a
football game you have to have good music too. Well like
tradition EA Sports has always gave us nice tunes to listen
to, and I'm proud to say that Madden NFL 2000 is no
different. This game is packed with 15 tunes 12 of these are
great to listen to while fixing up your rosters create a
player and all the other stuff you do in the management part
of the game. The music plays there and during the pause
screen where you make substitutions.
The sound effects are as real as it gets as well you got
your usual big hit sounds crowd reactions and loud kicking
sound. All of these have different pitches you get that
ohhhh reaction from the crowd after you do a big hit on the
home team player. That is my favorite you also got like 30
different tackle sounds and player yelps after getting hit.
No longer does the lineman blocking sound so boring tedious
and droning although you hear it they seem to have made it
quieter than usual. Also of notice is the kicking sounds
punts kicks kickoffs extra points and long field goals all
have distinctively different sounds. You can tell when you
knocked the ball for that 50+ yard game winning Field Goal,
you can also tell when it's short. Even though you can
visually see it with the kick meter but you can't visually
see it during while the does it.
Overall this game in the Audio department was pretty good.
You had everything from the Quarterback barking the katans,
to the typical referee sounding voice. That's one thing I
forgot to mention was the ref even says some funny stuff
too. Like when you do a late hit he sometimes calls it
'Giving him the business after the whistle' which isn't
much but at least it's better than a droning sounding ref. I
didn't have too many problems with the music on this game
because this game sounded pretty decent in my opinion,
except for the fact that John Madden doesn't say much. When
he does say something it's usually pretty funny and he
barely repeats stuff twice in a game. Now if you are playing
a season that's a different story because he will say it
every game. He has at least two sayings per team and he
always says things about the top NFL QB's .
But there is the good and then there is always the bad. But
the good out weighs the bad here but those things you can't
look over as a reviewer or a gamer sticks out too much in my
opinion. That lowers this game creditability. I think if
they at least had John say something every 2 plays or so,
that would have made the game better. Some times he never
says anything for like 2 minutes. This is supposed to be
Madden, not the Summerall talkathon. But despite this fact
the music and sound effects make up for it greatly, but that
did hamper the music department considerably.
Game Play 10/10
This game is for 1-8 players. You have all 31 NFL Teams with
the exception of the new giants uniform and the new patriots
uniforms everything is pretty much else up to date. You have
a bevy of modes at your disposal. As usual you have
Exhibition Season, and Playoff Mode. But now it has some
returning favorites and new modes, like practice, Franchise
and Fantasy. My favorite of these would be Franchise and
I'll get into that later. Basically the main mode of this
game would be exhibition if you are the type wit ha lot of
friends over or even Fantasy another outstanding mode. You
also have a Create Your Own Player, and a Create Your Own
Play and the latter of which is harder to use.
We are all familiar with Create Your Own Player where you
get a chance to name your player give him a number and stat
him up. Then suit him for your favorite NFL team. If your
player has a common name like Smith Summerall will call his
name. If you decided to put a nickname up there then you
will get your number called. You also got Create Your Own
Play, it sounds cool but it isn't as cool as you would
think. Creating Your Own play is pretty difficult, because
you have to think about all the minor things involved. Plus
you can't create your own formation, which really sucks. I
mean I always dream of having everyone but the Guards Center
and quarterback to go long, but you can't do that here.
Despite this fat it will take a lot of tinkering to get
create your own play to do what you want.
You also have a Fantasy Mode. Fantasy Mode is two separate
things you could A have a tournament with you and a bunch of
friends, and pick your favorite NFL Teams and see who comes
out on top. Or which is even more fun is Fantasy Draft. This
is where you pick names for your team, and you draft NFL
Players to it. This is a tedious process with a lot of
friends around but in the end it's pretty fun. Then you can
trade with your friends if one of them happens to snatch up
Steve Young and you were stuck with Rob Johnson. Then like
the regular fantasy modes you get a sort of a mock season
equip with a playoff mode. This is a lot of fun and can keep
you and the gang busies for weeks. This mode is great but
without friends it's pretty dull.
Then you have your typical Season Mode. Season Mode is
exactly that you pick our favorite NFL Team. Then you get
put into the realistic 2000 Season NFL Schedule. So you can
decide the fate of your team. Although of course it won't
follow the realistic actions of the NFL with the two teams
like the Titans and Rams making it to the dance but you
could if you wanted to. Since you can control as many teams
as you want but for my money I would stick with one team.
Also you can play with and with out he salary cap and make
as many block buster trades as you want. Or grab a couple of
ringers that you made in Create a Player. This mode is
pretty typical and the type of thing you would do if you
were by yourself. But if you want some more then you should
try Franchise.
Franchise mode is the king of all statistical modes.
Although it is much like season it has its differences for
instance you have to use cap, you have to sign players to
contracts. You have to meet roster requirements plus you get
a cool interactive bargaining mode. This is where you speak
to the players agent and you have to cough up bucks or years
to get that player in your uniform. This mode can be tough
because at the end of the season based on stats the player
can improve or go down. Usually the player doesn't go down
by much, which is a good thing. Also another thing to look
out for a old player, old players will retire on you but
they're usually cheap. At the end of the season despite if
you won the superbowl you have to do a sort of an off season mode.
Here you make offers to other teams resign the contracts of
the guys who were only on for one year plus draft rookies.
You have to be smart because a lot of times you may have to
sacrifice a young star Corner Back, for 3 old Defensive
Lineman because of the Roster Regulations. Also when you
complete a season you finally get a chance to create your
own player don't make him a unless, you want to cough up
your whole team and get a bunch of older guys or guys who
are young and not talented. Plus the Free Agent signing
period is competitive. Try to sign guys early, and try to
lock them in with a lot of cash because other teams may lock
them in or make you cough up a lot of money for them. This
mode is fun and competitive although the actual playing is
no different than any other mode.
The actual game it self is pretty decent. I mean you have
realistic playbooks as well and you can assign another
team's playbook if your favorite team doesn't have the plays
you are looking for. One good thing to notice this is
finally a perfect game. In the past dating back to the 16
bit football sims you either had to pass all day or run all
day. You couldn't do both because no matter whom you played
no one would catch the ball. Or no matter whom you played
you would get hit if you even though about letting the
running back do it. So here you have the option to do both,
unless you playing against a friend who is a interception
whiz then running would be the option. Well that is one
complaint that I found while playing this game is the fact
that it may be slightly too easy to pick off the ball I mean
unless you are playing against Randy Moss you can pretty
much pick off everything put up.
I mean there were some games where I had brought down 7+
interceptions with one player, and he wasn't even a good
corner back. This go to show you, that you just can't have
everything you want in your football game. Also there is the
fact that a fumble is such a rare occurrence it almost never
happens, and this really gets you mad. I mean I played
against some of the most fumble prone Running Backs in the
game. I even used big defensive lineman hit them with the
ball arm and nothing. This is pretty unrealistic cause
usually when you go helmet to ball in real life or in the
pros the ball goes flying out of there. One thing that I do
like is the fact that weather actually makes the game more
difficult to play. If you happen to play a windy and wet
game in Giant's Stadium you will see that the Wide Receivers
cant' catch the ball right your over throwing and you are
slipping in the mud.
This game is just a blast to play and even though it had a
few flaws in it like the barely any fumbles and the high
interception rate this game is great though. As a player and
a reviewer I can look over these small details, there is
just so much good in the game that these things didn't even
matter. Then there were other things smaller things that
made the game great. If you had NCAA Football 2000 you could
draft your created college prospect from there and put him
in the big leagues, even though this is insignificant if you
don't have that game I think it was still cool to put in.
The controls on this is excellent as well the response time
is absolutely perfect and you now actually spin off and do
the juke move properly and there isn't any lag. The
Difficulty is adjustable, and this game takes about 7 blocks
for a season 8 for a franchise and 7 for a fantasy.
Overall 10 out of 10
This game despite some small common flaws is still a winner
in my book and one of the best games out there for
playstation when it comes to football. You really couldn't
beat it and it's sequel only matches it and I still think
that when the Playstaion dies this one will be remembered as
the 'Madden 96' of playstation. Even though that had
sequels like this they were only add ons and nothing really
better than this. This game just had it all and it was so
complete and many other ways no new features really could
help it because the features and modes it already had were
pretty good, and you didn't need much more. Usually when I
play sports game I always think they should have had this
feature or that features that isn't the case here. This game
did it perfectly with all the stuff you need to make your
football experience more enjoyable. If you are a stat hog or
just a mere causal watcher of football this game will be the
one to want.
The Fun Factor on this game was definitely pretty high. This
game was always a load of fun for me to play, I don't know
about others but I could always play Madden 2000 and have a
fun time while doing so. Not too many sports especially had
me feeling like that. I usually got bored with most sports
game about mid season but not this one it is a blast to
play, even if you are not very good at it. This game sort of
help those a lot of people say they aren't good at video
game football but I think you this one provides the fun and
easy controls needed for those who happen to not be as good.
This game is a fun whether you are by yourself or have a
bunch of friends. Hours of enjoyment and it takes a while to
put down.
The Replay Value on the other hand is high but just not as
high as the fun factor. I mean that of course the game is
fun in all, and believe me you will be hopping back. After a
while this game really loses the feel of wanting to come
back. I'm not saying that you won't come back you will trust
me but for some reason, you may not want to. Not the fact
that the game is bad it actually takes a while for you to
actual get up the will to really want to play it once you
played it to death. But when you do it's usually enjoyable
in my opinion football games are always like that you may
think that you don't feel like playing it but once the game
gets started you will have a blast. Maybe it's just me or
maybe it's just me with football.
Overall everything in this game combined for one great
football simulation graphics, sound and the overall fun and
easyness of it. I mean there are not too many football games
on the market that even compare fully to this one, this is
truly in a league of it's on and on top of it's class. A fun
game you could play with your friends and by yourself
usually doesn't come around very often. Well this one came
around and it's here Madden NFL 2000, is just such a great
and interesting game. Even though it has it's minor flaws
like the low Madden speaking and the interceptions and the
funny looking lineman. Even though you have to be blind not
to notice these things it still in my opinion out does it
self in every way you could think of. Small flaws aren't
that apparent and you shouldn't let that hinder you. You
should get this game whether you are a die hard fan or you
don't even know that much about football, and you want a
game anyway. You won't be at all disappointed by it.
Bottomline is get this game you will be highly pleased.
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