Madden Day

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Herschie
Posts: 1180
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

Madden Day

Postby Herschie » June 17th, 2018, 11:36 pm

Ok, I'm really into football now. Rather unfortunate, considering it's June. But for some reason I can't get enough. I know, I'm weird, and what's more, I tend to be into the Cubs in January. Anyway, since it's hotter than blazes in Chicago today, I figured I'd stay in and play a little Madden. In fact, I decided I was going to play a game of Madden from each generation. And let me tell you, I had a fun time:

Madden 18 (PS4)
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I'm in the second year of my franchise, and Madden 18 is really starting to grow on me. The 4K visuals are fantastic, and unlike many other years of Madden, nothing really feels cheap. The Vikings handed me a loss, unfortunately, but it's a long season.

Madden 12 (Xbox 360)
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Ah, yes! I remember late July, early August of 2011. Oh, the anticipation! Apparently Madden 12 was going to have some presentation improvements, with better camera angles and all, especially nice for field goals. And they delivered! I remember playing the demo between the Bears and Pukers over and over again. What was nice about the demo is that to save room, they didn't put the announcers in there. Gus Johnson is the worst announcer I have ever heard in my life, and during Sunday Night Football, my wife and I say "Shut up, Pencilneck!" at least 4 times a game when Cris Collinsworth speaks. And then they combined Cris and Gus for the worst announcing crew I have ever heard!

That said, I really enjoyed this one. There's a cool glitch where if you pause and go to the replay just before a field goal, when you come back, the camera angle will be reversed, as seen in the photo above. But back in 2011, it was hard to concentrate in college because I was addicted to this game. That situation did not improve when MLB 12: The Show came out the following spring.

I ended up getting really good at this, routinely being able to pick up 11 sacks a game, and routinely being able to block 3 or 4 punts a game. On All-Madden. Too bad I'm rusty because I ended up losing 14-10 to the Pukers.

Madden 2001 (PS2)
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I seem to recall quite the hype for this game. The next generation, and the games were going to look fantastic. And they did, I remember they were quite the step up from the PS1 era. But I was hyped for Madden after seeing some of the images in Game Informer (Does anyone still read those, or do people just use that magazine to roll a joint on?).

Only problem was, I was number 221 on the list for the PS2 at Funcoland. But I was a good customer there, and they liked me. And so one day, they got a shipment in, and they called me, asking if I'd like them to hold one. Being 19 years old, I wasn't exactly made of money, but I remember my dad was very understanding, and we went over there to pick it up.

And whoa was I amazed! You could actually see the coaches' and players' eyes! The lighting also looked fantastic, and unlike the games on the PS1, I could actually tell the difference between a sunny day and playing at night.

I just don't recall the passes being so difficult to complete, but then again, the Bears did finish 5-11 in 2000. I lost badly to the Lions in the Silverdome.

Madden '98 (PS1)

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If Madden 2001 was known for its graphics, Madden '98 certainly was no. Aren't those sprites? The next year I believe they started with the polygons. Things of it is, Madden '98 was an incredibly fun game. They had a season mode where I got to take the Bears to a much happier season than the 4-12 record they had turned in (This was the beginning of what was known as the "Wanny Death Spiral"). It really does show how much fun a game can be with good gameplay, even if the graphics aren't the best.

I was Ditka's Saints, and beat the 49ers 15-6.

Madden '94 (Sega Genesis)

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Oh God, I was playing "Touchdown Fever" when this game came out! I actually didn't have a Genesis until 1998. Funny story, my friend gave me his Master System, but his cables didn't work. Luckily the guy from Funcoland said that the Genesis with the grey reset button had cables compatible with the Genesis. And so I became a Genesis owner.

It's a shame, because I really would have loved this game. It's not without fault though, since passing is such a pain. I hate those passing windows! And then your receivers tend to dive out of the way of your passes for some reason. It made Joe Montana look like one of the Browns' quarterbacks from the last fifteen years.

Still, I really enjoyed it, and I beat Houston 16-13. Sort of funny, I'm watching NFL Network while I type this, and they showed Leon Lett's gaffe against Miami during that snowy Thanksgiving day game in Dallas.



Really, we can thank EA sports for giving us a good football game in basically every generation. I know the PS3/Xbox 360 generation was a little underwhelming, but they did have a couple good ones.

Teddybear
Posts: 209
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 7:50 pm

Re: Madden Day

Postby Teddybear » June 18th, 2018, 1:08 pm

"I just don't recall the passes being so difficult to complete, but then again, the Bears did finish 5-11 in 2000. I lost badly to the Lions in the Silverdome."

Just so you know, Bears place kicker Paul Edinger is still a bad curse word for us devout Lions fans. Xmas Eve 2000, last regular season game at the Silverdome.......54 yarder to win the game for Chicago and eliminate the Lions from a playoff berth.

I wish your PS2 game reflected with reality :lol:

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Retro STrife
Posts: 2520
Joined: August 3rd, 2015, 7:40 pm

Re: Madden Day

Postby Retro STrife » June 19th, 2018, 2:03 pm

Fun read- thanks for posting this. Not just the games, but also your disgruntled reminiscings as a Bears fan.

I'm a big football fan as well and try to get a new game once or twice a generation. But I didn't start playing the Madden series for the first time until Madden 2002 on the Xbox. Before that it was Tecmo Super Bowl (NES), Troy Aikman Football (SNES) [it got awful reviews but I had fun with it- I was too young and dumb to know better], NFL Gameday 98 (PS1), and NFL 2K (DC). It's been the Madden series ever since, for better or worse.

I know people like to bash it, but I think it's a solid series overall. Yes, there was a time when NFL 2K5 was better than subsequent Madden games, but IMO Madden finally caught up several years after that. Some people say NFL 2K5 is still better, but I played a full season of 2K5 a few years ago and strongly disagree.

Herschie
Posts: 1180
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:44 pm

Re: Madden Day

Postby Herschie » December 17th, 2018, 6:45 pm

I recently started playing some Madden '99. What impressed me about that game were the animations that made good use of the newly-implemented polygon graphics. No longer would a ballcarrier just run into a defender and fall down, now you actually would see the tackling animation. Sometimes you would even see the runningback fight for extra yards. Believe me, that was huge at the time.

I gotta find Madden 2000 because I remember preferring that to NFL 2K on the Dreamcast.


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