• o team and player management can emulate the NFLs real salary cap system. Put players on the trading block and field offers for trades from computer teams.
• New and Improved Commentary: Featuring the Monday Night Football team of John Madden and Al Michaels for commentary and dynamic play-by-play and sideline reporter Melissa Stark. New commentary elements include Gamestory mode which provides improved overtime commentary, halftime analysis, and increased rivalry/championship specific commentary, improved replay commentary, audio for specific player moves, blowout commentary, and much more.
• New EA SPORTS Trax and Jukebox: New songs are featured, and full Jukebox feature allows custom orders and play lists.Revolutionary Playmaker Control: Just like NFL players on the field, gamers now have more control over the action before and during the play with intuitive right stick adjustments. With Playmaker Pre-Play Control, use the right stick to quickly change plays, routes, ordefensive coverage. After the snap, use the right stick to call out blocks, direct receivers, and make quick adj
• New, Deep Owner Mode: Take over the full bottom line responsibilities of the owner in addition to GM, coach, and player duties in Franchise Mode. Features include relocating your team and building a new stadium and setting all prices including food, merchandise, and parking. With the addition of the assistant coach license, gamers can even hire their own coaching staffs.
• Knockout Graphics and Presentation: New broadcast quality effects create a seamless transition from the end of the play to the play-call interface with post-play graphics shown on screen. Other enhancements incltionsput scoreboards, luxury boxes, and tunnels, where you want them.

EA SPORTS Online is the ultimate online gaming destination, offering players a new way to take their love of sports online: EA SPORTS competition anytime, anywhere, with the largest online sports gaming community. EA SPORTS Online is included for no additional charge. Along with the ability toface off against competitors from the EA SPORTS Nation, EA SPORTS Online for the PlayStation 2 delivers downloadable roster updates for team sports, rankings, matchmaking between two or more players, to

To cut to the chase, Madden NFL 2004 is the best football video game ever produced (and that includes the '05 and '06 editions of Madden). What makes this game so great? For starters, the graphics are beautiful and accurately depict the real-life NFL stadiums. The sounds is also well-done, with an excellent soundtrack that features a blend of rap/hip-hop, pop, hard rock, and alternative music. I never considered myself much of a fan of the latter three genres listed above, but after playing this game so much, the styles actually grew on me.
However, the greatest aspect of Madden '04 is the gameplay itself. Each NFL team employs a real-life simulated playbook which adds to the realism of the game (the Philadelpha Eagles feature a pass-oriented West Coast offense and the Chicago Bears have a grind-it-out running offense). The game plays remarkably fast, and now you have the option of directing your lead blockers and receivers via the left dual action stick. The Owner's Mode is great, allowing you to either create your very own franchise or take over the reigns of one of the 32 NFL teams and annually manage the team's budget, add improvements to your stadium, and play each weekly game. There is also a great online mode which allows you to compete in online Madden tournaments with the best players across the country.
My favorite aspect of the Madden series has always been its inclusion of historic teams. Over 60 single-season teams from the past are included, but the absolute cream of the crop (such as the '57 Colts, '66 Packers, '85 Bears, and '92 Cowboys) must be unlocked through earning Madden Cards. In addition, NFL Europe teams are included, as are the all-time all-star rosters for each of the 32 NFL franchises.
This is simply the best football game out there. I literally spent entire nights sleepless because I was glued to the Playstation over this game.

Now that Madden 2006 is out, you can buy this game for under $5 used or around $10 new. For that kind of money, you can't go wrong.

The game is almost as good as '05 or '06, so if you kind of like football but not enough to shell out between $30-$50 then this game is perfect.

The only reason I gave this game 4 stars is that it can get kind of boring after only a short while. I still like playing the game with my friends, but singleplayer is just ok.

Still a great deal and a must buy.

Madden 2004 is the only Madden game i have had on the PS2. It is a good game with good music and entertaining gameplay but everytime i go to create a team, i will draft the players and complete all the requirments to create a team then i save and then go to exhibtion and my created team is not on the selection. I want to know if iam doing something wrong or i there a bug.

Perhaps because I purchased NCAA Football 2004 first, I was disappointed with this game. Maybe if I had bought it first, I would have liked it more. The first time I played it, I really wanted my $30.00 back. The second and third time, I at least tolerated it.
The game is like the NFL in a lot of ways. Unfortunately. It does, like someone else said, seem "sterile." I like the real college game more also. There seems to be too many bells and whistles with this game, instead of concentrating on the GAME itself. I turned off the soundtracks between plays because they were seriously grating on me. I also turned off the Madden-Michaels play-by-play. Though I wish I could still hear the stadium announcer.

I know the Colts defense was not that great in 2003, but the Steelers scored a TD every single possession against me.
Some of the screen passes seem like the QB is throwing the ball 150 MPH. It's also hard to run to the outside. Where is a good option play when you need one? (I know. It's pro football.)

In conclusion, if you could have only one game, pick up NCAA Football from EA Sports and skip this one.

BTW, where are the 1985 Bears?!

I'm not going to get into the upside of the game, since others here have pointed them out.

What I'd like to point out here are the problems:

1. First of of all, the play feels, for lack of better term, more "sterile" then past editions. There's a grimmer mood to the game that's hard to explain unless you compare 2004 with previous editions.

2. There's a serious problem now with unrealistic play. In past editions, it was fairly easy to get a game that ended with stats comparable to a real game, provided one played at the higher difficulty levels. The one major flaw in the past was that the defensive line was a nonfactor. They couldn't break tackles or get sacks. But - and this is important - despite the lack of successful line play, in the end, games generally ended with a fairly reasonable number of sacks, anyway.

EA Sports decided to fix the D-line issue, and now they're superhuman - to the point that it renders the game phony. For example, right now I'm at week 11 in my franchise mode. Not only is it typical for the D-line to get 8-10 sacks a game, but my list of "best defensive players" is populated exclusively by 15 or 20 left ends, and most of them have already accumulated 25-35 sacks by themselves. This is Week 11, folks. And here's the shocker - this is with the "pass block" scale set to maximum, and the pass rush set to zero.

In coaching mode, play is even more absurd. Every quarterback plays like Kurt Warner at his worst - i.e. they hold onto the ball forever, survey the field like they were terrified to make a decision, and wind up getting blindsided because the O-line just plain can't hold a block that long. And speedy QB's still don't run easily. They easily "walk": into a fallen defensive player that has been pancaked, thereby giving that defensive player yet another sack.

Interceptions are still way too common - again, setting the bar down to zero to avoid absurd play does little to cure the problem. It's basically impossible to have a QB who throws more TD's than INT's. In past editions, I could tolerate the INT's because fumbles were so rare, and the inability for long returns, while disappointing, at least kept the final score believable. Now, both are way too common. What's equally aggravating is that defensive TD's are way too common. Any intercepting CB with the slightest head of steam is unstoppable, even if your speed players are within reach of catching him.

3. For some strange (and annoying) reason, they've decided to take all the fun out of creating teams. So, for example, if you want to replace the Chargers with your own Santa Monica Sharks, Brees and Tomlinson and Co. will disappear, and be replaced by fake players with fake names and no direct correlation in skill level to the Chargers players. I have no idea why they thought this was necessary, but it sure as heck kills the fun.

4. And finally, the game loads SLOOOOOWWW. I know that that may seem like a minor quibble, but you have to to go through a minimum of 6 screens to play a franchise game (8 if you let those stupid "it's in the game" quips play. For goodness sakes, EA. Windows at least worked to speed up their product. You could learn a lot from XP!