Madden NFL '99 Review

It's late in the fourth quarter; your team is down by five. Sweat is streaming down into your eyes; they burn like hell, but you don't care. You don't have time to care. The referee blows the whistle and signals for the clock to start; it's time to give it everything you've got. Time is running out and you have to score, or face another damn loss. Kneeling down in a three-point stance, you hear one of the opposing players. "I'm gonna run over your ass," he spews out in an angry tone of voice. A mild grin comes across your face. "He must be new," you mutter to yourself.

The quarterback takes his place behind the center, "blue forty-eight, green fifty-two, hut, hut," there's a moment of silence, "hike!" The ball is snapped. Lunging into the defender with everything you've got, you catch him off guard and snap his neck back violently with the ensuing collision. He falls to the ground hard. You look over him and notice a trickle of blood running down his nose. It felt good to make that hit.

Meanwhile, your star quarterback is running around the backfield dodging tackles and looking for an open receiver. He looks to the right, covered. To the left, covered. Then, like a miracle from God himself, the safety slips up on the turf leaving your best receiver wide open. You look back and see the QB throw a hail marry for the endzone; it's a beautiful pass. The spiral was nearly perfect. Looking up field, something seems wrong. "Oh, shit," you say to yourself. The corner was gaining ground; it was going to be a jump ball. Not able to stand the drama anymore, you close your eyes and wait; hoping, praying that someone from your team can make that catch. Seconds later, you hear a deafening cheer. All 100,000 people in the stadium are on their feet as you slowly open your eyes. Your the away team; they're not cheering for you. That corner just deflected the ball; you lost. Lowering your head, slowly you begin walking off the field. "Those sons'o bitches," you mumble, "next time they won't be so lucky."

Introduction
For years now, Electronic Arts has been a force to contend with when it comes to sports games. However, their single attempt at football for the PC, Madden '98, was a horrible excuse for a game. The primitive sprite based players and unintuitive passing system made Madden '98 an instant paperweight. This year, the boys at EA are hoping to have gamers singing a different tune with the release of Madden '99. And I must say, it is a different tune, indeed.

Sound
The sound in Madden '99 is, for the most part, well done. Crushing blows and menacing hits all have a realistic sound to them. The commentary, which is done by Pat Summeral and John Madden, adds some realism to the game, as well. However, after playing several times, these guys sound more like broken record players than commentators.

If you happen to have a surround sound system hooked up to your PC, Madden supports a full five speaker setup; Direct Sound 3D is also supported. Player sounds are generally unrealistic. Unlike Gameday '99, the Quarterbacks in Madden are limited to a uninspired "hut," which does little for the overall atmosphere. Running backs are also limited to a short, uninspired grunting sound. These small flaws, however, don't detract from the gameplay very much. Especially since your usually concentrating more on finding open receivers and juking defenders than listening to the sounds.

Graphics
When you first see the faces of players through their masks, it becomes clear that the design team set out to make Madden one of the most graphically appealing sports games released so far. Dropping sprites for the '98 football season was the first big step. Adding 1200 polygons per player was the second. And, oh man, do those polygons look good. Almost everything on the player is visible, from the pads to the eyes; it's all there. Great looking graphics don't come free, however. Your going to need some serious horsepower to run this game the way it was meant to be. Even with a 300 MHz processor and very accomplished Direct3D card, I had to turn down the graphics settings to get playable framerates. Another problem that I saw was the player sizes. Take Gilbert Brown, Greenbay Packers defensive lineman, for instance. He's one of the roundest players in the NFL, but when looking at him in Madden '99, it looks like he lost a few hundred pounds in the off season.

Although the graphics have a few shortcomings, they are mainly insignificant. But, the high system demands almost require you to tone the graphics down in order to play without losing frames. In order to help find the most suitable framerate, EA has included an Auto Detection program, which tests the graphics capabilities of your computer. In order to get the best performance/look ratio, though, you may want to play around with the settings for yourself.

Control
Control in Madden extremely responsive and smooth. Player movement is about as good as it can get for a sports game. When you head down the field with Terrell Davis, you should have no problem weaving and dodging defenders; the control is just that good.

In order to take advantage of all of the functions in Madden '99, EA recommends at least a 10-button gamepad. However, most people should get by just fine with six or eight. Controlling the players on a keyboard was also smooth and relatively easy. If you have no problem punching arrow keys until you come down with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, then by all means, play that way.

Gameplay
The control is great, the graphics are incredible, and the sound is pretty good; but the gameplay, this is what separates the classics from the crap, and I can tell you first hand, Madden '99 is definitely not crap.

You want options? You've got 'em. Madden has several settings that can keep you busy for hours. The different playing modes are all exceptionally fun and offer different styles of play. One of the most notable is the Arcade Mode, which cuts down on the penalties and speeds up the game a bit, giving it an all new atmosphere. The Traditional playing option is also there; most Madden fans will immediately recognize the straight forward playing style. Also included are the usual Season and Exhibition modes, which speak for themselves.

Several teams from the past have been included to add to the replayability of Madden '99. You'll find the '67 Packers, '85 Bears and several other old-school teams to play as. Along with those, EA has included several "special" teams, such as Tiburon, All-Madden, and EA Sports teams, all with the highest ratings achievable, of course.

For the '98 season, EA has added a "One Button" option, which lets newcomers to the Madden series execute their plays flawlessly, all with the touch of a single button. The veterans of the game, however, will be greeted with a multitude of spins, jumps, jukes and dives activated instantaneously with the press of the corresponding letter or number on your gamepad or keyboard.

MISC.
Everybody wants to make that killer hit, and Madden '99 comes with a bunch. From picking up the quarterback, then slamming him down wrestling style, to grabbing the runningback around the neck and ripping his head off, you'll find it in Madden '99. Endzone celebrations are also a big part of the game. Trademark dances, goal post dunks, and a certain solute are all animated well and done in excellent fashion. Other small animations, such as defenders reactions after sacking the QB or making a big hit add to the atmosphere. On the offensive side, if a reciever makes a big play, expect him to react accordingly.

Computers have long been deprived of a good hard-nosed football game, but EA Sports has answered the call. Football fans rejoice, Madden '99 has busted into scene and put the competition flat on their back. The unbelievable graphics, along with some incredible control and player animations, all add up to make Madden '99 the best football game to hit the PC to date.

Graphics:	19/20
Control:	20/20
Sound:	16/20
Gameplay:	19/20
Replay Value:	18/20