Football season is underway, and that means it’s time yet again for an updated version of Madden. There are some notable updates in Madden NFL 2003 including:

1. Al Michaels joins Madden for play-by-play announcing

2. New mini-camp mode

3. “Madden Connected” - GBA/GameCube connectivity

4. New Create a Play book mode

5. EA Trax licensed music (11 songs)

6. Madden Challenges

The first thing I noticed was the heap of options you now have. There are regular quick game options, franchise mode, create-a-player and create-a-team modes, create-a-playbook mode, the new mini camp mode, tournament mode, football 101, madden card management, DVD style extras, and more. There’s more than enough to do to keep you very busy this football season.

If you played Madden last year, the new game plays almost identically. The running game seems to be amped up a bit. I mean, Ahman Green is an amazing running back, but I can run all over the place with him. Otherwise, I really can’t tell too much of a difference gameplay-wise between 2002 and 2003. Not that that’s a bad thing. The gameplay in Madden 2003 is the most polished it has ever been, single-player or multiplayer.

Added to the gameplay now are Madden challenges. These are totally optional, but fun to try and accomplish. Simpler ones are things like completing a 30 yard pass, intercepting a pass, or sacking a quarterback. More difficult challenges range from scoring more than 63 points in a game, rushing for over 400 yards, or even throwing to a large number of different receivers. Madden Challenges are another small, but fun addition to the series.

EA has improved the visuals a bit in the new version, but a lot of the stuff looks the same. They’ve added plenty of new animations, but the players look almost identical to the 2002 version. There are some nice added touches, like seeing the flags fly when there’s a penalty, or even watching the ball getting tossed to the referee to start the play. The crowd has been reworked, and Madden now features the detailed crowd that was in FIFA World Cup 2002. EA decided to also add a Cheerleader halftime show, which unfortunately is rather ugly. Cheerleaders are supposed to look sexy and beautiful, and these are polygonal messes. Yuck.

Monday Night Football announcer Al Michaels has stepped into the booth to call the game along with John Madden, and he happens to be one of the most solid additions to the franchise. Oddly enough, Madden doesn’t seem to speak as much as he used to, and I have to admit I wished Madden talked more like he rambles on TV. “And that Brett Favre, hoo-boy, he can sure throw a football. Football is a fun game to play on a Sunday. And then and then, and then you know Brett Favre really loves that turkey. Too bad you can’t have Turkey on Sundays. A Sunday with Turkey and all the trimmings and Brett Favre and a little football would be truly memorable. Boom!” That would be perfect. The only speaking errors that Madden makes are the same timing glitches that 2002 had, and announcers still say things at the wrong moments once in a while. John Madden will sometimes comment how you got a touchdown on the last drive, when actually you didn’t, and other similar quirks. Madden NFL 2003 is one of the first sports titles to utilize EA Trax, Electronic Arts’ new licensed music library. Believe it or not, you can now rock out to Bon Jovi and others while playing Madden. The music selection is quite good, and you can even unlock band members for use in the draft, but the MTV-style name listing that appears in the upper left hand corner is quite distracting in menu screens.

I’ve had just as much fun playing around with the other modes than just the regular game, multiplayer or franchise modes. Football 101 is a must for anyone in need of learning the plays and formations. Madden himself walks you through each of the plays, which will really help newcomers, and veterans alike. Execute the plays properly and gain points and tokens so you can buy Madden cards. The newly added mini-camp is where you can hone your skills while playing different football mini games. For example, you may have to throw passes through different hoops, or score as many touchdowns as you can. The better you do, the more tokens you get, to...yes, buy yet more Madden cards.

Madden Cards can be used in the game to better your players, or enable cheats that you can use on your team, or your opponents. I didn’t think much of Madden cards before, and never really bothered with them in previous versions, but suddenly now I’m after them like a fiend. I don’t plan to use them in games, but since I’m getting them by just completing mini-games and other aspects of the game, I’m more interested.

Exclusive to the GameCube version is the GBA connectivity, dubbed Madden Connected. You do not need to use the GBA version of the game to connect, which is nice, but the feature is merely a gimmick. Take those dreams of GBA play-calling and toss them out the window because it’s not happening in this version. The GBA acts as a scoreboard. There are animations for first downs, touchdowns, extra points, and the like. There’s even a cheesy dot race thing. But that’s it. Its kind of neat to show your friends, but the chances of you actually using it on a regular basis are rather slim. Unfortunately, the GameCube version does not have online play. Scream at Nintendo.

I loved Madden NFL 2002, and EA has improved the game, and added enough cool features to suck me back in for another year. Madden NFL 2003 isn’t perfect, and I’ve seen some of the same weird glitches that plagued 2002. EA has some serious competition this year coming from Sega Sports, but if you’re a Madden fan, fear not. Madden NFL 2003 is one of the most solid football experiences to date.