There is often a lot of negative feeling around the release of a new addition to a sports franchise. The prevailing theory being that the consumer is paying for a nearly identical game with updated rosters. While you will get the current rosters with Madden 2004, you’ll also get your money’s worth. With a host of new features both on and off the field, Madden 2004 is simply the most complete football game ever.

By far, the most noteworthy addition to this year’s game is the playmaker control. While initially somewhat confusing, the level of control you hold over your team is amazing. Using only the c-stick, you can now command the players around the ball carrier. On offense, this becomes vital to truly dominating the game. Before the snap, you can instantly change the direction of the play should you see a gap in the defense. At the goal line you’ll be thanking EA for this feature. You can control your blockers while you run the ball, allowing for a far more effective and realistic running game. But let’s face it, who wants to play small ball? With Madden 2004 not only can you change a receiver’s hot route, but you can direct him to run for open ground when you absolutely need to get that pass off. If all of this seems a little daunting, it is. The learning curve is fairly steep, but these features are not necessary for the average pick-up-and-play gamer. However, once you spend some time with them, you’ll find it hard to imagine football without them.

Sadly, the control over your defense has seen only limited improvement. Essentially, you can now shift coverage to one side of the field if you have a weak match-up with a receiver. While you’ll no longer have to curse an offensive blocker for not picking up his man, you’ll still have to curse the defense for not being human. I suspect that EA is saving the appropriate defensive improvements for next year.

Overall, the game plays brilliantly. The AI has improved its running game somewhat, and all the players seem much more aware of what’s happening on the field. Play-action is now yards more effective as the camera actually follows the running back briefly. This is especially damaging to human opponents. There is occasional slow-down during play, but it’s never more than an annoyance. The replays are now imbedded in the gameplay during the play selection screen, which is fantastic. Now you can actually watch some of those great plays without pissing off your friends and uselessly losing time on the play clock. Of course, in the videogame-television loop that both industries are feeding off, you’ll often get a bunch of reaction shots from players and coaches before the replay, forcing you to skip watching your triumphant fourth-down touchdown pass because the clock is running low. The announcing continues to improve, with Al Michaels showing a noticeable difference in the quality of his comments. John Madden, of course, is still often loveably inane. But hey, it’s his game.

Off the field, Madden 2004 sports some great new features. A sure favorite is the owner mode. This thing allows you to set prices on everything. Tickets, merchandise, concessions, parking, and advertising are now your playthings. You can also change the name of your stadium or move your team to a new city. Further, you’ll have a bevy of statistics at your fingertips, allowing you to see exactly how much money you’re making (or losing) every single game. Perhaps the best portion of the owner mode is the ability to control your coaching staff. You can hire them, fire them, promote them or demote them. You can even have a player become a coach. The coaches come complete with their own statistics, and a wise owner will pay close attention to such things.

Another new feature is the training camp, which allows you to run drills before the season in a number of categories. If you do well, you can add a couple of stat points to a given player. You’ll also find out what skills you need to work on yourself. Unfortunately, you can only complete each drill once and you can’t repeat players. In other words, your starting QB can’t do both quarterback drills. I suppose EA figured this mode would otherwise allow you to improve your team too much each year, but I say give me less of a reward if I can spread it around a little.

Last and least is the ability to link Madden 2004 to the GBA. You can see the scoreboard or run a selected play from the GBA screen. That’s it. It’s a cheap gimmick that you’ll never use. It’s also a really poor substitute for actual online play.

Despite some enduring problems with the franchise, Madden just keeps getting better. This installment is the finest football game ever produced. It has a host of new features that make the game more realistic and adaptable to both the casual and the die hard fan. If you like football, you should own this game. Heck, if you even want to like football you should own this game.