I'm an absolute huge fan of the National Football League, and I'm also a huge fan of video games. So it's only reasonable to assume that I would be a big time lover of video football games. And that is absolutely correct. I've been playing football video games since the very beginning. From the simple "Football" on the Atari 2600, to "Ten Yard Fight" on the NES and then later "Tecmo Bowl" on the NES. Then "TV Sports Football" for the Turbo was king, for a couple of weeks anyways. Because "John Madden Football" for the Genesis came out only a couple of weeks after TV Sports Football came out for the Turbo. The original John Madden on the Genesis was a watershed moment in football videogaming. It simply changed the way people made football video games. I still feel that John Madden 93 on the Sega Genesis, could quite possibly be the best football game ever made. It just had such a pure flow and grace to it. It just felt right.
After Madden 93 on the Genesis, you had the 3DO version of Madden , and then came NFL Gameday out of the blue for the PSone. Then for a couple of years it was basically a toss up between the newest version of Gameday or Madden on the PSone.
Then with Sega's Dreamcast, and NFL2K, video football once again went through a revolutionary change. The first real deal 3d football game was born. NFL2K1 on the Dreamcast was even better, but was forshadowed by the arrival of the first Madden game on the PS2. I still feel that NFL2K1 was right by Madden 93, as one of the best football games ever. In terms of pure playability and flow. Then of course with the arrival of the XBOX, came NFL Fever. A football game that had taken football to new levels graphically. Playability wise, it still needed some help, but football games hadn't seen such beautiful graphics up to that point. Sega moved their NFL2K3 series to the XBOX and PS2, and they basically went head to head with XBOX and PS2 versions of Madden. I personally feel that last year, NFL2K3 on the XBOX was the best football game available.
Then we come to this year, and it appeared that Madden might actually take back the throne from NFL2K3. Madden is incredibly polished this year, and very tightly tuned in terms of gameplay. I really thought that Madden had finally earned back my respect, and my No. 1 spot.
But then I get my hands on ESPN NFL Football for the XBOX, and I must say that this game is the absolute "Bomb-diggity!" . It really is no contest. Even if you are totally brainwashed by E.A. Sports, and you are a Madden lover to the heart, I think you will finallly succomb to the truth that ESPN NFL Football is actually much superior, in pretty much every single facet of the game. To me, ESPN NFL Football 2004 has to be regarded along with the all time greats. Games like the original Tecmo Bowl. John Madden 93 on Genesis and the original NFL Gameday on the PSone, and NFL2K1 on the Dreamcast.