Madden NFL '99
Reviewed by Scott McCall
In 1997, I, along with only a few other critics, were staunch
supporters of Madden 64 for the N64, making it known that it
was the clearly superior football game on Nintendo 64. To this
day, I still can't see how people could say NFL Quarterback Club '98
was the better game with a straight face. There were just too
many gameplay and intelligence flaws. To toot my own horn even
more, Iguana acknowledged these flaws in its football game
this spring -- six months after denying them. Now the king of
football is back. Madden NFL 99 is here -- over a month before its
competition -- with the NFL license and high-resolution graphics.
Rejoice, pro football fans, because it's the most fun and realistic
NFL game yet.
First, let me preface by adding another twist to this drama.
Since I was a huge fan of Madden 64, I was actually quite
disappointed in Madden NFL 99 the first time I played it. In fact,
I even considered taking it back. I obviously have grown much
more fond of the game now because it's the closest to the real
thing so far. So what are the potential problems? Well, for
starters, the game is noticeably slower because of the
high-res graphics. It's not as slow as NFL Quarterback Club '98,
but it's not as quick as Madden 64. Fortunately, this really isn't
a detriment once you get used to it. Next, the sound is a
tremendous disappointment. Madden 64 had an amazing amount
of voice that sounded even more clear than Madden 98 on the
PSX. Now there are less voice samples that sound much more
distorted. The music isn't as good, either. These last two problems
are more just superficial nit-picks by a die-hard fan than
anything else. One, the playbook has been made a little bit
more cumbersome. (At least you can still slyly pick plays
not currently diagrammed on the screen by holding Z and
pressing the appropriate button for tabs below the window
and using R instead for tabs above the window.) For some
reason, formations (not actual plays) were enlarged so that
only one appears on the screen at once instead of three at once.
This requires more time to find and select a play, and that
means you'll have trouble getting the play off in time at
first. Two, some of the controller functions changed button
locations, and there's no option to revert to Madden 64's
control scheme. Oh well, I got used to it.
Speaking of control, which has always been a major plus of
Madden, what's the scheme like in Madden NFL 99? Thankfully,
your first option is between the Control Pad and Control Stick.
If the Control Pad support is ever removed, I won't buy those
versions of Madden. On offense, before the snap, the A button
snaps the ball, Bottom C is a fake snap count, and you can call
an audible with the B button. When running the ball on offense,
the A button is a speed burst/power move, the B button is a dive,
Bottom C is a spin, Top C is used to jump, Left and Right C are
stiff arms, and Z is for a juke move. For passing, after snapping
the ball, you must first call up the passing options by pressing
A a second time. Then you have up to five passing options in the
form of A, B, Bottom C, Left C, or Right C. Pressing Top C will
throw the ball away, and you can do pump fakes by holding Z and
pressing a button that corresponds to a receiver you want to
throw to. In order to receive the ball on offense, the A button
switches to the receiver closest to the ball after it's thrown,
the B button is used to dive for low passes, and the Top C button
is for jumping to reach high passes.
Defensively, you have just as much control over your players,
which means Madden NFL 99 is fun on both sides of the ball. On
defense, before the snap, the A button switches to a different player,
the R button calls bump and run coverage, and the Z button is
for a defensive alignment shift. After the snap on defense, here
are the corresponding buttons: the A button switches to the
defender closest to the ball, the B button dives for a tackle,
Left C is a power tackle (or a speed burst if in open field),
Right C is a swim move (ways defensive linemen get around
offensive linemen), and Top C is used to jump.
Madden NFL 99 also supports the Rumble Pak and the Controller
Pak. Rumble Pak support is very good in the game; it lets you
literally feel the power of the tackles. It's something you very
well might like to play with. Curiously, the Controller Pak
support in Madden NFL 99 is divided into different parts and,
subsequently, requires differing amounts of pages. Here's how
it's divided: Season - 107 pages, Franchise - 123 pages,
Fantasy Draft - 107 pages, Tournament - 107 pages, User
Profile - 6 pages, and Game Settings - 2 pages. As you can
see, you'll need multiple Controller Paks if you want to have
seasons, fantasy leagues, and tournaments all going on at once. Ouch.
When it comes to gameplay, Madden is easily the best in the
business. Yes, it's better than GameDay and better than
Quarterback Club. The perfect mix of fun and realism is the
result of almost a decade's worth of tweaking. Since you
already know what it's like, let's concentrate on the additions
and changes to Madden NFL 99.
First, the same great "Liquid AI" is back and it's even more
intelligent than before, which is most noticeable in
defensive adjustments and offensive blocking. Running
the ball, especially, and passing also seem a little easier,
but the realism isn't compromised. Second, the game has even
more animation and moves than before, including the
much-anticipated wrap tackles. Besides having not one but
multiple wrap tackles, there are juke moves, pump fakes,
shoulder drags, de-cleaters, touchdown celebrations (I
must point out these aren't as cool as in Madden 64 because
they lack voice this time), fancy catches, "almost falling"
moves, and more.
Other things that come to mind when you think of Madden are
features and options, and Madden NFL 99 is certainly no
exception. First of all, there's the very cool, brand-new Franchise
mode that lets you take the same team and personnel through
multiple seasons. A second addition to the series is the option
to choose "Game Style." This lets you choose between Traditional
(realistic NFL-style gameplay found in previous Maddens),
Arcade (easier play-calling, more tackles, bigger plays, and
fewer rules), and One Button (every single move is performed
with the A button; the intelligence is smart enough to figure
out the appropriate function). A third addition is the inclusion
of "directional passing." It's kind of like passing in NFL Blitz
in which you just aim to the guy and press the A button. Most
will prefer the old style.
There are many other options and modes to choose from. I'll
gloss over them but won't go into detail. You can change at
least 10 different game options (from quarter length to fatigue
to trading deadline to camera angle), you can create
customized profiles so you can keep track of statistics for
when the same people play one another often, you can mess
around with sound volume levels, you can choose from five
pre-set controller configurations, you can save stuff to the
Controller Pak, you can view all-time records, and finally,
you can choose from several game modes. There's Exhibition,
Season, Custom Season, Franchise, Tournament, Fantasy
Draft, and Practice. Just as a side note, the Practice
mode is surprisingly cool.
Graphically, Madden NFL 99 is very sweet. Just as a general
statement, the graphics are very good, but they're not as
outwardly impressive as in NFL Quarterback Club. What
boosts up the graphics rating a little more is the incredible
amount of animation and moves in the game, which were
already discussed above. But, yes, the game is in the 640 x 480
high-resolution mode now, and, yes, the NFL license means
the uniforms and fields are texture-mapped with the appropriate
logos. You can also see the player's name on the back of the
uniform. A few nice touches are being able to see the player's
breath when it's cold and also seeing grass fields leaving divots
and marks. The only real downside to the graphics is the slightly
slower gameplay pace. But as I said before, it's not a problem.
Sound, on the other hand, is the biggest problem with the N64
version of Madden NFL 99. It's pretty bad. I don't understand
how Madden 64 could have had so much more voice that was so
much more clear. In Madden 64, there were a few more referee
calls, Pat Summerall had much more commentary, John Madden
spoke a lot more often, and there were very cool taunts after
scoring touchdowns. In Madden NFL 99, the referee comes off
sounding the best, but he doesn't have as many voice calls or
sound as good. Pat Summerall and John Madden don't speak
anywhere near as much to the point you can't call it play-by-play.
Their voices also are defaulted to be more quiet and sound too
distorted -- like the sampling was cut in half or more. Last
but not least, they got rid of the great touchdown taunts.
Last year's N64-exclusive touchdown speech was great. Why
remove it? Think I'm done complaining? Not yet. The music
is not so surprisingly in mono, and there's no kind of real-time
introduction to go along with it to get the blood pumping,
unlike last year. There is one bright side to the sound,
however. I find that the stereo crowd noise is very good.
I also found that the sound is a little more bearable if you
really turn up the volume.
After giving NFL Quarterback Club '98 a run for its money
last year despite not having the NFL license (the sales were
closer than some led you to believe), Madden is back in full
force on the N64 with high-resolution graphics and both the
NFL and NFLPA licenses. With its unmatched gameplay,
intelligence, realism, and features, along with the Arcade
and One Button game styles for casual fans, Madden NFL 99
is the best representation of NFL football thus far. But you
have to get past the extremely disappointing sound (which
better be vastly improved next year, or I won't be so kind),
gawkier playbook, and sometimes choppy frame rate. Since
NFL Quarterback Club '99 has been delayed until well into the
football season, I recommend you pick up Madden NFL 99
now. You won't regret it.
Graphics: 4.3 out of 5
Sound: 2.4 out of 5
Control: 4.5 out of 5
Gameplay: 4.8 out of 5
Lastability: 4.8 out of 5
Overall: 4.6 out of 5