Madden 2003

SONY Playstation 2

Click HERE for screenshots. 

Coming off of my frustrations with Madden 2002, I was not particularly optimistic going into Madden 2003.  Once the game started, I was immediately turned off by the new music featured on the menu screens- angsty songs that immediately grated on my nerves.  These songs made me long for the sweet rhymes of Ludacris. 

In continuing my quest for another Super Bowl title, I simulated through the regular season and found the Pats had made it into the Wild Card round and were playing the Colts in Indianapolis.  Lucky for me, Peyton Manning was injured, so the Colts had to rely on a backup named “Huard”.  In spite of this apparent advantage, the Colts came out firing and scored a TD easily on their opening drive- 6 plays, 78 yards. 

As I watched Huard shred my defense, I noted that the player models are a bit slimmer than they were in 2002.  Bill Belichick’s likeness has been imported, so it is funny to see him stalking the sidelines.  Pat Summerall had also retired, so for the first time since Madden ’96, he was not in the game.  His replacement (as it was in real life), was Al Michaels. 

Once I got the ball back, I immediately screwed up by pressing the wrong button on the controller and throwing an interception.  This was not a glitch in the game, I just hit the wrong button and inadvertently threw into triple coverage and the ball was (rightly) picked off.  Unfortunately for me, “Huard” remained as sharp as he was on the first drive, and I was down 14-0 early.

In spite of this hole, I felt weirdly confident.  I could tell already that a lot of the issues I had with Madden 2002 had been tweaked and resolved.  When I had an open receiver and threw the ball to him, he would catch it (avoiding the dreadful initial-catch-then-drop tendencies in the previous year).  The physics seemed better and animations were improved.  Put simply, the controls felt damned good. 

On my second drive, I systematically marched down the field and scored a TD to pull within 14-7.  After forcing my first defensive stop of the day, I got the ball back at my own 7 and managed an 8 play, 93 yard TD drive to tie the game at halftime, 14-14. 

I got the ball to start the second half, and once again made a mistake in the passing game.  Rather than set Tom Brady’s feet to have him throw a deep pass, I attempted the throw while he was off-balance.  This resulted in an inaccurate toss off his back foot and led to a pick.  Once again though, I wasn’t frustrated at the game- it made sense why that pick happened – it was my fault.  Unfortunately, they managed to score once again and I was down 21-14 going into the 4^th quarter.

I resolved to keep fighting and responded with an 11 play, 70 yard TD drive.  With 3:11 to go, the game was tied at 21.  To this point, Manning’s backup (“Huard”), had played a near perfect game.  I knew that he was bound to make a mistake at some point, and fortunately for me, that moment took place at a critical moment in the 4^th quarter.  Just before the 2 minute warning, I sent in a strong-side blitz, which forced him to throw an inaccurate pass that I picked off and ran back for the score.  For the first time all game, I led, 28-21. 

With less than 2 minutes remaining, they mounted a desperate drive to tie the game and drove to my 2 yard line.  With time running down, it came down to 4^th and goal from the 2.  They tried to run it up the right side, but Tedi Bruschi burst through the line and stuffed Edgerrin James in the backfield for a loss as the clock hit :00.  I won 28-21 in a great comeback- the game was balanced, fun, and exciting.  I looked at my watch and noticed that the entire game had only taken around 45 minutes in real-time, which marks yet another improvement over the 60+ minute games in 2002. 

The glow of victory following this first game was not to last, however.  For the first time in this whole experiment, I then went on to lose three games in a row.  For whatever reason, I was stymied by the 

Pittsburgh Steelers defense and lost the first game 10-3, the second game 24-10, and the third 16-13 in OT. The third game hurt the most, as I led for the entire game, but fell behind after a 99 yard kickoff return by freakin’ Hank Poteat.  Hank Poteat?  Are you serious?  I managed to come back and tie the game at the end of regulation, but never had a chance in OT as they kicked the FG after a painful 15 yard facemask call against my defense. 

It was a funny thing though, in spite of all the losing, I wasn’t all that mad.  If I had lost three straight games in Madden 2002, I would have been furious.  So what was the difference?  Well, whether it is illusionary or not, I felt like I was in CONTROL with Madden 2003.  Even when things didn’t work out, I could understand why by watching the action unfold and the replays.  On the aforementioned Poteat play, for example, I screwed up my kickoff coverage by missing the first tackle and getting tied up in their blocking wedge.  I knew when I missed the first hit (I timed it badly), it could potentially be problematic.  When my second line of defense couldn’t disengage from the return team’s blockers, I knew I was in trouble.  It was a bad play, but it made rational sense.  Had the same play happened in Madden 2002, Poteat would probably have simply broken 8 tackles and scored. 

Regardless, by my FOURTH game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, they had gotten into my head a little bit.  After racing to a 10-0 lead, my command of the game began to slip and they had tied the score 10-10 at halftime.  I opened the second half with a grinding, 11 play field goal drive to put me up 13-10, but I was wary this would not be enough.  After managing to get the ball back early in the fourth quarter, with the score still 13-10, I made one of the worst, most stubborn calls I have ever.  After throwing an incomplete pass to my left slot receiver on 2^nd and 7, I went right back to the exact same play on 3^rd and 7.  The CPU had adjusted the defensive personnel for this play, and before I snapped the ball, I could see that they had stacked the left side of the field with their top defensive backs.  As the play clock was ticking down, I contemplated using an audible to change the play to a run to the right rather than a pass to the left.  It probably would have worked, given that all their LBs were off the field and the right side of the field was more or less empty.  Rather than make the change though, I decided to go with the initial call and try to jam the ball into the coverage on the left.

It was a disaster.  My wideouts were blanketed, and when they couldn’t get open, I threw the ball anyway.  Interception, TD return.  (Stupid, stupid, stupid!)  I was losing, yet again, 17-13.  2 minutes to go. 

With time running out and a 4 point deficit, I was able to mount a heroic drive to overcome my terrible mistake and win the game 20-17.  A huge relief, I had finally defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in Madden 2003. 

The AFC Championship game was at Oakland.  By the time I got to this game, I was really appreciating the improved animations and physics in 2003- everything just seemed smoother and more realistic- the graphics looked amazing.  The game against the Raiders proved to be a chess match- I had to dig deep into the playbook on both offense and defense.  The CPU seemed to learn and respond quickly and adapt to everything I was doing in all phases of the game.

I had a 10-7 lead at halftime in a defensive struggle, where every yard was earned.  The score remained the same into the fourth, but in the last four minutes of the game, Oakland mounted a terrific, 84 yard drive that got them all the way to my 5 yard line.  Fortunately, I was able to keep them from scoring the TD, but they did tie the game at 10-10 at the end of regulation.

Burned by my OT loss a few nights before to the Steelers, it seemed like a big blow to lose the coin-toss to start the extra period.  Once again, I had to dig deep into the playbook and execute the plays as best I could in order to keep the Raiders from scoring and winning the game on their first drive.  After employing some creative tactics (including flipping a few coverage schemes to keep the ball out of Jerry Rice’s hands), I finally forced a stop and for the first time in 6 minutes of game time, my offense finally got the ball back.

The drive that followed was one of my all time favorite Madden drives.  Mixing up runs and passes, I got into field goal range for Vinitieri to win the game.  Rather than line up and kick the ball right away, I started to pound away on the ground to make the field goal attempt closer and closer still.  On 8 consecutive runs, I drove the ball all the way to the goal line, and in a hugely satisfying moment pounded the ball in with Kevin Faulk to win the game.  16-10, Patriots win.  The players stormed the field and “AFC CHAMPION!” flashed on the screen.

Super Bowl XXXVII featured the Patriots vs. Rams in a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI.  The first half was a defensive struggle, but the Rams struck first before the end of the half, making the score 7-0.  I was frustrated by the pitiful performance of my offense- I couldn’t seem to make anything work.  The most frustrating play of the third quarter took place when Troy Brown caught a TD pass, but got obliterated by the strong safety and couldn’t hold on for the completion.  I had to settle for the FG, and the score was then 7-3.  After forcing another stop, I managed a second FG to pull within 7-6 at the end of the 3^rd.

They got the ball back and drove for three minutes before kicking a key FG to put them up by 4 with 2 minutes to go.  I needed some old-school Tom Brady magic, and true to form, he delivered.  I mounted a Brady-led 8 play 75 yard TD drive and reclaimed the lead 13-10 with 1:14 to go.  They attempted one last gasp effort to reclaim the lead, but had their hopes dashed when Ty Law came up with the game ending interception.  I couldn’t quite run the clock out, so I ended up putting through one more FG, to make the score 16-10, before it was all over.  Ty Law was named the MVP and jumped around holding up the Lombardi trophy on the 50 yard line as "Superbowl Champions!" flashed in front of him.

In the end, my experience with Madden 2003 could not have been much different than my experience with Madden 2002.  It was smart and the presentation was great.  Animations and graphics were terrific and the percentage of garbage plays had been reduced dramatically from the previous year.  Perhaps if I played longer I would have found more holes and gimmicks to exploit, but based on my sample of playoff games, it is clearly the best Madden game I’ve reviewed yet.