Legends of the Fall

I AM GRIDIRON MAN: Duce Staley reports for duty in <i>NFL Fever 2004</i>.

I AM GRIDIRON MAN: Duce Staley reports for duty in NFL Fever 2004.

Pitting the best football video games against each other at the start of the season.

by Chris Newborg

Ah, autumn.

The baseball stretch run is in full swing. Hockey and basketball players are lacing up their skates and sneakers. But most importantly, it's football season, when a young man's fancy turns from beaches and bikinis to football and cheerleaders. And the video game approximations of both.

The 2003-04 season features the best collection of pigskin game titles to date. Overall the focus is clearly on the still-evolving element of online game play. All four of the leading titles support VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol), which not only allows you to school your opponent long-distance style but to trash talk on the way to the end zone. Roster updates, updated player ratings and tournaments are now standard across the board, as is an apparent pixel shortage. In each game the video Andy Reid is half the girth of his real-life counterpart. The competition is fierce as each company vies to capture the definitive football experience as well as your hard-earned fifty bucks.

Madden 2004 (Electronic Arts, GC, PS2, Xbox, $49.99) Entering its 14th season Madden Football is always the benchmark against which all other football titles are judged (fair or unfair). It’s is the also the first one out of the tunnel and onto the playing field.

Don’t like the way Jeffrey Lurie is running the team? Take over and do it yourself this year with the new “owner” mode. Set the price of tickets and concessions and maybe you’ll even raise enough money to build adequate parking for the Linc. New “playmaker” options allow you to control players off the ball, changing receivers’ routes and blocking downfield.

The popularity of the franchise is evidenced by the boatload of money they’re throwing at it: First place in the EA-sponsored challenge tops $50,000. If you think you have the moxie head down to The Gallery on Oct. 8.

Lowly Nintendo Game Cube owners owe EA a debt of gratitude for not abandoning them as Sega has. Madden 2004 is the only football game available for Mario fans. Still, Cube owners aren’t invited to the big show, as online play is only possible on the PS2 version.

Call Ripley’s Believe It or Not!: The Madden Cover Curse continues for the fourth year in a row; this year’s poster child Michael Vick already suffered a broken leg in the preseason. Previous victims of the MCC include Marshall Faulk in last season, Dante Culpepper in 2002 and Eddie George who started it all in 2001. Too bad for Eagles fans: Tampa Bay's ever-so-humble Warren Sapp graces the cover of ESPN football this year and not Madden. Maybe they'll start their own curse.

NFL Fever 2004 (Microsoft Studios, Xbox, $49.99) The third installment of the Fever franchise coincides with the ambitious launch of XSNsports.com, an attempt to marry fantasy football elements with a console sports game. Gamers are afforded the opportunity to be commissioner of their own league, setting up schedules and league rules and lording over their friends. Scouting your next game can be an all-day affair, thanks to the site's complete lists of stats and tendencies. You must fight with honor when playing other opponents online (no, "Oops, the dog kicked out the power cord!" when you're losing) or your sportsmanship rating will plummet. The addition of "read and lead" passing allows players to look off defenders just like an NFL quarterback and makes Fever a serious contender.

NFL GameDay 2004 (989 Sports, PS2, $39.99) After riding the pine for the last couple of seasons, Sony's GameDay franchise has gone through a significant off-season workout. (Rumor has it that the entire development team responsible for the debacle of the last few years was unceremoniously shown the door, and rightfully so.) To compare this season's version with the last one is tantamount to comparing the Linc to the Vet. A more polished menu interface and play-calling system allows for easy selections, while the players look more realistic with much improved visuals. The most interesting feature added this year is the voice-recognition capabilities. Incredulous looks from friends and family await you as you bark out signals like Donovan McNabb on Sunday afternoon.

ESPN NFL Football (Sega, PS2, Xbox, $49.99) Sadly, this one was not available at presstime, but it’s already gotten much advance praise for its first-person POV. It comes out Sep. 3.