Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:

Haven't played Madden 04 (spent a little time with 03 for the PC) but if I remember right, that retarded way they do drafts (where you can't just pick who you want, but have to have "money" or points or POGs or some other shit saved up) is completely undefendable and without any sort of sense.

But! With that in mind, here's some general advice:

o Get a mobile quarterback. This allows you to not have to have five great offensive lineman. You can put a couple scrub guards out there if your boy can move. Vick, McNabb, Brooks, McNair and Gannon are the obvious choices, but there are also a bunch of third stringers that you might as well populate your team with in the last few rounds like Tory Woodbury, Michael Bishop, Quincy Carter, Doug Flutie (if they didn't quite reflect the fact that he's like 50 now) and Jarious Jackson. But double-check their speed: oftentimes the designers for these games make third string guys suck across the board out of sheer laziness (Kelly Holcomb beat out Tim Couch last year on the field as well as this year, but because he was a backup he was getting ratings in the 50s. Stupid.)

o Nothing is more frustrating then seeing your guys drop a pass that's right in their hands. I don't know if Madden is better about this than NFL2Kx, but it really pisses me off to execute everyting perfectly on my side and then see the target receiver drop the ball because he sucks. I don't know what the ratings are this year, but you can't go wrong with Moulds, Owens, Harrison, Holt, Bruce, Keyshawn, Horn, Moss, and Hines Ward. But essentially, you really want one guy with hands over 90 on your team.

o Not sure about the running game. Someone else can speak to this.

o Usually, a strong middle linebacker is going to be the most important defensive player. Again, maybe this changed in 04. But in most football games, your defensive ends and tackles don't amount for shit. So overall, the positions you want to target are QB, WR, LB & RB.

o In NFL2Kx, at least, you can press a button while on offense to move the camera up suddenly and display all your receivers. This has the effect of, if you do it right before the point where you normally snap, having your opponent go terribly offsides due to conditioning because the game snaps the camera up in the same way after you snap the ball as well. Much in the same way you don't use your best pick-off move in the first inning, if this tactic can be employed at all in Madden, ensure that you use it when you are five yards away from a first down in order to gain an easy advancement of the chains. Move the camera offensively! The drive you sustain may be your own.

No advice on the franchise bit as I haven't done it in Madden, but I guess you have, what, 20 years? 30? You had an unlimited number of years in Front Page Sports: Football 96 but it's no surprise that Madden, Gameday and the rest of these console bitches have been seven years behind those guys in everything but graphics, I guess.

the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!