Who couldn't see this coming? As expected, EA Sports' Madden NFL series continues its legacy of producing one of the best football game lineups in history. After years of adding, expanding and perfecting their games, what more could they possibly offer to the series?

Visuals are the most apparent enhancement. Madden makes a pretty big leap forward in this area now that the hardware is there and they are putting it to work. The game looks absolutely stunning. It's probably the best looking sports game right now. No blurry graphics here, the player models are very well designed, to the right proportions and the detail is very high. Even when the camera is zoomed way in, they still look just as sharp as ever. You can even see reflections of the stadium lights on the helmets and the hair on their arms! But the faces look a bit weird and could use some tweaking.

Another aspect of Madden, which has also been dramatically enhanced, is the game physics. It has been said that Madden 2001 will set the new standard, raising the bar of realism in sports games. Collisions for example, happen to be a major part of any football game and in Madden, collisions with players have a highly realistic and dynamic outcome. What this means is that many factors such as weight, size, speed, angle and acceleration of players, plays a part in determining the outcome of a collision. So it's not like the same animation of a player being knocked flat every time there is contact. The result will be spectacular, varying degrees of punishing hits that can also be viewed in detail by use of the handy instant replay feature. The instant replays will also let players sit back and appreciate the amazing visuals while they catch their breath.

Fans of the series will still recognize the similar controls and interface of past Madden games, which probably is a good thing. One thing that has changed and gotten more complex however is the passing game. Due to the more realistic animations in this game, players must be closer to the football in order to actually catch it. This is one possible problem area but as for short passing, nothing has been changed.

Little is known about the game's advanced AI but hopefully it will be good enough to keep up with the human competition. Although I'm not into football myself, I'm interested in giving this game a try and I know well enough that this one will be a big time hit when it finally comes to the PS2.