For starters, the game is running off the same engine as previous year’s, and is quite old by now. Given the age of the technology, GameDay still looks nice, but not many new animations, or moves have really been added over the last couple of years. If you’ve played 2001 or 2002, you should know what to expect visually. GameDay was the first to bring 3D to the football realm, but the last to make any vast improvements in the engine. Player models sport overly broad shoulders, square textures, and a stubby look of sorts, and even though they have been polished over the years, they still can’t hold a candle to what EA did visually when they finally went with polygons. The same “over the top” catch and tackle animations still apply as well, leaving sim fans disappointed yet another year. On the PS One the game looks fine, but compared to today’s standards…my eyes started to hurt after just a few games.

The audio department is where GameDay has become actually better year after year, unlike what is found in the PlayStation 2 version. Your ears are treated with fantastic commentary, brilliant stadium effects, and wonderful crowd reactions. Subtle nuances like hearing certain Rock Jock anthems when you score at home, is a nice touch as well. All in all, the audio package is pretty complete, and is the stand out feature that delivers most.

Gameplay has gone the way of the arcade in the last few years, as Madden has become more of a sim. For some, that’s fine. For us “football junkies” that stuff just don’t cut it. For instance, 989 has been kind enough to throw in a nice one handed catch feature this year, that leads to cheap scores in a hurry. Throw in the same old A.I. that returns for the kill in the forth quarter no matter how far ahead you are, and you have one of the more disappointing A.I. packages in recent memory. GameDay used to be a football fans dream, but now plays more for the casual fan and that isn’t good. That’s what Blitz is for, right?

GameDay also offers a nice variety of features to keep any pigskin fan happy. Exhibition, Season Mode, Training Camp, and GM mode all return this year complete with updated rosters and the new Houston Texans. Throw in some hefty multi player action, and you have one more solid year of football goodness on the fading PS one.

Overall, the game has remained basically the same with some minor additions. Is it worth the purchase? Only if you are content to live in the 32-bit era for another whole year. Otherwise, with the roster and team updates, GameDay would be an admirable purchase for your last days with the good old PS one.