Ahhh!!  I'm in shock.

This game is GREAT!!  I'm hooked.  Completely.

The first game I played of GD'98 was at Game Informer (job interview
of sorts -- I think they didn't dig me much 'cuz I haven't been
contacted in a few weeks, but it's *their* loss, really), and I didn't
get zoned into the game because I was among da crew trying to take in
the sights and sounds as a whole.

But now I've had the opportunity.

The graphics and gameplay (initial observations, anyway) have just
left me flabbergasted.  I was going into replay after *every*
completion/good yardage situation, including when a 3D Barry Sanders
would deke, juke, spin, and dive into my befuddled defenders for gains
of 5, 10, and 15 yards!

The 3D polygonal animation in this game sets my hair on fire.

Example:  I catch a kickoff with my kick returner -- I mean *catch*
because he reached out with his 3D hands, damn it!!

Or this one:  on the very same kick return I pressed L2 and square for
the *high* dive and the defender met me in the air and we did a
grappled flip together!!

Another one:  Brad Johnson throwing on the run ... his 3D body has a
3D throwing arm which articulates so well as he throws the 3D football
that I erupted in a shriek (pathetic, I know).

Anyway, between this one and Madden 98, I need no other game
whatsoever.  For at least a week or so, anyway.  ;-D

By the way, and I want to get this outta the way right now, I was
mentioned in the credits under special thanks.  I swear to you all
that I had only some suggestions in the form of a wish list to Sony,
and have received *no* compensation of *any* kind.  I swear to you I
never saw this game until after it was complete, and Sony didn't give
me the game or anything like that.  But they told me that if they used
any of my suggestions they'd give me credit.  I noticed that our
comrade Jim S. is also mentioned in the special thanks section;  he
too did his best to share some of his ideas with Sony in the hopes of
making this year's version as good as it could be.

So please believe me when I say I'm bias-free.  And I'll tell you
right now that I enjoy both Madden 98 and this one immensely.  In
fact, before I had a chance to play GameDay '98, I counted the minutes
at work and suffered through urges to play more Madden 98.  Now I
can't figure out *which* one to play next.  Very cool.  :-)


Ricky Wayne Brown
brow0130@ix.netcom.com

===========================================================

I bought Gameday 98 today at EB for $34.95...how could I pass it up at
that price?  Not knowing what to expect because of all the mixed
thoughts on Gameday and Madden I decided to try something new (polygon
players).  When I got home I couldn't believe my eyes and how impressive
GD looked.  How people aren't impressed with the graphics of GD is
beyond me but I guess u can never please everyone.  The animation of the
players is incredible, stadiums look great, and so far has quality
written all over it.  I don't want to over hype this game because I have
only played a couple of games but so far its been the best football game
ive ever played.  The issue brought up about the 45 degree angles is
true but doesn't take away from the game.  When you use the special
moves when running with the ball you get some great animation that makes
the 45 degree issue even less a factor.  There are a lot of different
players controls just like in years past a long with Total Control
Passing which I have not messed with yet.  Ill list a few important
factors about this game if your still deciding on which game to get.

1. 3D polygon players -vs- sprite based....i guess its a matter of
preference but if your tired of the same old same old try GD.

2.  Options- not as many options in GD compared to Madden but there are
plenty.
      a. 6 round draft
      b. trade and release players
      c. create players
      d. set up different schedules
      e. a lot of different teams to choose from ie. past super bowl
teams
      f. 500 different offensive and defensive plays including flipping
the play
      g. im sure there are more but that's all I can think of

3.  A big issue is the AI  running game and how poor Madden and NCAA is
but I can tell u that I got pounded playing against the Detroit Lions
and Barry Sanders.  The computer actually ran the ball 80% of the
time...hows that for something new?  I was playing as the Miami Dolphins
and could actually run the ball just not as well.  I must say that
watching Barry Sanders run the ball was a thing of beauty he was juking
left and right spinning and making my D look horrid.

4.  The animation of the players is great.  This is something totally
new to video football games and being in a 3D environment with really
cool tackling and special moves is just awesome.  As I mentioned before
all the controls from years past is in this game with a few added ones.
ie. one hand catch

5.  There are a few things that seem ackward to me like the default
camera angle being so close to the QB and not being able to see your
back field or receivers but as soon as u hike the ball the camera does
zoom out.  I tried a different view  looking almost straight down which
worked well if u like seeing all the players.  The sound and music seems
like its exactly the same as years past.(which is fine for me)
If you just want to buy one football game and try something that is next
generation then Gameday is it. For now that's it, but time will tell if
this game holds up as the best football game ever.

Eric

===========================================================

Wow!  Just had a chance to play hookie from work and pop over to a
friend's house to check out Gameday 98.

Man, am I impressed.

The good?:  I was anxious to check out the famous, or "infamous", 3d
polygon look this years version has.  I must say, I'm not disapointed.  The
game's animation is a true work of art with nice small touches here and
there like:

- Victory dances after TD's
- At the line of scrimage, all players are much more "alive"
- The hits!  OW!  Felt like I lost some teeth!
- One handed grabs.  You gotta see it...

Playability?  Hell, no skating control here.  Control is pretty much like
last years version, and there doesn't appear to be any looser control when
looking at sprites versus poly's.  Hopefully, other sports games will take
this into consideration.

Graphics?  Hmmm, looks pretty darn good to me.  Mind you, the game does
look better when in motion...

The feal?  Well, here's where the AI kicks in.  As I was sitting down at
my friends, I noticed he was controlling the Stealers playing against CPU
Dallas (his first game of the season).  Well, I sat down and watched
Emmett Smith single handidly take apart his defense.  I believe he got the
ball 7 times in a row and 9 out of 11 times for an 87 yard drive for the
major.  I have no idea if any other games have reflected this type of AI,
but I sure don't remember this.  It just felt like I was watching the game
on the boob tube!

The bad:  Again, this year Gameday doesn't support Surround for some weird
reason.  As well, the crowd audio does seem to contain a repetitive loop
(but it's not that bad, you really have to listen real carefully...
nitpicking?).  However, the announcer's ok for me.  In fact, they added a
few surprises this year when pausing the game :).

Anyways, this is just a small "preview", so don't take my word for it,
check it out for yourself.

It's impressed the heck out of me anyways...

RC

--
Smile
Rob C.

============================================================

I have to start out by saying I'm just a video game player who just likes
to play video games and likes to see new innovations in games.

FMV INTRO:

--- My GOD!!  I thought I was watching football highlights on broadcast
quality TV!!!  The FMV of the highlights are so AMAZING...I say ONLY the
PSX can do such good FMV...I'm saying it's soo damn cool!!  Crystal clear
and NOT ONE FLAW....man, it's just damn AWESOME!!  But FMV is not the
game, so here goes...

Gameday 98 graphics:

--- The first time that I loaded the game up, I noticed the menus and
presentation was very nicely done.  There are some options to choose from
such as time (1-15minutes), rosters, gameplay, weather, stuff like that.
Then the game loaded up (which didn't seem to take that long), and after
the coin toss (after the ZOOM IN of the players), I knew I was in for a
good treat!! I'm use to playing sprite based football games like madden 97
but this was new!  I don't get why people say it's ugly or choppy??  It's
damn awesome!!  I mean it from a simple video gamer perspective.  If the
players move fluidly, then it moves fluidly.  And I can't seem to get over
how large the players are (from the Gameday camera view that is).  After
the snap, the camer zooms in close and that's what is AWESoME about the
graphics.  It's new and no other football game on the PSX has done this
before.  Trust me, rent or buy the game (I did at EB for only $34.99!!).
Judge it for yourself but I swear, it's AWESOME!!  

Gameplay:
---	It's smooth.  Lots of things your players can do.  I mean alot.  I
had to sit for about 5 - 10 minutes just reading the manual.  There's some
really cool moves such as Juking, stiff arming, tackling, throwing and
more....I can't seem to forget how damn good each move looks!!  YOu can
see the players tacking and hanging on their opponents!!  It's damn
rad...you can shake them off too!!  It's so sweet!!  Not to mention
jumping over them and alot more!  Again, judge it for yourself but I
really think it's damn fun to play...really damn fun and to tell you the
truth, I don't even like football!  It's damn fun!!

Sound:
---	The usual but with that NBA Shootout 97 guy's voice.   Stadium
echoes and the usual commentary.  Mentions the names of sacker,
interception, etc...Not too bad...it's pretty cool...though I doubt you
will care about the commentary..I was too focused on the AWESOME
graphics!!

The bad:
---	WEll, in my opinion, the play selection screen shouldn't come up
so fast after a down.  It should be like madden, where your players can
actually move around after the down...and perhaps get a foul call or
something..but it's not bad at all...besides that, I like the game all the
way through, though I only played for about ~2 1/2 hours...It's just pure
fun!  Game speed is controllable too...you can set the players sizes, game
speed...it's pretty cool...especially the AI...it's smart...

My opinion: (GD 98 Vs. Madden 98)
---	I've played madden 98 for about 10 minutes at the local Software
ETc. but when I first saw the game, I was shocked to see how similar it
was to last year's version.  I expected more but I only played for 10
minutes...I never liked madden 97 at all so I was very disappointed to see
how the graphics were so similar to 97's...

GD 98 is fun because you can play defense and it's much more controllable
than madden 98....Passing and running in GD 98 is very sweet...trust me,
just try the game out...(although this is my first GD title).  

Overall, Gameday 98 is just WAY TOO COOL and it's damn better than Madden
98.  I don't mean to offend MAdden fans, but Gameday 98 is just way too
attractive in terms of graphics...man, it blows madden's graphics out of
the water!!  

Just rent of buy the game and check it out for yourself.  I still don't
get why people say it's choppy and what's the deal with that 45 degree
thing??  Nothing was detracting about the animation and graphics of the
game at all!!  I love this game!


---Darien T.