Madden NFL '98 (PlayStation, 1997)

Remember the 1990's? Gasoline hovered around a dollar a gallon, the country was just beginning its love affair with high tech, and on Sundays in the fall, we loved our football!
Madden 1998 is one of the best original Playstation titles from that era. Compared to what is available today it seems fairly quaint. The game play is mostly viewed from an end zone zoom camera, with boxy graphics from the period. Yet, Madden 1998 rocks for several reasons.
To play this game, a knowledge of football helps greatly. After that prerequisite, it is easy to learn. You always have a choice of calling the play and watching the players do their thing, or taking control of the quarterback, halfbacks or defensive players and sending them into the fight.
The realistic coin toss is a great touch, along with the NFL Today style commentary at the beginning of each game. Great care was made in correctly programming the teams and players, as the teams' strengths and weaknesses showed through. My favorite NFL team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had trouble scoring and let the poor quarterback, Trent Dilfer, get sacked too much. And Denver's play scheme features lots of passes.
The stadiums, grass, and crowd noises are all very realistic and add greatly to the enjoyment. After playing several different games I only noticed one error: they made Boomer Esiason, who was a backup for the Bengals that year, a right hand quarterback when he is left handed. But so what!