[seanmac]

Sega fans would say that most mainstream reviewers are more likely to be interested in things like mini-camp mode and the extensive franchise options than in depicting the game of football accurately on the field.

And I would basically agree with them. Madden is a good football engine with lots of bells and whistles, and ESPN is a great football engine with fewer bells and whistles. It just depends on what you want (personally, I'll buy them both), but I think places like IGN and Gamespot are impressed by feature sets more than game engines.