The Madden NFL series is one of the top-selling video game series, and this year’s version got off to the fastest sales ever for a Madden game. It’s not all marketing, though- the Madden games are excellent football games, redefining the way football video games should be. Recently the NFL signed an agreement with EA that made Madden the only NFL game for five years. Fans of the 2K series were not happy with this, but if you will recall my Review of NFL 2K2, it was a terrible game, and I seriously doubt the 2K series surpassed the Madden series in the last few years. So this did not affect me any, as my favorite NFL series stayed on the market.
But EA was not satisfied with merely updating the rosters. No, they added in a whole new passing system and a brand new mode called Superstar mode. However, many were afraid when they heard about the passing system that it would make the game too hard. Did it make the game too hard, or did it improve the gameplay? Read on to find out.
This Review is rated on a 0-4 star scale. Also, due to the fact that I decided this year to split up my NCAA Football and Madden NFL Reviews, I will put a little +, -, or = sign at the end of each section. + means Madden is better than NCAA Football 06 in the category, - means Madden is not as good, and = means they are about the same. (This is based on the Xbox version of the game; the PS2 version is very similar, while the GameCube version features inferior controls due to the GameCube controller having fewer buttons.)
Graphics: ****
The graphics just continue to get better. They aren’t a huge jump forward; that won’t happen until the next system comes out. But until then, we have this version, and this game still has excellent graphics. The players do look very realistic, and just about everything looks great. I can’t find much to say anything bad about this game’s graphics. Ultimately, they are about the same as the graphics in NCAA Football 06. (=)
Sound: **
The sound is a very mixed bag. On the Xbox, the game supports custom soundtracks, which is awesome, as I was able to add in music that I wanted. Plus, this game has classic NFL Films music, which is true football music. If you’ve ever seen shows on ESPN or NFL Network which show old football games, they’ll play this music, so it fits in perfectly with a football game.
What isn’t so good is the other music the game offers. I can’t stand the rap and bad rock music in this game. And then there’s the commentary, which is still awful. Al Michaels and John Madden are excellent commentators in real life, but in this game, their commentary is so annoying and repetitive that you’ll want to mute your TV.
The custom soundtracks are enough to give this game the edge over NCAA Football 06 in the sound category. (+)
Difficulty: **
The difficulty of Madden games can be decided by you. You choose the difficulty level, so I rate this at two stars. Passing is harder than in the past, due to the new passing cone feature, but that makes the game more realistic. Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that the easiest level is even easier than ever before… I can score 100s of points on the easiest level. But then again, that’s why it’s the easiest level. (=)
Controls: ****
Madden’s controls are great. Since I wrote the NCAA Football 06 Review, I have gotten used to the new control scheme. Not only that, but there are several control schemes to choose from, so you have your choice of controls (and I would probably give NCAA Football 06 a better rating in the controls department now). I found the new passing “cone” easy to get used to… more on that in a moment. The cone is controlled by either the right control stick or by holding down R and the button of the receiver you want to throw to, and it works quite well. (+)
Gameplay: ****
The gameplay, as always, is excellent. First, I will explain the new passing. There is a cone that actually appears on the screen, which resembles your quarterback’s passing vision. If your receiver is in the cone, your pass will be on target, but if not, the pass will be way off target, sometimes an easy interception. This is actually easy to get used to, although on the hardest level (which I have not tried), the game makes it actually impossible to throw to any receiver not in the cone.
This cone is determined by your quarterback’s rating. If you’ve got a good quarterback like Brett Favre, this cone will be huge, and he will be able to see virtually the whole field at once. But a pitiful quarterback like Kordell Stewart will only have a narrow cone, and he will have a difficult time trying to get a pass on target. This is much more realistic than some things I’ve done in past versions of the game (and even in NCAA Football 06), where I could run away from the receivers, looking away from them, then tap the button, and suddenly fire a 25-yard pass right on target for a completion for a first down. That’s not the way it works in the NFL, and that’s what this captures. IGN complained about it, but IGN wrote their review with a bias because they were mad about the NFL 2K series no longer being made. I think it’s an excellent feature to the game, and it indeed did improve the gameplay instead of making it too hard.
The running game could use some improvement… in the NFL, defenses don’t stuff almost every run at the line of scrimmage. The offensive line needs to be stronger. The special teams are a big problem, with the continuing problem of poor punt return blocking. The game even gets a NFL rule wrong, as it allows the punting team to advance a muffed punt, which may be recovered but not advanced. This has been wrong for years in Madden games, giving numerous touchdowns to the computer against me, but I never knew it until I saw the rule enforced in an NFL game recently. Finally, it should NOT be this hard to make extra points and field goals! Extra points and short field goals should be almost gimmes, and even medium field goals shouldn’t be very difficult either. Instead, it’s so hard to even make extra points, as I often miss them due to a quick kicking meter. This is ridiculous, and it needs to be changed. Except if you’re Packers kicker Ryan Longwell, you shouldn’t be missing extra points. (Mr. Longwell cost the Packers a game with a missed extra point against the Buccaneers this season.)
Overall, the gameplay of this game is awesome, despite my complaints. It’s as good as any Madden game or any NFL game has ever played, so if you want a NFL game, this is the one to get. Better than NCAA, though? I don’t know about that. (=)
Franchise Mode: ****
Franchise Mode is still extremely deep, with all the features from last year. It’s not all that different from last year’s version, but since last year’s version was so excellent, this of course is great. You still have all the options in running your franchise, like drafting, trading, and signing players, and of course you can play all the games as always. I can run the Packers organization much better than the real-life one, which has decided to be cheap and not sign necessary players. I make sure my team is stacked for a Super Bowl run. Also, you can set your concession and ticket prices, while advertising your team in various ways. You can even move your team and sell your naming rights to some corporation. There are so many options, and this mode lasts really, really long. Only perhaps Dynasty Mode in NCAA Football 06 is as deep as this mode. (=)
Superstar Mode: ***
Superstar Mode is a totally different mode than Franchise Mode. Remember Race For The Heisman Mode in NCAA Football 06? This is very similar to it, only it’s even more personalized than that mode. You can either bring a NCAA Football 06 Race For The Heisman Mode player or NFL Street player into the game, or you can choose parents, whose DNA determines your player’s skills. Then you take an IQ test, answer an interview, and get drafted. Then you have to sign an agent. That’s when you start your actual NFL career, practicing and playing games. The more you practice, and the better you do in practice, the more your skills improve. There will also be movie roles and other interviews during your career. Your player can get more and more popular over time. It truly puts you in the shoes of an NFL player.
The problems with this mode are that even as your player gets popular and good, the mode seems to stay the same. You don’t really get many benefits for being popular and good, which sort of reduces the fun in the mode, as you would rather have some more rewards for doing well. Plus, you get drafted pretty much randomly, and only after the preseason can you demand a trade. You can only request two trades a week, then no team will be interested in you, so I kept exiting the mode without saving so I could be traded to the Packers, as I was drafted by the Jaguars. There should have been an option to do what Eli Manning did, which was throw a fit and get yourself traded to whatever team you wanted. Then your popularity would go way down, and you’d have to build it up… that would have been really interesting. Instead, it takes a while (4 preseason games) to get on the team you want, and with there not being that many benefits once your player has won an MVP and has won the Super Bowl, it takes away from this mode, and it makes this mode clearly inferior to Franchise Mode. (+, as compared to Race For The Heisman Mode in NCAA Football 06)
Mini-Games: **½
The mini-games are pretty good, though they are pretty much the same as past ones except for one of the passing games, which requires you to get the cone accurately on your receiver. There’s nothing new to say about them this year. They’re pretty fun, and they’re most useful in Franchise Mode, where they can improve your players’ attributes. (+)
The other modes are pretty much the same as last year’s, so there really isn’t much more to say about them. There’s a tutorial for the new Superstar Mode and new passing features in the game, but that’s nothing big.
Replayability: ****
This game can be played for a long, long time. You go through one season, and there’s a brand new season with its own challenges. The only problem with this game’s replayability is that it is decreased for me by NCAA Football 06’s replayability, which I’ve found to be more exciting and more fun, so I play it more often. (-)
Fun Factor!: ****
This game is really, really fun, and it continues the great tradition of Madden games being really fun. It may not be quite as fun as NCAA Football 06, but it’s still a really fun game. (-)
OVERALL: ****
This game is yet again great. If you love the NFL and want an NFL video game, buy this. It’s really worthwhile, that’s for sure, even if you own Madden NFL 2005. You can even bring over players from NFL Street 2 and NCAA Football 06, so owners of those games will want to buy this game on the same system. Plus, this game, not NCAA Football 06, is available on the GameCube, although the controls are said to be inferior due to fewer buttons on the GameCube’s controller. It ultimately isn’t quite as good as NCAA Football 06, but only in comparison purposes; really, both games are almost even. I have to give a slight edge to NCAA Football 06, but this game is excellent as well, and fans of video game football games should definitely buy this game. (-)
| If you would like to send some feedback
to the author of this submission, please complete this form.
What's your name?
What's your Email address?
How do you rate this submission?
Does this submission belong in Little
Lemmy's Land?
Would you like to see more from this author? Comments and suggestions:
|
