Score: 80
Overall User Average: 8.00 / 10 (80.0%)
Gameplay User Average: 7.80 / 10
Graphics User Average: 7.40 / 10
Sound User Average: 7.60 / 10
Young_Fledgling
Date reviewed: November 9, 2005.
Overall: Overall, I think this is a great buy and worth $50. If you enjoyed the previous Madden Games, or if your new to football games, it is fun to everyone. I recommend it.
Gameplay: This is what the whole idea of football games come down too. Whether you like it or not. If you like realistic football games, then you will LOVE this. The game play is a little like Madden 05, but it has been improved drastically. They have plenty of new features also in this years game. NFL Madden 2005 was about defense, but this year...The O is what it is about. The tag line for this game is...The Year of The Quarterback. That statement is true in two new features. The first feature is the new QB Vision. It is a cone shaped vision, and you can look down field for your open receiver, or look for him in the flat. Either way, it will get some getting used to. It will take you a good 2-3 hours before you will get the hang of it, and I'm not sure if anyone will be able to prefect it. Another new feature would be precision passing. You can pinpoint wear you wanna pass, and you can pick apart the D. If you have a defender in front of you, throw it behind the receiver, and if he is trailing you, throw it in front of him. This year isn't just about the quarterback, it is also about the running back. Another new addition to this game would be the "Truck Stick" and it is similar to the "Hit Stick" With the new Truck Stick, you can knock oncoming defenders on there backsides, and continue on your way down to the end zone.
Graphics: The graphics for Madden 06 on the XBOX are phenomenal. They have improved drastically over the past year, and look like they will continue to get better. The presentation is also great. This year, they also have new facial features in this game. They have also re-added the infamous coming off of the helmet after a huge hit. There, you will see how real the faces look.
Sound: The sound in this game is spectacular. If you are a fan of rock music, or rap music...you will love the soundtrack. It has many new faces on the soundtrack, and it alternates between rap and rock song, so you can get the best of both. Also, the sounds during the game sound realistic. Whether you hear the grunt of a linebacker when trying to hit a quarterback, or the yell of a running back after trucking a corner back, it all sounds authentic and its like you are in the game.
Overall: 100 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 100 %
Sound: 90 %
thAshAdyOne
Date reviewed: October 8, 2005.
Overall: Wow...everything you know and love...and haabout Madden is back. This time with a kind of new look and a new player on the cover! Supestar mode and the QB vision are new...but what can you really say has changed with our old friend?
Gameplay: Gameplay is basically the same. Little tweaks with the controls and fancy new modes aren't enough to keep fans around.
Graphics: Same old visuals. Nothing breathtaking...maybe they're saving everything for the next gen? Or not...All the visuals are basically 2003 again!
Sound: Sound is always on point. Especially with a surround sound syste you'll feel the crowd around you. Good job on this
Overall: 70 %
Gameplay: 70 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 80 %
mattgame
Date reviewed: October 6, 2005.
Overall: Madden is the perennial football game that has become as American as moms' apple pie. It is now the only pro football game in town, country, or universe this year. So now that EA has eliminated the overmatched competition what does that mean for us the consumer? It means that EA wants to still be known as the beast of game developing but save a pretty penny in the process. The results? Madden 2006. Oh it is a good game, it's just that for the hefty price tag of 50 bucks, it should be !&%$@#* near perfect now. There a few more bells and whistles this year as is the case every year but essentially it's the same game. It's like giving someone a Christmas gift that was in your house for a year. You find some new paper, a pretty bow and give to someone else as brand new. You can't fool me EA!
Gameplay: Madden has one very controversial addition. The all new passing system. For the real videogame football buffs some may see this passing system as something similar to what NFL Fever did in 2004. I actually enjoyed that system which was called the read and lead. In Madden's passing system, you have to lock your field of vision on to whatever receiver you want to throw to during the play. Some qbs have an extremely wide field of vision, while some have a very narrow field of vision. I reluctantly admit I love it. Please wait call of the dogs! Let me explain! In previous Maddens your qb could pass across the field, behind his back, getting tackled, and throw a perfect strike to the receiver all because you pressed the corresponding button in time. That passing was simply ridiculous. At least now you have to look and face the direction you want to throw, if not you will throw an errant pass and get picked like Eli in his rookie game. There are other additions like the back juke, the truck stick, which I love, and increased defensive awareness. All of these make this years Madden a more balanced and realistic football sim.
Graphics: The graphics have been touched up a bit especially in the area of the stadiums and fields. They also have made it more evident during the game when the time of day changes. I have yet to play in the snow or rain for some reason but I'm sure it's in there and it should look as good as the rest of the game. Player models have a few more polys but nothing significant.
Sound: Maybe it's me but I like to hear a little trash talk during a football game. All you hear is the inevitable qb calling the play or audible at the line. All of the other sounds are there and the commentary is still the best if not repetitive. I just wish that EA would give some of the other players a personality.
Suggestions: Give the other players voices. You have been doing Madden for over a decade, it should be perfect. Don't rest on your laurels, consumers are a fickled type. We'll leave shaking and shivering in the cold with your games in your hand, selling them on the street for food and clothes. The ugly truth: it's the only game in town, what choice do we have?
Overall: 80 %
Gameplay: 80 %
Graphics: 80 %
Sound: 80 %
Wolf
Date reviewed: September 7, 2005.
Overall: Madden recently bought the rights to NFL video games, and with madden 06, they definately showed that the NFL is in good hands.
Gameplay: The most innovative new feature is the QB Vision, where you move the right thumbstick or hold R and press a recievers button to look around the field. This creates a much more authentic feel to this football game than that of many other games. The control scheme has also been retouched, which is a major improvement, as A IS NOW SPRINT ON BOTH OFFENSE AND DEFENSE!! The third major new feature is the superstar mode, where you guide a player through an NFL career. you can choose to do one of three things at the start of this mode; choose your parents to determine stats, import a player from NFL street 2, or import you Race For The Heisman player from NCAA 06. This is a very innovative new feature which is loads of fun.
Xbox live play is great with a new fantasy football option, and the new EA Locker, where you can put your saved files such as rosters or franchises. you can also play your previously offline franchise games against a human opponent online. there is a rushing attack mini game which is very fun when you don't have enough time to play a full game.
Graphics: The visuals are slightly improved over last year, with some new animations and maybe slightly better graphics.
Sound: Classic commentary by John Madden and Al Michaels can get old after a while, but this is not suprising in the world of video game commentary. sometimes you can hear the players talking about what they think the offensive play will be, and they are right sometimes, and wrong sometimes.
Overall: 90 %
Gameplay: 100 %
Graphics: 70 %
Sound: 80 %
mrmp3
Date reviewed: August 31, 2005.
Overall: Most people generally have a group a friends who when you ask "wanna play some videogames?" the response is "what sports games you got?" And then, usually, some serious 2 v 2 or 4 v AI begins. It's almost an obligation as a sports gamer to own the newest football title. Last year, we all know how many leaps and bounds Sega and Visual Concepts made with 2k5 and quite frankly, it scared EA. Thus, they have the exclusive license not only for NFL, but for the AFL, and NCAA Football, making it the only makers of every wide-area American football based game. The promise was without competition, the innovation would be "top-notch", and knowing Tiburon that's taking a mediocre engine and tweaking it ever so slightly. This year there are some (not a lot) major changes and additions, though not all good. Obviously the QB Vision being the biggest addition. In terms of a football game, it's still enjoyable. Is it worth $50? Considering the fact there are some areas where 2k5 excelled at and still does and that only cost $20, I'm not entirely sure. But if your like me, and have friends who do nothing but play sports games, then you have to get this. They probably won't be disappointed.
Gameplay: One thing that's nice about the difficulty in 2k5 is that as the difficulty goes up, the AI gains skill but the ability of your computer offensive linemen and blockers doesn't diminish, meaning they won't just fall over all the time. This is where Madden and the 2k series differ greatly. If you move the difficulty up to All-Pro or All-Madden, good luck getting more than a 7 yard return on punts. Why? Because on those difficulties, past the line of scrimmage, noone is willing to engage their blocks, which means if the hangtime is pretty high, you'll be calling fair catch quite a bit. I've never sent a punt returner to the pro-bowl on those difficulties, I average around 5.0 yards and get 1-2 TD's mainly because the AI takes the angle wrong sometimes, like really really wrong where you have the whole sideline. Same thing goes for the run and pass game. The fact is Madden has it so your players LOSE ability. So runs, even with guys all in 90's, you'll see them often just getting plowed over, not even beaten by a spin or swim move, just flat out plowed over. Oh and your recievers, yea guys like T.O. , Chad Johnson, and Jeremy Shockey who have solid hands, tend to just drop wide-open passes, it's so random, I hate it.
QB Vision and Precision are technically not new to a football franchise. Precision passing has been on the 2k series since the first or second Dreamcast game. QB Vision is trying to incorporate what it looks like on the inside of the QB's helmet, with limited vision. 2k did it better, and it was called First-Person Football, that's as real as you get with a QB's vision, not seeing blind blitzes and the like. The inclusion seems pointless. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning in the training videos have vision where literally, you just look down the center of the field and you can hit the reciever anywhere on the field without having to look at them if they are past 3 yards. To look at a reciever you hold and press the button over the players head to look at him. On All-Madden, if the pass route is done being run, you have to move the right stick and aim it over them to pass it. What's horrible about this is R is pump fake, meaning as soon as you let go of it, he pump fakes. Say you have the thing on the Black button reciever, you held down R to change to another reciever, but you realize "hey black is gonna be open long" well if you hit R and black hoping it'll prevent you from not pump faking, your wrong. You have to select another reciever, then reselect the black reciever, and the vision cone doesn't turn that fast, so yea you'll be sacked a bunch of times for that reason.
This year Madden introduced the truck stick like it's something amazing and never done before, well, surprise, 2k5 had it with the Y button. Absolutely no difference except you use the right stick. You can also stop on a dime, but oh yea, 2k5 had that as well. Sounds more like "catching up" instead of innovation. Overall, the game should get a 3.0 in gameplay, but I penalize it a mere 1 point for a) lack of innovation and b)poor execution. It's not unplayable by any means, but the game is overbearing and too difficult for new people to pick up and play. And even when they learn, they still feel like QB Vision is dumb as hell, which it is. Can't turn it off cuz in ranked games online it's required so kind of need to just keep practicing with it. Though one area Madden does better than 2k5, is no franchise bugs and better stats tracking. But other than that, it's !&%$@#* poor lackluster.
Graphics: Well jerseys defintely have more detail. And everything else....yea about the same. OMG the coaches are horribly modeled. 2k5 did a good job on a lot of coaches, Tom Coughlin being one of them. If you see Tom Coughlin in this, his face looks like one of the enemies from Timesplitters if you just changed the color of his skin to more of a green and gave him sharper teeth. None of the coaches are modeled terribly accurate, though I'm glad Shockey's long hair finally looks like hair and not some yellow pixel dandruff. But unfortunately, he just cut his locks so it seems all for naught. Oh yea, did I mention same tackle animations as 05'? *yawn* I love innovation, E-A STYLE!
Sound: Finally, I can turn off most of the rap, some of it though is actually not that bad despite my hatred for anything post 2000-2001 that is rap. The rest of it is punk, excluding the Godsmack and the Disturbed track, both of which are pretty good, but not their most amazing songs either, not by a long shot.
Commentary is garbage, They get stuff wrong all the time, especially on punts. If you field a ball in the end zone, and run it out of bound in the end zone, Michaels says "returned...for a loss of yardage." Oh yea, commentary, so general not in-depth, not funny, and horrible, once again. Madden has some horrible lines this year, which might've been in 05' but who knows. It's all garbage to me. Sound effects are fine, same as always, nothing new.
Suggestions: How bout maybe aiming higher next year? Just once since during this whole era you've shown very little effort. How bout new and innovating instead of new tweaks?
Overall: 60 %
Gameplay: 40 %
Graphics: 60 %
Sound: 50 %
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