Madden NFL 2006
PS2/PC/Gamecube/XBox
Release Date: 8-9-05
Sports/Football
Review by Kiwi
Let's get one thing straight before I write this review: I hate sports games. I enjoyed the Midway Blitz series for some time, and then I totally resented it after I realized that it had eaten $25 worth of quarters and all I'd gotten was about 10 hours worth of gameplay and nothing that I really felt I accomplished that I couldn't accomplish on my Blitz copy at home (which seldom entertained me, either) for so much less. I don't mind simple sports games, like golf, where all I basically do is move the analog stick one way and then the other and pump some silly little ball out for yards. And, of course, there's the racing genre, which isn't so much a sport anymore as a full-blown simulation of car owning now, thanks to Gran Turismo. I never minded the GTs, but they were always over my head, and I felt scammed when I realized I lacked the finesse to tweak my cars into utter perfection to beat some of the AI.
That's what makes this such a different step for me... After hearing the uproar over the EA-NFL deal, I figured it'd be interesting to see what all the anger is about. And now, here I am... about to write the review to Madden 2006 for the PS2. I could probably make it easier on myself and just write a one-word review that would encompass the depth and reality of this game:
Wow.
EA knows how to make a damn good game. To me, it's what Burnout was to the racing genre: a total revitalization. Of course, this is only me... the guy who hasn't played a game with actual football player names since Madden for the Genesis. My guess is that anyone returning from Madden '05 isn't going to be so surprised at all of the stuff I could glamorize over and over again, so let's just take a look at the new features for Madden '06.
First off, the QB Vision feature, which basically allows you to move the QB's head with the right analog stick to receive an accuracy boost when passing to your main receiver, is acceptable. I mean, it's not revolutionary or even changing - I passed outside the field of vision a few times and found my receivers to catch it just fine - it works fine for me, and it helps to keep my focus on certain receivers, since I had a tendency at first to just stand there and watch the game instead of playing it.
The Precision technique, on the somewhat other hand, was an excercise in frustration for me. I'm about 90% to certain that I'm not the only person in the world who has a tendency to pass while still pulling back on the analog stick, and that's why these are so annoying to me: they use the left analog stick. The basic idea of it is that you can adjust your pass location to receivers (i.e. passing it above their head, or to the side of them, or even below them) to help fend off would-be blockers. In theory, this sounds pretty neat. You get to practically place the ball where you want to, and that'll help you win the game. Too bad practice is a different matter... too often, I'd be pulling back and passing, causing all of my passes to just go low and short and miss the receiver by yards. The side ones aren't too great, either: It usually misses the receiver as well. Owners of worn-out controllers, beware: This move is pretty damn annoying if you have one.
The other major upgrade from 2005 is the new NFL Superstar mode. It's not too shabby, and it kept my interest for as long as I had the game rented. I was expecting it to be a mode where you create a player, and you just play practice after practice after practice after game after practice, etc. Thankfully (or unfortunately, if you were hoping that was it), it's not all football, and even starts with your character getting pooled a set of parents to determine what positions he could play, and his attributes. After that follows an IQ test, hiring an agent, and even changing the look of your character on the field to gain popularity, which can nail you commercial spots, movie roles (of which I actually got to try one; not bad, but it was somewhat simple), interviews, and more. Some of the practices can be grueling if you aren't in the right mood, though, and you HAVE to practice if you don't want to lose stat points at the end of the preseason, so that's a bit of a downside. Also, and this is really just a personal annoyance right here with the Webmaster who keeps your fansite running... Well, being the guy who somewhat programs Marvel-ous, that guy's look really annoyed me. It was as if EA got the most stereotypical hippie college geek or something and gave him a nerdy name and called him the Webmaster. Apart from that and the practices, NFL Superstar wasn't too bad, but there was definitely room for improvment, I'd bet.
The graphics are wonderful, but the music... Ugh. In fact, apart from the crowd sounds and the sound of tackles, the sound in this game was brutally horrible. First off, the music: I understand people like the Top 40s music, or at least that's what a corporation thinks the people like, and that explains all of the damn Fall Out Boy and Atreyu and dumb sh-- like that (not just on Madden, but it seems like EA games in general; Burnout 3 had Fall Out Boy and Atreyu as well), but I'm not a person who likes the Top 40 stuff. I eventually got so sick of it that I turned off all of the music except for all of the classic NFL songs that was on the EA Trax. It sounds silly, but after Fight Night Round 2, you get sick of all the hip-hop and rap people singing about random stuff and always talking about a fight that's gonna go down somewhere, sometime, and after Burnout, you get sick of the whiny punk and pop music.
The other major sound problem is the commentary, which I also found myself eventually turning off. It's not a problem so much with the commentary as it is how obviously they splice sounds together. You don't even need a keen ear for it... the commentator clearly goes, like, "Brady... makes a seventeen yard run." and then you hear the whiny punk music playing in the background in-between plays (which, to be honest, was a pretty slick move. Props to EA for that). And, I've heard it before, and didn't believe until now, but John Madden literally has about 15 different lines he says, from what I've heard in-game. I don't know if they're different from last year, but after about 10 hours of playtime, it eventually became annoying to the point of me switching to "On The Field" audio, where everything is pumped up in volume and the commentary is gone - well enjoyed when I can turn up my speakers and feel like I'm at the game.
It's not really much of a choice, since it is the only game in town now, but if you were one of the few hundred thousand who were reluctant to get this game because it meant they shut your favorite football label down for 15 years, like Dack and the 2k Games franchise, fear not: EA didn't slack off, and this is the same damn good quality you'd expect from a billion-dollar powerhouse and that you've seen in the past from EA Games.
Scores (out of 10):
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Online Atmosphere: N/A (I was too afraid to get my ass handed to me by a bunch of professionals, so I didn't review this.)
Lasting Appeal: 10/10
Overall: 8.7/10
PS2/PC/Gamecube/XBox
Release Date: 8-9-05
Sports/Football
Review by Kiwi
Let's get one thing straight before I write this review: I hate sports games. I enjoyed the Midway Blitz series for some time, and then I totally resented it after I realized that it had eaten $25 worth of quarters and all I'd gotten was about 10 hours worth of gameplay and nothing that I really felt I accomplished that I couldn't accomplish on my Blitz copy at home (which seldom entertained me, either) for so much less. I don't mind simple sports games, like golf, where all I basically do is move the analog stick one way and then the other and pump some silly little ball out for yards. And, of course, there's the racing genre, which isn't so much a sport anymore as a full-blown simulation of car owning now, thanks to Gran Turismo. I never minded the GTs, but they were always over my head, and I felt scammed when I realized I lacked the finesse to tweak my cars into utter perfection to beat some of the AI.
That's what makes this such a different step for me... After hearing the uproar over the EA-NFL deal, I figured it'd be interesting to see what all the anger is about. And now, here I am... about to write the review to Madden 2006 for the PS2. I could probably make it easier on myself and just write a one-word review that would encompass the depth and reality of this game:
Wow.
EA knows how to make a damn good game. To me, it's what Burnout was to the racing genre: a total revitalization. Of course, this is only me... the guy who hasn't played a game with actual football player names since Madden for the Genesis. My guess is that anyone returning from Madden '05 isn't going to be so surprised at all of the stuff I could glamorize over and over again, so let's just take a look at the new features for Madden '06.
First off, the QB Vision feature, which basically allows you to move the QB's head with the right analog stick to receive an accuracy boost when passing to your main receiver, is acceptable. I mean, it's not revolutionary or even changing - I passed outside the field of vision a few times and found my receivers to catch it just fine - it works fine for me, and it helps to keep my focus on certain receivers, since I had a tendency at first to just stand there and watch the game instead of playing it.
The Precision technique, on the somewhat other hand, was an excercise in frustration for me. I'm about 90% to certain that I'm not the only person in the world who has a tendency to pass while still pulling back on the analog stick, and that's why these are so annoying to me: they use the left analog stick. The basic idea of it is that you can adjust your pass location to receivers (i.e. passing it above their head, or to the side of them, or even below them) to help fend off would-be blockers. In theory, this sounds pretty neat. You get to practically place the ball where you want to, and that'll help you win the game. Too bad practice is a different matter... too often, I'd be pulling back and passing, causing all of my passes to just go low and short and miss the receiver by yards. The side ones aren't too great, either: It usually misses the receiver as well. Owners of worn-out controllers, beware: This move is pretty damn annoying if you have one.
The other major upgrade from 2005 is the new NFL Superstar mode. It's not too shabby, and it kept my interest for as long as I had the game rented. I was expecting it to be a mode where you create a player, and you just play practice after practice after practice after game after practice, etc. Thankfully (or unfortunately, if you were hoping that was it), it's not all football, and even starts with your character getting pooled a set of parents to determine what positions he could play, and his attributes. After that follows an IQ test, hiring an agent, and even changing the look of your character on the field to gain popularity, which can nail you commercial spots, movie roles (of which I actually got to try one; not bad, but it was somewhat simple), interviews, and more. Some of the practices can be grueling if you aren't in the right mood, though, and you HAVE to practice if you don't want to lose stat points at the end of the preseason, so that's a bit of a downside. Also, and this is really just a personal annoyance right here with the Webmaster who keeps your fansite running... Well, being the guy who somewhat programs Marvel-ous, that guy's look really annoyed me. It was as if EA got the most stereotypical hippie college geek or something and gave him a nerdy name and called him the Webmaster. Apart from that and the practices, NFL Superstar wasn't too bad, but there was definitely room for improvment, I'd bet.
The graphics are wonderful, but the music... Ugh. In fact, apart from the crowd sounds and the sound of tackles, the sound in this game was brutally horrible. First off, the music: I understand people like the Top 40s music, or at least that's what a corporation thinks the people like, and that explains all of the damn Fall Out Boy and Atreyu and dumb sh-- like that (not just on Madden, but it seems like EA games in general; Burnout 3 had Fall Out Boy and Atreyu as well), but I'm not a person who likes the Top 40 stuff. I eventually got so sick of it that I turned off all of the music except for all of the classic NFL songs that was on the EA Trax. It sounds silly, but after Fight Night Round 2, you get sick of all the hip-hop and rap people singing about random stuff and always talking about a fight that's gonna go down somewhere, sometime, and after Burnout, you get sick of the whiny punk and pop music.
The other major sound problem is the commentary, which I also found myself eventually turning off. It's not a problem so much with the commentary as it is how obviously they splice sounds together. You don't even need a keen ear for it... the commentator clearly goes, like, "Brady... makes a seventeen yard run." and then you hear the whiny punk music playing in the background in-between plays (which, to be honest, was a pretty slick move. Props to EA for that). And, I've heard it before, and didn't believe until now, but John Madden literally has about 15 different lines he says, from what I've heard in-game. I don't know if they're different from last year, but after about 10 hours of playtime, it eventually became annoying to the point of me switching to "On The Field" audio, where everything is pumped up in volume and the commentary is gone - well enjoyed when I can turn up my speakers and feel like I'm at the game.
It's not really much of a choice, since it is the only game in town now, but if you were one of the few hundred thousand who were reluctant to get this game because it meant they shut your favorite football label down for 15 years, like Dack and the 2k Games franchise, fear not: EA didn't slack off, and this is the same damn good quality you'd expect from a billion-dollar powerhouse and that you've seen in the past from EA Games.
Scores (out of 10):
Graphics: 9/10
Sound: 6/10
Gameplay: 8/10
Online Atmosphere: N/A (I was too afraid to get my ass handed to me by a bunch of professionals, so I didn't review this.)
Lasting Appeal: 10/10
Overall: 8.7/10