Madden NFL 06 (Sony PlayStation 2, 2005)

Madden NFL 2006

Presentation:
Not much changed from the 2005 version. Its cool how you can pick your favorite team and have the background of the menu based on them. Nice organization of all the functions of the game as well and great job of EA to introduce you to the new features of the game that were added this year.

Graphics:
Graphics are greatly improved from last year. Much more realistic in-game looks. It really looks like an NFL game, besides the video game part, from the linemen breathing hard after running to the line of scrimmage in a two minute drill, to the highly detailed muscles on your receivers thigh.

Sound:
A much better performance by John Madden and Al Michaels in the announce booth. Fresh material and unique details about certain iconic players. The EA Sports Talk Show for dynasty mode is even better this year. It's a very interesting way to learn about news around the NFL in your dynasty. Things do get a little repeatetive after a couple seasons, but what do you expect? It's a video game. The one thing that really brings this score down was the poor soundtrack of the game. I can see where EA was going with their soundtrack this year: trying to bring several of genres into the track, but the music selected gets old really fast. After about a week of gaming you will find yourself muting the TV and turning on the radio when not in a game.

Gameplay:
There are some pros and cons for the gameplay. Much more realistic actions in the gaming from last year, including the receivers head following the ball while its in the air so they dont make blind catches, new tackle and break tackle actions, and better blocking pick-ups. The gaming is as fun as always. The new QB vision feature will be thought of as entertaining or pointless based on who you are. While its an attempt to make passing morre realistic and technical, many could argue that passing was hard enough without having to move your cone to a selected receiver. When using it, you will find yourself turning to a short passing game and rarely completing passes deep. Whether you like it or not, you can turn it off and on in the options menu. The hit stick, which is incredibly fun, remains a great asset in gameplay. The newly added truck stick was an attempt to make a offensive version of the hit stick. Its a good idea, but by using this your player almost comes to a complete stop, and takes several seconds to regain full speed. Using this around the line of scrimmage will almost always result in a tackle by another defender immediately after. If there is one guy stopping you from getting into the endzone, this will be very useful.

Lasting Appeal:
After about a month, Dynasty mode will be the only thing keeping you playing. Not saying thats a bad thing, but what else is new from the previous games. This game is still a great option to play with your friends, because it remains incredibly competitive. If you havent got this game yet and are interested, get it as soon as possible, because once the NFL season is done you are not going to be interested in it anymore.

Overall:
If you are a die hard NFL fan then you MUST have this game. If you are just a casual fan who likes to play the games, then you would probably be better off keeping last yearss version and maybe renting this year's. Not a step backward from last year like many people tend to think, but not a giant leap foward either. Still, the Madden franchise remains heading in the right direction.

For 16 years Electronic Arts has tweaked and tuned and polished each new iteration of Madden football so it was something new and special each year. Sadly, Madden NFL 06 snaps that incredible streak of consistent improvement. It is still a really good game of football, but the handful of new modes and gameplay additions don’t really make the game all that much better than last year. Basically, if you already own Madden 2005 you can probably live without 06.
Features
All of the features that were featured in Madden 2005 are back in 06. The quick play, create-a-team, create-a-player, and franchise modes are all back. Online play returns and is as smooth and hassle free as ever. It is nice that everything we liked is back, but it isn’t so nice that every mode is virtually the same as before. You’ll find all of the same minigames and features and even glitches in all of these modes as in 2005 just with an 06 coat of paint. This lack of evolution in the majority of game modes is particularly disappointing considering that the greater part of Madden 06’s potential audience likely already owns Madden 2005. There really isn’t any reason to buy a new game for $50 when you can get last year’s for a fraction of that price and it has all of the same stuff.
Superstar Mode
The only new gameplay mode in Madden 06 is called Superstar Mode. In this mode you get to manage and live the life of an NFL superstar. It is sort of like a franchise mode that focuses on just one player. You start out by creating a player and even picking his parents in order to get the right mix of smarts and skill in order to be a premiere player. You then get to choose an agent, take some tests, and then you’ll be drafted to an NFL team and your career is off and running. In addition to actually playing in games, you’ll have to give interviews, perform in movies, talk to your coaches and agent, and do other things such as get a different haircut or tattoo. There are problems with all of this stuff, though. First off, everything you do besides actually playing football is handled through incredibly boring text menus. Secondly, you never really feel like a superstar because nothing ever really changes no matter how much money you make. The mode becomes repetitive very quickly and you long for game days just to get out of menu hell. I can play games in the regular modes, thank you very much.
Gameplay
The gameplay has a few new features which add up to make this the best-playing Madden yet. All of the fundamentals are as solid as ever and deliver a really fun game of football. Last year’s game focused on defensive upgrades, but in 06 the offense got the lion’s share of the attention.
The biggest addition is the QB vision passing cone. With this turned on, a cone of light will shine on the field indicating where your quarterback is looking and what they can see that you control with the right analog stick. Throwing inside of your vision cone results in sharp, accurate passes while passing outside of the cone causes some of the ugliest throws you’ll ever see. It is realistic, sure, and pretty darn satisfying when you get everything to work right, but moving the cone with the right stick while trying to avoid a blitzing defense is just about too much for most people to handle. On anydifficulty besides the very easiest one, you have basically no time to find a receiver and get a pass off before you get sacked. You get used to it and it is fun when you do learn how to p

Just in time for NFL training camp is the latest edition of EA Sports' football juggernaut, Madden NFL 06. With last year's Madden NFL 2005 focusing heavily on improving the defensive game and overall presentation of the series, while not necessarily adding any grand, new game modes to the package, 06 shifts the other way, going out of its way to specifically work on the offensive side of the ball by debuting all-new passing controls. On paper, all the additions and changes sound like fine improvements, but the end result isn't nearly as impressive as it seems like it ought to have been. In fact, Madden 06 comes off as a somewhat unfocused and unpolished piece of work, which is sort of a shocking revelation for a brand that's ridden high on its level of quality for so many years. Ultimately, Madden NFL 06 is a highly playable game of football, but in comparison with the leaps forward the franchise has made in previous years, 06 feels like a false start.

For years now, the one aspect of Madden's gameplay that's barely seen an ounce of alteration is the passing game. That can be said for just about any football game of the last decade or so, too. Even with the additions of things like hot routes and formation shifts, the basic act still entailed snapping the ball, looking for an open receiver, and then pressing the button that corresponded to said receiver. Bing, bang, boom. But this year, the developer has completely changed the ebb and flow of how you pass the ball in a football game. Now, each and every quarterback is given a field of vision, represented by a cone of light on the field that highlights exactly what your QB can see. Quarterbacks with higher ratings (especially ratings higher in the "awareness" category) will get bigger fields to work with--like Tom Brady, Brett Favre, or Peyton Manning--whereas less-aware quarterbacks get a decidedly smaller field to work with, and sometimes can't see beyond a single receiver. When you first snap the ball, you'll be locked on to a primary receiver. But by moving the right control stick around, you can move your view to another receiver, should you need to. And trust us when we say you will.

Just like in the real-life NFL, reading a quarterback's eyes is a big part of playing defense. As such, the defenders in Madden 06 have the innate ability to see where your QB has his focus fixed, and they will predictably try to get a jump on the ball. To combat this, you'll need to look off defenders, either by moving to another receiver entirely or just by quickly flicking the stick back and forth to momentarily confuse them. You can opt to have the vision automatically snap to a specific receiver, rather than fumbling with trying to manually aim the stick, by holding down the right trigger button and then pressing the button assigned to that receiver. But then you have to let up on the trigger and press the receiver's button again. And you must do all this very quickly, for while the scope of things you have to do to get a ball into a receiver's hand this year has gotten more methodical in nature, the speed of the game has not.

Well, they've done it again folks, Madden 06 now brings us plenty of new features! such as Precision Passing, Truck Stick, Superstar mode, and more!! If you enjoyed playing Madden 05 last year, trust me you will LOVE playing this years Madden, & I'm not even too big of a football fan, but its caught my attention.

Game-play 10/10

Alright, lets start out with Game-play, there is Precision Passing for your quarterback, when moving back & looking for an open receiver to pass though, you will be like a car with a headlight scanning the field to find somebody open to catch the ball. You can move that vision light with the Right Analog stick & if you get the vision light on the player your gonna pass the ball to, there's a very good chance he will catch that ball rather than miss it. However it will most likely backfire if you're using the Precision Passing and the person you pass to is out of your vision lights range. Then there's new addition to Madden 06, the Truck Stick, man is this awsome! I have had numerous fumbles when tackling people when I used the Truck Stick, it makes your players tackle much harder & all you have to do to use it is press up or down on the Right Analog when you are about to tackle somebody. Sometimes helmets will come flying off, you just never know. Also let me not forget to mention Superstar Mode, here you can take control & play the role of your own player, whether it be you starting on your own from the bottom working your way up, or you export your character from NFL Streets 2 or NCAA 06. First off, you pick your parents kind of fun here lol, You then get to take place in interviews with the media, hire an agent, even take an IQ test. Best thing about this, it all happens before the draft! So you think to yourself wow, if all this happens before the draft I can't wait for whats gonna happen after I get drafted! Now, after the draft thats when your career starts you can take place in training camps, receive endorsements, get a movie role and so much much more.

Now after all that gameplay, you STILL have classic, franchise mode, online mode and exhibition games. So much you can do in this great football game.

Graphics 9/10

The graphics in Madden 06 isn't too big of an improvement from Madden 2005. It's basically the same which is still pretty darn good but hey, don't complain when you got everything else Madden 06 has to offer you.

Sound 8/10
Music 7/10

Music..well it isn't all of my taste but there's quite a bit of rap & quite a bit of rock, I personally prefer rock over rap. All in all the soundtrack is pretty good there's quite a few addictive songs that will repeat themselves over and over again in the back of your head. Now the game sounds, are pretty improved I think the commentary is better, they don't seem to repeat the same lines over and over like they did in Madden 05. You still hear all the hard hits, grunts from the players and the big tackling sounds!

Buy or Rent? Definitely a buy! Especially if your a big football fan definitely buy this game, it is worth your money to pick up from your local gaming store. If your unsure about it, go to your local video store & try renting the game see if you like it which I'm sure you will.

overall - 4/5

I bought this game off eBay for $28 (+$6 s/h). I like the game. The Madden franchise has always been good if not exceptional.

The good: Truck Stick when running the ball is cool. Mini-Camp (mini-drills) are SO fun! Superstar mode is pretty good (The cell phone, the web, and barber shop is unneccesary). They continued Playmaker moves from last year. Graphics are sweet!

The BAD: TOO MANY Controls. I like how they allow you to throw the ball anyway you want (over the head, under pass, to the left, right) and allow you to have "precison passing" BUT in the end, unless you are a hardcore MADDEN geek, it's too much to remember in the 5 seconds you have to make a throw or whatever. The worst NEW thing in this game is the PRECISION PASSING! As the QB, you get this ray-beam of light in which way you look, but you have to HOLD R2 and the buton of the receiver to look at another receiver then release R2 and press him quickly (if you hold your gaze on him to long the defense moves in on him and you will be intercepted). TRY DOING ALL THAT in the 3 seconds you have to throw before you get sacked.

Despite all the bad, the good overshines the bad. I would recommend a RENTAL of MADDEN NFL 06, not a buy. If you liked the rent, get it.