Well, I finally gave in. During the final few weeks of summer as the new football games were coming out, I vowed not to get this year's Madden game strictly because it cost $50. Instead, I got my football fix from ESPN NFL 2K5, NCAA Football 2005, and televised college and pro football games. Unfortunately, I just couldn't hold out that long. First, I decided to sell NCAA Football 2005, simply because I was scoring too much and my defense would rarely allow an opponent into the endzone even if Lee Corso was picking all my plays. And it's not that ESPN NFL 2K5 is that bad a game, it's just that I like to string my played games together into some bigger more meaningful way (i.e. a dynasty or franchise mode) and unfortunately ESPN NFL 2K5 couldn't cut it in this department. (And yet I still play Tecmo Super Bowl on occasion) That left just Madden NFL 2005. It's not that Madden is a substandard series. In fact I liked both Madden NFL 2003 and 2004 very much. I just didn't want to pay $50 for it. So the loophole finally appeared when Best Buy marked the game down to $37 as a weekly special. Sold!
Features
Most of the original features return in the latest Madden game. You have a quick game mode, a franchise mode, practice mode, Madden Classics mode, and the minicamp drills.
New Features
Madden NFL 2005 has many new features that really don't add much to the series. The create-a-fan option is probably the most unique aspect. It allows you to dress fans up in garb that represents your team colors and themes. For instance, Packer fans can suit up in several different outfits that feature green and gold as their primary colors. Cheeseheads and other assorted headgear are available as well. While this is an interesting feature, it simply doesn't have the staying power that the minigames have.
Speaking of minigames, there is one new addition to Madden NFL 2005 and that's the ability to play the ground attack minigame with 2 or more people. On offense you have a running back and a fullback, while the defense has a linebacker and a safety. Each team of two controls one side of the ball for the allotted amount of time in an attempt to score as many points as possible. The offense scores by gaining positive yardage, scoring touchdowns, and successfully performing tackle-breaking moves. While the defense can score by tackling the back behind the line of scrimmage, stripping the ball, and successfully using the hit stick. After the time is up, each team switches sides, and the team with the most points after 2 rounds wins.
Franchise
The core of the franchise mode remains relatively untouched. You can still trade, sign, and draft players across dozens of years. However, the biggest addition to the franchise mode is storyline central. Storyline central allows your players to have more of a personality. Players' efforts are determined not only by how healthy they are, but also how happy they are. A player that is in a position battle might be upset that he was demoted to the bench. Another player might be upset about a contract status or the fact that you spent your first round pick on a player of the same position. In addition, storyline central allows you to look at different local and national media sources (mostly newspapers and other publications) to see how your team, the media, and the fans are viewing you. To top it off the audio in the menu portion of franchise mode is the Tony Bruno Show. This show is a talk show that acts as a national media source. You'll have coach and player interviews, trivial, fans calling in, and Tony's own analysis on what trends he sees in the league. I think this aspect to franchise mode definitely gives the game more depth and worth. The only problem is it can also increase the time spent between games. Sometimes I like to play a quick game in franchise mode and not much else, but having to spend an additional half hour or more preparing for the game and dealing with players can turn a quick game into a long exercise.
Online
The online aspect of Madden is a mixed bag. The online portion of the game has most of the same bells and whistles the previous game had. You have chat rooms, rankings, challenges, as well as roster updates, news, and EA Messenger. The biggest new feature if you sign up for their (currently free) EA Premium Pass service is online leagues. This is easily the most appealing aspect to Madden NFL 2005 since it's one step closer to an online franchise mode. Online leagues aren't as robust as a true season mode, but it does offer many frills beyond simply playing challenge after challenge.
The online gameplay experience isn't all that great. While both sides have lots more different options in the gameplay to conceal their plays, there are still ways of manipulating the computer AI. Some of the more "cheesy" players will fan out their defensive line to fake out your offensive tackles, and the long bomb/fast QB scramble strategy is still very effective and widely used to win games. When playing online, chances are you are not going to have an authentic football experience.
Gameplay
The on the field gameplay is a mixed bag of fine tuned details, money plays, and programming shortcuts. I've always liked the way Madden plays, however it seems as if this year the gameplay hasn't been fixed the way it always had. One aspect I really like is the short passing game. Defensive backs will jump routes like slants, ins, or outs, especially if you try to run them on consecutive snaps. Now on the higher difficulty levels, you can't keep on going to the same receiver play after play using a favorable pattern unless he's really good. Instead you have to look all around the field for a receiver that has more separation on your defender. It's a nice touch that forces you to spread the ball around more if you don't have that big playmaking receiver.
It's the long passing game that really draws my ire. In the past, EA has struggled with the type of player who will drop back 30 yards and throw a lob to Moss, Owens, or whoever the best jump ball receiver is at the time. This not only befuddled players who were interested in a more authentic football experience, but it also cheapened the gameplay. So what was EA's solution? This year they gave defensive backs the ability to swat those balls most of the time, even if that receiver has a step on the DB and you throw a Steve Grogan-esque moonball (ala Tecmo Super Bowl) downfield. While I hate players going for the homerun every play, this virtually eliminates the practicality of any form of streak or go route, when it does serve a purpose in an NFL offense. A receiver in single coverage with no safety help should have a decent shot at hauling in a long bomb. This all depends on whether the QB has time to throw it (the pass rush could get to him first hence the lack of safety help), the receiver has to be able to get open (that is James Thrash isn't going to beat Chris McAllister), and the QB has to be accurate in the throw. Instead, EA should have made the deep safety help more effective in forcing an incompletion or even an interception. You have a player who likes to throw the deep ball? Well a cover 2-man scheme should thwart that and just send a linebacker to spy the quarterback if he decides to run. EA decided not to go that route and instead cheapened the defensive AI by using programming shortcuts. I'm surprised that a knowledgeable defender like Ray Lewis isn't ashamed to be on the cover of this game because of this.
The running game is still pretty decent. Holes close at a moment's notice, and good defenders close with amazing speed at times. Despite all that, there are some plays like counters that can yield a lot of yards when used effectively. I'm still not too adept at running the ball, so I can't quite call these plays money, but I can see a more effective runner abusing these plays for big yards. One aspect of the running game that still doesn't work well is the draw play. In football, draws force aggressive defensive ends far up into the backfield while the running back can scoot by them with their guards and center taking on usually two rushers. Madden NFL 2005 does have a more aggressive pass rush, but the defensive ends still don't rush up into the backfield on what appears to be a pass play. What's odd is that a human defender can perform this speed rush and can get amazing results in previous versions of the game due to poor offensive tackle AI. Despite the lack of a realistic pass rush, Madden NFL 2005 does allow for effective screens and dump off passes to your backs.
Another example of lazy programming is the blocking. In Madden NFL 2005, players seem to get sucked into blocks. While it has equated to more realistic kick returns and interception returns, it also further underscores the fact that EA implements non-realistic workarounds for their gameplay engine's shortcomings.
My final complaint is on special teams and centers on the kick meter. The kick meter has changed again in that it much more flashy. You press a button to start the meter denoting the power behind your kick. The higher it goes, the more power you're going to generate. Also the harder the kick, the faster the meter decreases after you've selected the power. On the way back the meter has to fall within a certain area at the bottom of the meter. The closer to the center you are, the more accurate your kick is. If you stop the meter outside this area, it's an automatic "shank". This concept is great and accurately represents the way kicks are in the league (that is, it's not hard to get leg behind the kick, just harder to put it between the uprights). My biggest issue is that it's too flashy and hard to concentrate on the meter itself.
The final conclusion on the gameplay is that EA clearly made an effort to improve the gameplay to cut down on the cheesy play. However Madden NFL 2005 just doesn't exhibit itself as a football simulation as much as other games do. It's seems like a half arcade game, half simulation. Not that this is a bad thing; the game is very fun to play and very rewarding and balanced. It's odd that EA took steps to create a more level playing ground for players who like to play against other people, but in the process they took out some of the realism that made the game so compelling to others.
Graphics
Let's be blunt here. Madden NFL 2005 needs a new graphics engine, plain and simple. Those of you who are familiar with EA Sports games, will notice that their player models seem much less detailed than other sports games. Instead they take on a more "cartoony" look. Each year EA Sports increases the finer point details that involve more interaction with the environment as well as other fine aspect. They can fine-tune the details like grass stains, jersey features, and other assorted novelties, but the fact is that you don't notice many of these things from practical gameplay camera angles. Now I don't think that the modeling really affects the gameplay in any serious ways, but we are talking about graphics here and quite simply they are outdated.
The animations are a completely different beast. The animations are even worse than the player modeling to the point of it really affecting the gameplay. The player motions I best describe as "blocky". Player movement seems to be limited to a finite amount of directions that are just greater than that of a directional game pad. Perhaps this belongs in the controls section, I don't know. However, that's not the only problem with the animations. Even though I actually saw two defensive players take part in a tackle, there still isn’t any gang tackling animations. The only bright spot in the animations department is the big hit animations. They look pretty sick, but that's just one drop in a pretty big bucket.
Sound
The sound has its good points and it has its bad points. The commentary is the same stale stuff you've heard before. Madden and Michaels wouldn't be as bad if they weren't saying the same things for the past 5 years (well Madden at least). Madden particularly irks me because his defensive knowledge is lacking and is evidenced by what he says when you ask for his suggestion on a defensive play. On offense he'll comment on what to look for as a QB or a short strategic comment behind calling a particular running play. However on defense, we're blessed with these gems: "A good defensive coordinator will call this play." And "Why not try this one." Ugh. Hey Ray Lewis, if you're still reading this, are you sure you're proud to be on the cover of this game?
The Tony Bruno show is clearly an audio highlight. While I'm not particularly thrilled with the music selection, I'd rather listen to the Tony Bruno Show while doing my thing in franchise mode. Yes, some of the trivia bits will get old after a while, and some of the interviews will begin to repeat. However, every once in a while, you'll hear something you didn't notice that's going on in your league, like a position battle, or an unhappy player being placed on the trading block. I think this is pretty sweet.
The sound effects seem really puzzling. On some plays you'll hear the grunts and groans of the lineman at a greater volume than other plays. It's not like it's a specific type of play. It seems almost inexplicable. Another department that EA falls short on is the atmosphere that surrounds a game. Yeah, they'll play 5 second music clips between plays from time to time, but the crowd noise never seems to be a big factor. Ok, so they're using that for NCAA Football 2005 but it's still a huge gap in the audio presentation that accompanies the on field gameplay.
This is something they really need to improve upon. Hey EA, why don't you add in a fan following scale or meter into the franchise mode? That way if you're team is doing well, they'll generate more noise at home games (depending on the design of your stadium of course) and possibly even travel to some away games against teams that have trouble selling out their stadiums like the Arizona Cardinals and the Seahawks in the Kingdome-Stan Gelbaugh era. Have it tie into marketing and sales with the ownership mode.
Controls
The controls remain very similar to Maddens of previous years. However, that also means that the controls are surprisingly limited after the snap. Passing is relatively easy as the buttons assigned to the different receivers follows a distinct and logical pattern. Toggling the passing icons is a button located on the face of the controller (the Y button), which makes sense since scrambling is common. However, there is a specific pump fake button instead of a way to pump fake to a specific receiver. This could have been accomplished by either allowing you to double tap a receiver button (like in ESPN NFL 2K5) or to use the pump fake button as a modifier.
Running the ball is also clunky given the controls. The left trigger is assigned to the stiff arm, while the right trigger is the juke button. On the PS2, I'm used to the L1 and R1 buttons allowing you to juke in different directions while the L2 and R2 buttons allow me to stiff-arm in different directions. The problem I have is that sometimes I juke the wrong way or stiff-arm the wrong direction (thus exposing the ball to the defender). It's even more annoying because the black and white buttons aren't implemented in the running game and could have easily been integrated here. This is especially the case since juking and stiff-arming are more effective for backs with different running styles.
All of this would be a moot point if you could remap the controls. Not this year. For some reason EA insisted in locking in the control map. Are you kidding me? You aren't making any new friends here by locking in those controls. What's up for next year, are you going to eliminate the gameplay sliders?
New Controls
Madden has implemented some new controls to this year's game. The most notable of which is the hit stick. While on defense you can flick the right analog stick in any direction and your defender will set up for a huge hit. This hit also has some practicality as well. It increases the likelihood of the player fumbling the ball. While this is certainly an intriguing feature, I fail to see the point of it. Yes it's nice to force a turnover, but why not just implement a strip ball button to use when you have another defender to assist in the tackle? The big hit does play a role in football, just ask Eddie George. It seems like a mistake to showcase the release around it. I think that NCAA Football 2005 implemented this feature much better. Not only did they quietly add it as one of many new gameplay features, they also assigned it to a button instead of the right analog stick. This is a much better implementation because on the Xbox and PS2 controllers if you don't use the right analog stick, you're open to use 8 buttons instead of 4 (2 on the Xbox). That is unless you hold the controller a different way than I do.
There are also some other new controls on both offense and defense. The defense now has the ability to hot route defensive groups like linebackers or even specific defensive players. You can tell a specific defender to blitz, play a flat zone, spy the quarterback or drop back into coverage. This is a very useful option that allows you to further customize your defense to cope for all those offensive audibles.
The offense also has a new weapon. Your pre-snap control scheme allows you to shift the formation of the play while keeping the patterns in tact. This allows a running back or tight end to possibly be lined up in the slot or isolated on one side like a wide receiver. The implications are in certain coverages, it generates a mismatch similar to that of an isolation play in basketball. At first it doesn't seem all that useful and when not used right it can really screw up a play's strengths. However, when mastered it gives the offense yet another tool to work with to confuse the defense.
Difficulty
The game operates on 4 different difficulty levels: rookie, pro, all pro, and all-Madden. For each difficulty level, you can tweak different gameplay aspects from the defender awareness, to the pass accuracy, to the kicking power of both you and the computer. This allows the game to be further customized beyond EA's presets. The minigames also are played on the different difficulty levels. The greater the difficulty, the more wrinkles they throw at you, whether it's adding a new defender in the ground attack drill, or adding new receivers in the pocket presence drill. However, some minigames like the swat ball and the catch ball drills make some situations impossible to complete the task if the random placement of the ball follows a specific pattern. This makes some of the drills an exercise in luck rather than your on-the-field prowess.
My biggest complaint with the sliders is that there aren't enough and the design just isn't practical. Let's say that you feel as if the game plays more realistically on the all-pro difficulty level, but there are some aspects that aren't quite realistic. So you want to change the pursuit of the defenders down to a level the same as it is in the pro difficulty. Even if you lower the pursuit slider all the way, it's still higher than the pro difficulty. Let's say that the all-pro difficulty gives you the most challenge, but you simply aren't quick enough on the draw to get used to the kicking meter. Too bad, you can't change it. I commend EA for doing a lot of work to make the game more realistic on the field, but the lack of good sliders shows too much hubris on their part in assuming their setup is the best. People view the game differently, and allowing them to customize it to their enjoyment makes everyone happy.
Replay Value
The replay value is where Madden shines. While the gameplay still has many issues with it regarding realism, it is still a balanced game that is fun to play both against the computer and against your friends. Games take many different shapes and forms depending on how you approach your opponent.
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