Madden NFL 2005

"Fun, but nothing special."

Introduction
Obviously, Madden is a very well-known and well-established football video game series. I recently got the PC version of this game, as I've been really into football simulations as of late.

Graphics: 5/10
As with any PC game, the graphics depend a bit on the quality of your computer. My computer is about average, as it's only a year old, and I really wasn't that impressed. Most games give me better graphics than the console version, but Madden churned out graphics that were about as good as (maybe even worse than) the console versions. The players look fairly real and move pretty realistically, but when I looked closely I saw that they aren't very detailed.

The crowd and everyone on the sidelines is EXTREMELY blocky. The crowd is completely flat, and the stadium acts transparent when something solid (like the ball) goes into it. It felt like I was back on the Nintendo 64, which is definitely not the type of impression you want from a PC game made in 2005.

Gameplay: 8/10
All in all, I have no real complaints with the gameplay. It's pretty simple to do the basics (run, pass, etc.), and anything else you can just look at the controller settings. It's really easy to get the hang of, but then again nearly every other football simulation out there is like that. The gameplay is surprisingly fluid, as opposed to 05's slow and clunky console counterparts.

Game Modes: 8/10
The game offers a few neat ways to enjoy yourself, aside from the basic one-on-one game. You can take a team and play an entire season with them, from training camp right through the All-Star game. You can put your team in difficult situations and try to come back and win the game. You can practice your skills using some training drills the game offers. No real problems in this category, though it's also one of those categories that can always be improved upon.

Features: 6/10
Madden '05 offers you the ability to create teams, playbooks, players, and fans. The first three are fun, the last is pretty much pointless, and is only displayed on the cutscenes after you score a touchdown or something.

Creating teams is always fun, but you're limited, as you can't take your created team and play a season with them. Several other features and game modes throughout the site are also limited to actual current teams, and that's no fun.

Creating players is pretty simple and straightforward, and it's not hard at all to get them onto the team. You can't really make a bunch of super players, due to the salary cap, which might (or might not) be a good thing, as that is at least realistic.

Creating playbooks is decent, but a lot of the cool things you can do in pre-made plays can't be duplicated in your own ones (ie, flea flickers, reverses, etc). Other than that I have no real complaints with it.

Difficulty Level: 5/10
Within a week of getting this game, I was able to go 16-0 and win the Super Bowl on the hardest difficulty with no real trouble. This game just isn't that hard, so long as you have a basic grasp of football.

Replay Level: 8/10
Pretty much, this game is fun until you get sick of just calling and running plays over and over. As with most sport games, there isn't really any way to improve upon this -- it's just fun until you get sick of the routine. Fortunately, it took me about a month of playing this game a couple hours daily before I began to get bored of it, and even after having it as long as I have I'm still not sick of it, and I still play from time to time.

I should also add the commentary can get pretty annoying, but that's common to nearly every sports game.

OVERALL: 7/10
This game is pretty fun, despite flaws here and there. From what I've heard, Madden '04 is supposedly better. I'd personally recommend looking into that, as you may be wasting your money on this game.

All in all it's not bad, and it's more or less average as far as football simulations go.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/05