Madden NFL 95

"Why does John Madden always look confused?"

I remember when I first bought this game. It was a week ago at CDs, DVDs, and Games Central, for a quarter. I'm beginning to regret the purchase. But damn do they have cheap prices. I can get up to 20 Genesis games there for 5 bucks. They'd all be sports games, but one of them has to be good. I found Earthbound there for 12 bucks, and Toe Jam & Earl: Panic on Funkatron there for 5 bucks.

Game Play-
5.7/10

It's very hard to learn, and while the same can be said about any sports game, this still follows the rule.

It's football, and boring at that. It follows the rules football basically, except sometimes your CPU players on your team don't, and they constantly get called for offsides. But they also do most of the work, letting you just sit on your ass the whole game.

I constantly don't know what I'm doing in this game. I can get an interception in a snap (No pun intended), and I'm nowhere near where the ball is.

The computer can be unfair too. Everyone constantly is faster than you, and can block you easily. They constantly intercept your shots.

The game consists of all the NFL teams and updated rosters for the 1994-95 season. I have no idea who the players are, I'm more of a basketball man, but I can get a good idea of them.

You can play a season, which is saved on battery, which puts you in an NFL Season, with all the games, playoffs, and the Super Bowl, of course. (Don't get me started on how overrated the Super Bowl is) And there is two-player capability, so you and a friend or family member can compete to see who can succeed at a crappy football game the best. And you can skip ahead to the playoffs, which is cool.

You can take control in a season of all the football games in a season, making you sort of the President of the NFL. And you're put in the position of a coach too during a game, calling the plays and telling the players what the hell they're supposed to do.

Also, the game freezes whenever I try to reset it.

Control-
5.2/10

Despite the fact that the Genesis has only 3 buttons, it takes a while to get a hang of it. At first, you'll constantly make mistakes with passing, switching players, and making plays, but those problems'll disappear. What's so bad about this, you ask? It takes a while to get a hold of the control, meaning a steep, steep learning curve and frustration, and not that great a reward for those who get a hang of it. (Just like reviewing for this site)

Graphics-
6.4/10

The graphics in this game are good, but they hinder the game play greatly. The game takes place from one angle, which everyone says is good, but I preferred the camera angles in the later PS versions. Sometimes the players cover up each other, making it so you can't tell which one is which. It's hard to tell where the ball is going when you throw it.

The fields look nice, and they bear the logo of the home teams on the field, but they used too many shades of green, and some just don't fit in at all.

Audio-
5.2/10

I HATE John Madden's voice. It sounds crappy and scratchy on the Genesis, and he hardly says a word, and I still find his voice as irritating as Roseanne singing the National Anthem. The NFL theme sounds somewhat good on here, but it ain't enough to compensate for wicked crappiness of John Madden's voice. The crowds sound nice, but it hardly changes and then gets irritating.

Enjoyability-
4.5/10

These games that were on the SNES should not be ported to the Genesis hastily. It's crappy and it's scary and irritating, and unless you are a die-hard football fan, then you shouldn't buy this. And by die-hard, I mean those people who go out to football games in 0 Degree snowing weather covered completely in paint and not wearing a shirt.

Score Rundown-

Game Play-5.7/10 - ABCDE
Control-5.2/10 - Those are the letters of the alphabet
Graphics-6.4/10 - The high point of the game, which isn't saying much
Audio-5.2/10 - BOOM!
Enjoyability-4.5/10 - Nice body paint. Uh-oh, that's not paint.

Score-27/50

Percentage of Gaming Goodness-54%

Overall-
5/10

Doodleheimer's Recommendationitivity-

I'm beginning to think that John Madden is the overweight, square, irritating long-lost brother of Hugh Hefner. It kinda makes sense when you think about it.

Street Price-$0.25

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/01, Updated 05/20/02