Madden NFL 2005

"BOOM! POW! HIT STICK'D! Madden '05>Tough Actin' Tinactin"

Having played both ESPN and Madden, the winner is Madden by a good margin

ESPN was clearly rushed, and as a result, the glitches really take away from the game

Gameplay is great, using Hot Routes is easy and can really give you big plays. Hit Stick is overrated, but still fun.
There are tutorials on the menu that will show you the new things and how to call Hot Routes or change your defensive responsibilities on the fly. It's just great, even non-football fans should be able to understand how to use this.

Franchise is good from what I've seen so far. This year you have newspapers(one national and one local for every team in the league) documenting the latest news around the league, and a weekly Tony Bruno Radio Show(which isn't half as good as you'd expect from reading this, but it's still very cool, they have trivia, interviews with real players/coaches, and funny callers to keep you interested). I haven't gone deep into the Franchise yet, so I don't know if moving/new stadiums/etc. is improved from last year(and I hope it is, because while innovative, it wasn't very great last year)

All in all, this is a great game, I honestly haven't played in enough to judge replayability or determine rent vs. buy, but I suggest you play this game and don't be fooled by ESPN's lower price(Madden is definitely worth at least $30 more than ESPN)

Graphics-8/10, they look a little more cartoonish, but a little more polished than ESPN's, and the physics of everything seem normal

Sound-8/10, Madden is getting old and his commentary isn't great(not that he was ever a good commentator to begin with...lol), but Al Michaels does a good job. I still miss Pat Summeral. The Soundtrack isn't anything special, and I haven't found any songs on it that are at least so bad they're funny(like last year's classic "Football tiiiiiime...once again it's oooonnnnn"). In-Game noises like the crowd and players are good, you can hear the crowd roar louder if you get your defense to pump them up(by pressing L3), and you can hear the QB barking signals and audibles.

Intangibles-10/10, Franchise is great so far, they have some good features as I posted above, and it really has that personal "Madden Feel" that has set it apart from the robotic Sega and 989 games over the years

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/12/04