Madden NFL 2005

"You know, the best CAN only get better."

When you think of definitive series in a genre, lots of names come to mind. Titles like Mario, Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, and several others completely dominate their genre. The Madden series is no exception. Over the past few years, Madden NFL Football has held a stranglehold on the title of "Best Sports Game." Madden 2005 takes the best, and just makes it better. Lets break it down real slow, shall we?

Graphics: 10/10
Per usual, Madden brings incredible graphics to the table. Players and animations look smooth and lifelike; and everything in the stadium carries a new level of detail that brings this game to life. Revamped crowds and sidelines add another level of realism, and the little endzone celebrations are substantially better than last years. Simply put, the graphics are beautiful.

Audio: 8/10
I'll have to start by mentioning one thing: The commentary gets old after a while. But the roaring crowds and bonebreaking hits sound just like they should: Loud. It's not as drastic as NCAA 2005, but the crowd does get into the game often, and when laying into somebody with the hit stick, you might as well be inside your victims helmet. From time to time, the hits sound so brutal that even I'M feeling it. If that's not enough, the hilarity of the Tony Bruno Show; and the kickin soundtrack really put Madden on top in audio. But my score drops to 8, because you can only listen to John Madden tell you that somebody had "Bees in their helmet" so many times.

Gameplay: 9/10
This is what gives the entire game a perfect score, really. Every year, Madden finds the guy who said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"...and kicks him right in the nuts. They're always tweaking the gameplay, which is good. This years biggest addition is the Hit Stick, which is used for *Obviously* laying my aforementioned bonecrushing hits upon opposing offenses. Big hits are controlled through the right analog stick, much akin to Playmaker Control. Of course, no Madden game is complete without a juiced up franchise mode. This years edition sees the removal of Owner Mode (Which is the only thing about the game that really irked me a lot) but it adds lots of innovative new features, like email (Think MVP) newspapers, and even a radio station talking football all the time, ran by Tony Bruno himself. Adding player morale to the picture was an interesting twist as well, but the removal of Owner mode drops the score to a 9. The return of Mini-Camps and Two-Minute Drill is always good, though. ;P

Multiplayer: 10/10
Per usual, mutliplayer is always fun. There's nothing wrong with grabbing a few buddies to play this game with. You're bound to have fun.

Final Score: 10/10

Buy or Rent: BUY/10 >_>
If you have a drop of sports blood in you, go out and buy this game right now. Like I said, they took what was already perfect, and somehow made it better...again. I'd expect no less.

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