Madden NFL 2005

"All hail Madden 2005, king of football games!"

Intro
Madden 2001, probably the best Madden game I've ever played. After that, it started to decline for me for some reason or another. Maybe I just got bored with them, who's to say, ya know? This year, I decided to go out and pick up Madden '05 only because I've heard godly things from it. And boy, was I in for a treat.

Gameplay: 10/10
Superb, great, awesome. People say it gets better and better every year, and it does. The gameplay is amazing in this game. Both sides of the ball are fun to play and each have new mechanics to them. The biggest, and most notable, change is the addition of the HitStick on defense. Now, not only can you tackle your opponent with the square button, but you can just about take his head off using the right analog stick. Sure, it delivers a harder hit, but it's risky at the same time as this is avoided more easily than square. Also on defense, they've added Playmaker. Now you can send the backs to press the receivers, lay off them, or even double team them. And one of the things I thought was cool is the fact that you can bring almost your entire defense up to the line to blitz. But, after the ball is snapped, they fall back into regular coverage. This alters gameplay a great deal on defense.

Offense is the same as last year with a few tweaks here and there. In my opinion, the passing game is a tad bit easier than last year and the running game is a tad harder. But, it's nothing that some custom sliders can't fix. There's still the Playmaker on the offensive side of the ball. Control your blockers, switch plays on the run and much more. The possibilities are almost endless.

Graphics: 8/10
While it's nothing spectacular, it's definitely Madden's best. The players look crisper and more life-like than ever and the fans don't look like 2d cut-outs anymore. Everything is fluid with no slowdown time or anything. While it's not the best part of the game, it's always great to have some nice graphics while you're playing. It helps a lot in all the fields of play. Makes it easier to see and all that good stuff, so thumbs up on improved graphics, though I still think there's room for improvement.

Sound: 9/10
Sure, over time Michaels and Madden *can* get annoying, but I enjoy them throughout the first few months of play. They aren't as repetitive this year as they were last and can be helpful at times if you're paying attention. As for the soundtrack, it's one of the better one's I've seen throughout the years. They focused more on rock this year as they did rap, which I'm glad, because I'm a huge fan of rock. They have Earshot, Franz Ferdinand, Faith No More, and Greenday, just to name a few of the bands in the game. Again, pretty good sound track this year, thumbs up.

Replay Value: 10/10
Can you say "Franchise Mode"? It's by far the best franchise mode in any football game to date. With so much to do it's hard not to fall in love with it. With ESPN's SportsCenter the focus of the franchise mode on 2k5, Madden counter-acted with more than one thing. Now, Madden offers newspapers and radioshows to report news amongst the league. T.O. unhappy on the Eagles? The New York Times will report about it, along with other main papers, and it will be known worldwide in a matter of minutes. Ladainian Tomlinson named MVP? Tony Bruno will report it on-air before anyone else has the chance to.

Also, Online will keep you occupied for months to come. With the Premium Pass setting up leagues world-wide, this will keep us full until the next installment of Madden comes around. And we all know there will be another installment.

Overall: 10/10
Obviously if you average them out, you're not going to get a ten, but I feel Madden 2005 deserves a ten out of ten. This is by far the best game in the series and surpasses 2001 as my all-time favorite. I'm glad I dished out 50 bucks this year, and you should to. As I heard from a magazine/internet site once: "Got $20? Save up $30 more and go out and buy Madden, because it blows ESPN NFL 2K5 away." As for renting or buying, well, it should go without saying: BUY BUY BUY.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/13/04