Madden NFL 06

"Another year, another great Madden game"

Summer is coming to an end, children are preparing to return to school, autumn is right around the corner. Football fans are preparing for the upcoming season with fantasy drafts and power rankings. Las Vegas is taking bets for who will win the super bowl. Fans around the country have already begun arguing over who will win it all this year. And amongst all of these yearly traditions, EA spots has delivered unto us on more. You know what that means. It's time for the latest installment of Madden NFL! Kick off this year's football season on your Playstation 2 with Madden NFL 2006.

Become the owner of the team of your choice with Franchise mode, and guide your team on its quest to win it all. It's super bowl or bust! Franchise mode hasn't changed much from last year, it's just as massive as ever. The EA Sports radio show returns, as does the same basic set up and browsing options that Franchise had in Madden ‘05. You can still adjust everything from hot dog prices to parking costs, and you once again have full control over cutting and signing players as you try to build up a team capable of winning the big game.

New to the series in ‘06 is Superstar mode. You can either upload a player from NCAA ‘06 or NFL Street 2, or you can create your own from scratch. If you choose the latter, the game will randomly generate two parents for you. You can either accept them or randomly generate a new set. This is important because your parents determine your player's stats. Someone with a Hall of Fame Running Back for a father and an Olympic Sprinter for a mother will have much higher stats than someone with parents of more ordinary roots. Once you've decided on your parents, you're given the opportunity to edit your appearance. This is important if you plan on eventually getting movie deals and endorsements. The better your player looks, the more likely companies are to put you on the big screen.

Now that your player has been created, it's time to get ready for the draft. The first step is to meet your guide through Super star mode, Terrell Davis. He will teach you the basics of Superstar mode, and answer any questions you might have. Next you'll be have to hire an agent. Not all of the agents will work for you right from the get go. Some won't even give you the time of day until you prove your worth. Finally, you have an IQ test. You have to answer 20 questions before time runs out, and your score greatly effects your awareness stat.

After all of this you can finally get drafted. You won't get picked in the first round, and the team that does draft you is random. Now that you're officially an NFL player, a fan will open up a website dedicated to your entire life. You also open up a lot of different options that effect how fans and various potential endorsement companies will view you. You can become a trouble maker by bad mouthing your coaches and guaranteeing wins. You can also be the quiet, “I let my actions on the field speak for me.” type. It is entirely up to you. As your player improves you can move out of your apartment and into a loft, and eventually a mansion!

Every year, EA Sports likes to tweak the gameplay a little. Last year they beefed up the defense and added the “Hit Stick” which allowed you to level offensive players at will. This year is entitled the “Year of the Quarterback”, and is headlines by the new Vision and Precision Passing. In real life, most quarterbacks can't see the entire field at once. The is represented in the game by a new vision cone. The width of the cone is determined by your quarterback's awareness stat. The higher the awareness, the more of the field they can see at once. You can have your quarterback look forward, or center the cone on any receiver you choose. Throwing outside the cone is done with a big hit to your accuracy. The trade off is that if you throw inside the cone, you can aim the football more accurately by holding up, left, right, or down to place the ball in that direction in relation to the receiver. This makes it very easy to keep the ball from being picked off by the defender. This feature adds an insane amount of realism to the game. For those of you who don't like it, worry not. You can always turn it off in the options menu, unless you're playing online.

EA also introduced the new “Truck Stick” this year. This allows a ball carrier to lower their shoulders and slam the defenders. This helps you break tackles, but the trade off is it also increases the likelihood of fumbles. Other new features include more playmaker controls, and the return of a few playmaker controls from Madden ‘04 that were taken out in ‘05, such as the ability to make your secondary drop back into coverage or bump up to stop the run.

The presentation of the game is similar to ‘05, in that everything is sharp, crisp, and looks great in general. Players are well defined and look like their real life counterparts. The menus are well designed and easy to navigate. The sound track, always a strong point of the Madden franchise, is as good as ever. Once again, it has a great mix of both rock and rap, and the option to turn off any songs you don't like. Fans of both genres will be pleased. This year they've also added remixes of several NFL Films songs, which are great because they really fit the mood of the game well.

All in all this is a great addition to the series that fans of Madden will not want to pass up. Due to EA's new exclusivity contract with the NFL there aren't a whole lot of options this year in regards to football titles. Fortunately, Madden is as sharp as ever, and will definitely give you your football fill.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/12/05