Madden NFL 2005

"From ESPN to Madden, and pleasently surprised."

This review is being written on February 6th, 2005, approximately 4 hours or so before Super Bowl XXXIX. Now that you have that timeframe in mind, I can finally give you my review of Madden NFL 2005 for XBOX.

First and foremost, I am an NFK 2K fan. I've owned and played every single version of NFL 2K released since the original version on Dreamcast in 1999. I enjoyed, and still enjoy, the way the NFL 2K games are made and how enjoyable of a football game they are. However, the six-year span of this franchise is unfortunately over.

In December 2004, Electronic Arts (developers/publishers of Madden 2005) announced they had reached an exclusivity agreement with the NFL and Players, Inc. giving them exclusive license to their teams, players, and stadiums for the next five years. In other words, until Madden 2011, there will be no other NFL-branded football games available. Strike 1 to Sega/Visual Concepts and the ESPN brand.

Strike Two: In January, EA announced a 15-year exclusivity contract with ESPN, allowing them to use the ESPN brand in their sports games. Therefore, EA Sports holds the rights to the NFL and ESPN for at least the next 5 years.

Strike Three: Take-Two Interactive, the company behind the successful Grand Theft Auto series, purchased not only an exclusive 3rd party contract with the MLB but also acquired Visual Concepts, essentially shutting the door on any future Sega Sports games the way we know them.

Now, with all of this in mind, it's time for my review. Since I knew I would never get to play another NFL game aside from Madden, I felt it was time I gave the franchise a fair shot. So, I purchased Madden 2005 and started running through the gameplay. Though it definitely takes some getting used to, I quickly became impressed and found myself liking the Madden game overall more than ESPN. However, let's see just how much.

All of my reviews are done using a five-part scoring system. At the end of those sections, I offer a final, overall rating, which is not an average of the previous five scores.

FIVE-POINT SCORING:
GRAPHICS
GAMEPLAY
SOUND
PRESENTATION
VALUE

GRAPHICS: 8/10

Madden NFL 2005 falls pretty heavy in this category. While the graphics aren't necessarily bad, I have to compare them to ESPN, and next to those, they fall significantly short. The details are just not there as much as they are in ESPN 2K5. The fans are lackluster, the cheerleaders look like they're 40, and the player models are a little too bulky. Some of the other elements are nice, but these are definitely huge areas of opportunity. Hopefully, from a visual standpoint, they turn it around next year.

GAMEPLAY: 10/10

Madden NFL 2005 has several implementations into it's gameplay that ESPN could benefit from, and vice versa. In Madden, the newest feature when it comes to control is the Hit Stick addition. This allows you to tap the right analog stick and nail the ball-carrier with a bone-rattling tackle. Of course, if you miss, you leave the door wide open for a break. A nice feature and good for forcing fumbles in tight situations, though not to be overused. Overall, the control and gameplay is superb. Operating the players on either side of the ball, in any play, is easy and it's fun. Madden is definitely more of a simulator than ESPN, which tends to be a little more casually-geared.

One of the excellent features of this game also comes outside of the standard game mode. This year, the Franchise mode has been redone, adding a few new features which really set it apart from the previous title. For those of you new to Madden, the franchise mode basically gives you total reign over the team you decide to control - be it pre-existing, or one of your own. I'll talk more about creation options shortly. With franchise mode, you start off by taking your team through training mode - adding a moderate boost to their stats - and then plop them into pre-season mode. Throughout the entire length of Franchise mode, you can listen to EA Sports Radio with Tony Bruno and hear him talk about various teams, maybe even your's, and have coachs and call-ins, etc. Also, you can check out the newspapers, both the USA Today for national news and your own local paper. EA licensed many local newspapers for use in this game.

Also, one of your main interactive options is your PDA, which keeps track of eMail you receive from players, the coach, etc. and helps keep you up to date with the various demands and progress of your players. You'll notice that certain players may want more play, as there is morale to keep in mind. In addition to managing your team, you can also take the reigns as Owner and manage the arena, adjusting prices for tickets, food, merchandise, parking, etc. You can easily get taken in by the number of charts and stats that effect your team, but when it all comes down to it, you're just here to play football.

And playing football is a good experience, too. Everything is well done and if the difficulty is too easy for you, you have not only a standard difficulty meter (rookie, pro, all-Madden, etc.) but you also have various sliders you can adjust to impact the AI and effect how well, to certain degrees, they can move or stop the ball. All in all, it's a lot of fun with a lot of replay value.

There are two big elements to replay value, however. One of which is the ability to create. You can create your own player, your own team, and this year, your own fan. Granted, the latter feature isn't so intensive, but it's fun. The create-a-player feature is pretty standard. Name him, size him, dress him, and give him stats. The create-a-team feature can be real fun, though. In addition to assigning your own team's colors - and naming them and locating them - you can also build your team's stadium. This mode gives you plenty to customize your team with, so it's not to be missed.

Secondly, in this year, all EA Sports titles are finally compatible with XBOX Live, allowing hours of online gaming and updating. I personally don't play online, but it's a huge addition to the game, no doubt.

All in all, the game is incredibly well done and easily worth purchasing again in 2006.

SOUND: 9/10

Let me just make one thing clear, right off the bat... I *hate* John Madden! Argh. I can't stand his commentary. The commentary in ESPN is *leagues* better than this, but I digress. The sound, as a whole, is good. You get a lot of good field noise and ambient sound, and it doesn't make any huge strides. It just sounds good. It's hard to make a football game sound bad, except for Madden on commentary. Ugh.

PRESENTATION: 10/10

Though EA didn't have a third-party major brand license this time around, they will next year. However, the presentation of the menus, in-game graphics and other elements are still done very well. Granted, nothing quite compares to ESPN's presentation, we'll undoubtedly see similar stuff in Madden NFL 2006. The menus are very neat, it's easy to find what you're looking for, and when it comes down to it, it's a nice looking game. Very clean and organized and really good.

VALUE: 10/10

Since the game is only $30 now, I suppose I can give it a full 10/10 for value. It's definitely worth $30. It's a high-quality football game that requires you take some time and learn how to play it first. The Madden 101 and the Drill features help when it comes to learning the controls and how the players move. It's solid, and it's a good game. Hopefully, next year will be just as good.

OVERALL: 9/10

I almost gave this game a 10/10, but there were too many things that, while were done well, came up short next to it's competition. Of course, NFL 2K will not be around next year, but I hope EA doesn't just phone in Madden 06. With a few tweaks, it can easily be just as good as ESPN, if not exceptionally better. While I enjoy Madden a lot more - because of the kind of gamer I am - I think it needs a few other additions and tweaks to made it the great game it claims to be.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/05