Gameplay: Defense
The defensive game was Madden's biggest focus this year, though ESPN saw some changes to its defense as well. So which game allows the least points?
ESPN
The biggest change seen in this year's game is the ability to adjust defensive backs and linebackers, presnap. By holding down either the right or left trigger buttons and pressing the right analog stick in a specific direction, you can adjust their coverage schemes based on where receivers are stacked, based on how much pressure you want to put on them, and so on. You can also make individual players blitz, though the process required for selecting their specific icons and then selecting the blitz is a tad convoluted. Also, seemingly to balance out the new sack-dodging move on the offensive side of the ball, it's a little easier to get to the quarterback now when playing on defense. The sack numbers can get a little silly on the default difficulty, but by boosting it up, you'll get back to more-realistic sack stats. ESPN also features a pressure-sensitive tackling button, which, when pressed down, will cause you to perform a hard wrap-tackle. Meanwhile, a simple tap will result in more of a shove or shoulder charge. It's better than the old "just-run-at-the-guy-and-hope-for-the-best" tackling of old. That's for sure.
Madden
Apparently every iota of effort put into this year's Madden has been used to make the defensive game more configurable and more fun. Let's start with the hit stick. When you've got a ball carrier lined up, by tapping the right analog stick, you can deliver a pretty sizable hit--especially if you've built up a good head of steam. Yes, it's kind of gimmicky, but it's also a lot of fun. You can also set up individual defensive hot routes this year. By highlighting a player and then tapping the right analog stick in a specific direction, you can put a player into deeper zone coverage, set him up as a QB spy, set up a flat zone cover, or make him blitz. You can also do the same stuff as in ESPN, with the linebacker and defensive back alignment shifts, but you can also do the same with the defensive linemen, changing their attack designs without actually even moving them from their set line positions. Finally, EA has also finally added defensive locks to keep specific corners on individual receivers to prevent horrible mismatches.
While all of these presnap changes you can make sound cool, do they actually work in a concise and easy-to-use manner? Absolutely, yes. After a couple of games, you should be able to grind out as many changes as you need before the snap, provided your opponent isn't in a permanent hurry-up offense. The controls are fully intuitive and get you the desired effect nearly every time, if you know what you're doing.
Which is better?
ESPN feels good on defense, and the new tackling button is nice. However, the amount of configuration options available to you before the snap in Madden is completely ludicrous--and it's totally awesome. The same goes for the hit stick; it's a better tackling mechanism than what's found in ESPN, and it just feels really, really solid. This might have been a slightly unfair fight, since EA did devote a fair portion of its development resources to making the defensive game a whole new animal this year. Regardless, all that effort definitely paid off. Madden takes the defensive player of the year award.
Winner: Madden NFL 2005
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