Madden NFL 2006 Preview

If you believe EA Sports, currently hard at work on the latest installment in the company's landmark Madden NFL series, passing is king. As one of the producers for Madden NFL 2006 recently told us, Madden players choose pass plays roughly 70 percent of the time when playing the game. While that percentage seems low to us (especially for games played online), the fact remains that when it comes to putting points on the board, the pass is key to the game plan. In the real world, the 2004 NFL season saw passing at the forefront as well, with Peyton Manning breaking Dan Marino's long-standing single-season touchdown passing record, and field generals like Daunte Culpepper and Drew Brees lighting up the stats boards with their impressive arms.

The vision component in Madden NFL 2006 looks a lot like a flashlight on the field.

In light of all this, EA Sports is finally taking a look at an aspect of the Madden series that hasn't seen a significant upgrade in the past decade: the passing game. And why not? After all, Madden NFL 2004 put a premium on defense with controls such as the defensive hit stick, so it's about time the developers took a look at the offensive game. The question isn't necessarily why, then, but rather how can the developers improve upon a passing mechanic that already works fairly well? The two-part answer comes in the form of what EA is referring to as vision and precision mechanics.

For years now, Madden quarterbacks have been assigned both awareness and accuracy ratings, used to determine the success of a QB on the field. And while accuracy is fairly easy to gauge--did the pass go to the intended spot or not?--the awareness rating has been vague both in design and implementation. How does a QB's awareness translate directly to his performance on the field? In Madden NFL 2006, the developers hope to change this by directly tying a quarterback's awareness rating to how he views the field through the QB vision system.

Essentially, vision manifests itself as a flashlight-beam-like cone on the field, which represents the field of vision of the quarterback you control. The illuminated cone will shift to the left or right as you check your receiver progressions, and you'll watch as your receivers run into (and out of) your field of vision. Obviously, nailing throws within your cone of vision will dramatically increase your chances of completing a pass, while tossing balls outside the cone will result in errant balls more often than not. In addition, throwing within your field of vision is the only way to place advanced touch on the ball using the game's newly revised placement mechanics (more on that in a bit).

Throw a high-bullet pass and your receivers will jump for them this season.

Once you snap the ball, your quarterback immediately keys in on his primary receiver, which is assigned when choosing a play and can be changed before the snap by pressing the L2 or R2 button and the icon of the receiver you wish to make the primary receiver. The L2 button hides your primary receiver choice and is ideal for two-person games where you don't want to give anything away. You also have the option of setting your default vision to the center of the field by pressing the L2 and X buttons before the snap. If you wish to throw to a receiver other than the primary one, you'll still be able to do so by pressing the assigned receiver button, but your accuracy numbers will best be served by throwing within your field of vision.

While in the pocket, you have two options for checking your receiver progressions. First, you can scan the field by pressing left or right on the right analog stick, and your cone of vision will swing left or right accordingly. If you don't wish to sweep the field manually, you can look at a secondary receiver directly by holding the R2 button and pressing the assigned receiver button at the same time. Your quarterback's vision will swing to the appropriate side of the field and lock on to the assigned receiver for as long as you wish. Skilled players will make good use of this feature by holding down the R2 button and locking in on a target, and then, at the last moment, quickly switching to another receiver by keeping R2 pressed and choosing another icon, then heaving the ball. If the pocket breaks down and you need to make a run for it, your cone of vision will slightly shrink, simulating the difficulty of throwing on the run under heavy pressure.