Madden 06 has the most staying power out of any other madden game ever released. Madden has never been as good.
I can't beleive how long I played this version. Friends of mine will actually request to play the 2006 version of madden even TODAY (5/2010) and I still have it. Still gets spins where Madden 07,08, etc. do not.
Why is this?
The vision cone. Madden 06 had the most realistic passing interface out of any other madden game in the series. I have no idea why they decided to drop that feature.
Other than that, the running game and controls were very tight. Tackling was great. Basically Madden started to evolve poorly in Madden 07 and this was the tightest package all around since 2001.
If you are looking for just ONE Madden game to buy and play for the rest of your life this is it. No Madden has come close.
The radio show on franchise mode was nice too. Made you feel like your season was actually worth something. The sad part too is this was the last year madden had servicable menus. They went to the R2/L2 cycling after this game and menus got clunky. Here there is none of that.
Madden fans rejoice if you were lucky enough to still hold on to this football classic.