The Madden NFL Football franchise has been a fixture in video games for 15 years, but over the years people continually ask if the series will ever hit a wall. There is only so much innovation and new features you can add to a football game before there just simply isn't anything you can add, but only improve upon. You could say that about Madden NFL 2005 to some extent. Last year's game introduced the world to “Playmaker” controls, which add another level of pre and post-snap audibles. Playmaker is again implemented in this year's iteration, but the EA addressed the one issue with the feature last year; defense. Only few defensive pre-snap changes were available in Madden '04, but this year, with perennial Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis gracing the cover, EA has adopted the theory implemented over the last few years by Super Bowl teams like the Baltimore Ravens, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and New England Patriots into the game plan that’s been true for so many years; defense wins championships. With stiff competition this year from the Sega/ESPN camp, Madden needs all the defense it can muster. The gameplay modes in Madden 2005 are pretty much the standard features from the last few years. Exhibition, Franchise, Season, Tournament, Online, and Mini Games make up the gist of the modes, and all are executed well. The Mini Games are pretty much all of the training camp games from the franchise mode such as Running Back—which is really fun—camp and there’s a whole bunch of other drills to use as well. Still, it’s all pretty basic, and you can only experience them through the off-season in franchise mode. As stated before, the primary focus on this year’s game is its defense. The most notable additive to the defensive gameplay is what you can do before the snap. Aside from the many audible combinations you can call, you can also use the new defensive hot route system with the right analog stick to assign backs at double coverage, assign certain linebackers to blitz, and all sorts of things of that nature. Tired of those crazy runs by Michael Vick? It looks to be that EA Sports revolutionized the defensive gameplay because of situations like that, so now you can assign players to mess with guys like Vick and McNabb so you don’t have to worry about the “Vick-Factor.” As nice an element as the new defensive hot routes are, perhaps the coolest new feature in the gameplay of Madden 2005 is its new “hit-stick” controls. After the snap, you can use the right analog stick to perform huge tackles at the ball carrier. The tackles look really excruciating, but the NFL has made it so that it won’t increase any chances of a player getting injured. Though it may sound disappointing, EA Sports made it so that the ball carrier’s chances of coughing the ball up increases if you perform a hit-stick tackle. As great a feature as it is, there are still consequences when using the hit-stick. If you time it wrong, not only will your player miss, but you will pretty much give up a huge chunk of yards to the defense, and it’ll be a lot harder for your defense to catch the ball carrier. The offensive gameplay in Madden hasn’t received much change, if any, at all. The “playmaker” audible controls are still there, and they’re a bit more adjustable as well. Want to empty the backfield and give your running back an easier route for a reception? Just tilt the right analog stick, and your running back will move to wherever direction you choose. Also, the AI in your opponents has improved drastically in both offense and defense. For example, if you’re facing the Indianapolis Colts at the RCA Dome, Peyton Manning will call all sorts of audibles or fake snaps to confuse your defense just like he does every given Sunday. Other than all that, Madden 2005 is pretty much a grab bag with an extra piece of gum—nothing totally out of the wave has been added. Another area EA Sports improved much upon is its infamous Franchise mode. It’s still a 30+ yearlong adventure and does include all of last year’s Owner Mode elements, but the changes are just great. EA Sports also gave players their egos in the game. So if you have a hotshot player who talks a lot like Terrell Owens, he’ll do all sorts of rampaging things like “sticking it to the media”, complain about all the balls not thrown to him, etc. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and if it’s for the best of the team – trade him, release him, and do whatever you please with him. What you do will be rated and stated in Storyline Central. Storyline Central is the franchise mode’s main new viewpoint. It’s basically a franchise feature that includes player/coach interviews every week courtesy of sports radio guru, Tony Bruno. Tony Bruno has given 30 hours of different stories that’ll be based on your actions at the EA Sports studio, and they’re great but they sound a little generic and unclear. For example, we experienced a problem with Kurt Warner at quarterback for the New York Giants for fumbling too much, so we gave the starting position to Eli Manning—and for whatever reason, Warner decided to protest. In light of that, Bruno interviewed Tom Coughlin regarding the situation. Bruno’s analysis is a love-or-hate type of thing, but it’s a nice addition if you’re a dedicated NFL fan. Storyline Central also has a newspaper that announces the moves you made in the season and off-season, and the articles or headlines found in them are pretty much ingenious. EA Sports has also put in the effort by getting each of the licensed newspapers to sign in to their deal. For example, if you’re using the San Francisco 49ers in Franchise mode then Storyline Central will make use of the San Francisco Chronicle. The Off-Season in Madden NFL 2005 is pretty much the same bag as last year’s edition, but again, you’re graded for what moves you pull of by Storyline Central. At training camp, you can play all sorts of mini-games that’ll somewhat raise the stats of your players’ progression depending on how well you do. The mini-games are fun, and Running Back Attack is really addictive, but it’s a bit of a letdown since you can only play these games during the off-season. Something that should make Xbox fans happy is that Madden NFL 2005 marks the debut of Madden on Xbox Live. NCAA Football 2005 fans, fear not, the problems that consisted on early builds of that game haven’t carried over to Madden. Also, newly announced for the game on Xbox Live are online leagues. They basically work as just regular competition or as an online season mode, which is a really a nice touch. The game plays great on Xbox Live thanks to its limited lag—a feature that Sony’s online game really suffers at if both connections are of different ISP’s. While the online features of Madden don’t outclass ESPN NFL 2005 by any means, it’s still they’re first year with the service so it’ll be better as new versions come out. The PS2 version of the game is back online—pretty much leaving the GameCube version in the dust—and the competition is as fierce as ever with the EA Sports nation. There you can challenge anyone you please for some gridiron action, and the game will also update the rosters for you (just in case you want to make sure Ricky Williams is deleted since he retired so early), and you’ll be able to save them to your memory card. PS2 owners can get a bit more out of the game with an extra $10. For $60, you can pick up the PS2-exclusive Madden NFL 2005 Collectors Edition. This pack features three retro Madden games, a trivia challenge, and some bonus video features. The games are pretty much the same as they were back then, and they have updated rosters—which can or might not be a letdown since we won’t know of those classic greats there were back in the days of the dynasties. The trivia challenge is okay, but it’s hard if you’re just coming in to the knowledge of football. The video features, on the other hand are pretty much just showings of EA Sports patting themselves on the back for what they’ve done with the Madden series, but there’s a really good, hilarious feature they have on the infamous Madden curse that started in 2001—you know, the 2001 box featured Eddie George who had a non-stellar season and lost in the first round, the 2002 box featured Daunte Culpepper who’s stats plummeted and led the Vikings nowhere, the 2003 box had Marshall Faulk who missed six games while leading the Rams absolutely nowhere, and the 2004 box had Michael Vick—EA actually though he would be a safe pick—who broke his leg early in the Pre-Season and missed 11 regular season games making the Falcons miss the playoffs, the journey continues. This collectors edition of Madden NFL 2005 would benefit most of the diehard fans, but it’s still a nice purchase if you have the necessary amount of clams to dish out. As usual, the GameCube version will look and sound slightly better than the PlayStation 2 version, and the Xbox version will look and sound slightly better than the PlayStation 2 version. Also, the GameCube version—for whatever reason—has less “extra” cutscenes in the game than its counterparts, but it really doesn’t matter. The controls of each game roughly are similar, so it’s basically on your preference on which game you choose. Madden NFL 2005 looks great thanks to Tiburon’s commitment in improving the game’s visuals. When playing, you’ll notice a lot of different uses of lighting and the changes to the look of the sky as the progresses in time. Fatigue will also take more of a factor when grass gets stuck on a facemask, jerseys get dirtier in the rain, and players that take more of a limp when getting hit hard. The hit-stick tackle animations are also great, and you’ll notice that each players’ physical builds have been improved and more wrinkles on jerseys as well. The field’s visual mechanics are pretty much the standard for football sims, and Madden NFL 2005 doesn’t miss a pixel. On the other hand, the sound is definitely unimpressive. The in-game sound of the tackles and stuff like that is great, but Tony Bruno—as good as his segments are—clearly doesn’t have the best sound quality. The music offered by EA Trax is good, but none of that defines what football is and really has no reason to be in the game. Still, this can be corrected since the Xbox version of the game features custom soundtracks, but EA Sports could’ve just used generic music rather than random rock and hip hop. Depending if you like Madden’s “interesting” play-by-play analysis, it’s pretty much a mixed bag with the commentary. Al Michaels is still great, and the chemistry of the two legendary announcers just get better and better. The on-the-field commentary is better than it was last year as well, so Madden is getting closer and closer to the quality of the NFL. In the end, Madden NFL 2005 is a little too much like last year’s game when it comes to quality, and it’s a numb feeling playing the same game over and over for a consecutive year. Its defensive gameplay mechanics are more than enough to warrant that this is a must-play game if you’re into football, and it’s a lot more user-friendly than ESPN is. The Xbox version is pretty much the best of the three, so if you’re not getting the Collectors Edition on the PS2, the Xbox version is the recommended purchase. The GameCube version is still solid, but with the lack of online mode, it’s pretty much beat down. As for the PC version, it's the only NFL game available--sorry. In the end, Madden is still Madden, and that’s more of a good thing than it is a bad thing. So if you love Madden, go for it.
Madden's graphics remain a bit above average, but perhaps because it's catering to the consoles, it's just not that impressive anymore, and I think the days when I used to consider Madden to have about the best graphics ... Read Full Review
I played this game non stop since it came out. Barely got any sleep. Took a day off of work. Locked the wife and kids in the basement. (Ok, I'm just kidding about my last remark.) This game is excellent. It is hard, b... Read Full Review
