That's not the only off-kilter aspect of the mode, either. For one, the game does an awful job of letting you know when new opportunities arise. You'd think that while you're simming through, say, the preseason, you might get some kind of notification if a movie role comes your way. Nope. Unless you sim day by day, you'll end up missing opportunities for interviews, movie roles, and the like. The game just skips right past them. Another problem is that the interviews you give and people you talk to never seem to have a clue as to what's actually going on. Let's say you're offered a role in a film about the American Revolution. Once the film comes out at the end of the season, you'll be interviewed about it. The interviewer will then ask you what the film was about. Your answers range from "I have no idea" to "evil alien creatures sent to destroy earth." This level of disconnect between scripting and the actual story is prevalent all over the place, and it completely takes you out of the experience. That is, assuming you even have much of an experience. To say that the superstar mode is geared toward very specific positions is an understatement. Unless you're an absolute knockout in terms of ability, the only positions that seem to offer you especially interesting careers are those of the quarterback, wide receiver, running back, and the occasional starting defensive player. Want to play a kicker? Prepare for the most boring experience of your life. Yeah, you'll still get to do things here and there, but the actual act of trying to play as your player and then building him up becomes tedious to the point of frustration. Maybe this is realistic, since, really, who ever pays attention to a safety, an offensive lineman, or, again, a kicker? But in this case, realism limits how much fun you can really have.

Text-menu minigames maybe weren't the best way to make you feel like a superstar.

The last, and perhaps biggest problem, is simply that you never ever really feel like an NFL superstar while you're playing this mode. Maybe it's because in reality, NFL players rarely take on movie roles until after they've retired (deodorant commercials seem to be about the extent of their non-football-related filmed appearances). Maybe it's because no matter how much money you make and no matter how many endorsements you get, nothing tangible ever comes of it, save for a different hub level to look at (you go from a lousy apartment to a loft to a mansion, but you never get to do anything with any of them). Maybe it's because you spend practically all your time participating in dull practices that only have a minute degree of impact on your playing ability, while you don't spend nearly enough time doing anything flashy or cool or superstar-like. Ultimately, your career feels more like a silly scenario to give your created player some modicum of context rather than a marginally interesting or accurate depiction of the life of a real NFL player. Football fans should certainly at least try the superstar mode, just to see what it's like. It's worth a single play-through just to experience it. But considering how scattershot and screwy the whole thing is, it's unlikely anyone will ever want to mess with it a second time.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Madden NFL 06's presentational elements really haven't changed much this year. The graphics have remained especially the same, from the player models to the arenas to the animations. In fact, there's barely anything new on the animation front, save for a couple of new tackles and the ability to knock the helmet off a ball carrier (which actually happens a lot more often than it should). The game still looks great as a whole, but it's just not terribly different from 2005. The PC version is obviously crisper-looking than the console versions of Madden, but all that really seems to highlight is how archaic the player models are starting to look. Also, there are a lot of goofy texture and player model pop-in issues in the PC version that we never saw on consoles, ultimately making the PC iteration the least impressive, visually.

Al Michaels and John Madden return to provide commentary yet again, and in fact, this might be the last year we get this particular pairing, what with John Madden headed to NBC and Al Michaels on his way to ESPN. Sadly, the always reliable Michaels will likely be the one lost amid the shuffle, so we'll be getting more of Madden's consistently droll and painfully obvious color work. This year's game is no different, with Madden continuing to offer up remarkably noninsightful comments throughout every game. There does seem to be a bit more in the way of player-specific commentary featured this year, but it's rarely all that interesting. Additional voice work is provided by Terrell Davis and his NFL Network cohort Rich Eisen, but Eisen only shows up once in a great while to deliver a hysterically overwrought line or two, and Davis literally phones it in, only showing up on voicemails left to your superstar and providing dialogue that actually sounds like it was recorded over a phone.

Madden's graphics haven't changed, but they're still pretty decent looking.

The rest of the audio is mostly the same as last year's game. THX surround sound is available in this year's version, and although the sound effects are practically identical to the previous entry in the series, they sound really good coming out of surround speakers, if you've got the setup. The soundtrack is made up of yet another mishmash of artists-of-the-month, like Funeral For a Friend, the All American Rejects, Memphis Bleek, Disturbed, Finch, Stat Quo, and Hot Hot Heat. However, the soundtrack also contains a number of remixed musical tracks taken directly from the NFL Films library. While names would likely be unrecognizable to you, you'd certainly recognize the music if you've ever watched any NFL Films highlights. The remixes--unlike the smattering of pop music--actually make contextual sense in the game, and they aren't half bad to listen to while you're playing.

For as good as Madden NFL 06 is overall, you can't help but be at least somewhat disappointed by the game as a whole, if only because of how frequently superb the franchise has been in recent years. Many of the things that make Madden consistently enjoyable are front and center yet again, but the justification for buying this newest Madden--if you already own last year's game--is tough to find. The new passing cone can be enjoyable, though it's definitely the kind of thing that will certainly be better and more refined in the years to come. It's a bit of a pain as it is now. And the superstar mode, while excellent in concept, simply fails to deliver an engaging experience. And in the absence of these two things, what you effectively have is Madden NFL 2005, with a few very subtle changes and some problems that weren't originally there. The Madden diehards will undoubtedly enjoy Madden 06, just as they have most every other installment of the franchise, and anyone that simply wants a new and thoroughly playable football game with updated rosters will get exactly that from Madden 06. Anyone looking for more, however, may find the 2005-2006 season to be the one they went through without buying a new football game.