The biggest adjustment to the Madden franchise in 2006 is the new passing modes; QB Vision and Precision Passing. After snapping the ball, a yellow vision cone will protrude from your quarterback, with his focus placed on his desired receiver based on the routes shown in the playbook. Basically, passing to a player in the vision cone will increase the accuracy of the pass and his chances of catching the ball, but if you pass to someone outside of the vision cone, you’re essentially begging for an interception. Precision Passing is a new addition that goes hand in hand with QB vision. When a player is in your vision cone, you can push on the stick while you pass to place the ball in a specific place for the receiver – up will put it higher, down will make it a shoestring catch, while the left and right directions will either make a leading pass or put the ball behind the receiver depending on the direction of his route. This new passing style has drawn criticism from the Madden fan base, and we must say that while it is a more accurate system, it certainly interrupts with the flow of the game, not to mention the fact that the extra time the player needs to set up an accurate pass will leave him wide open to sacks – we had more sacks in our first game of Madden NFL 2006 than any recent NFL game. The system still has a few bugs as well – the quarterback tends to throw the ball right up the field for absolutely no reason at all at random times. This is seriously irritating as it leads to many interceptions or wastes downs.
Quite the visionary
EA have embraced the concept of taking full control over your character’s life in many of its recent games, and the new NFL Superstar mode allows you to create a player and attempt to make him a superstar, living his life both on and off the field. The process for creation is actually quite funny – your superstar’s parents will be randomly generated, and each will have abilities that can be significant in your star’s development, as well as showing what position he will be best suited for. For example, your father could be a Hall of Fame NFL quarterback with a low IQ, while your mother could be an EA Animator with a high IQ. Once your character has been generated, you have to find an agent. Agents come with their own style and abilities, but only the best players will be able to be represented by the best agents, who will be able to get you into the best gym, get you a big pay cheque and so on. After selecting an agent, you’ll be asked to undertake an IQ test, which consists of a bunch of silly questions that you must answer within a time limit. You’ll be given a final score on your IQ exam, and asked to do a short interview, which is meant to decide where you will end up in the NFL Draft. Draft Day is a very anxious time for professional athletes, and this is no exception. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t assign your player to a team that would really need him – for example, my running back was assigned to the Bills, who have a very good pair of halfbacks, and my mentor (Terrell Davis) keeps hounding me each week for being only third string. Each week you’ll have to attend training camps (which can be simulated for positive or negative effects), talk to your agent, and play in a match. Along the way you can do a lot of off field things such as conducting interviews with the press and even trying your hand at a little acting. These mini-games are a little silly – you can see where Tiburon were headed with the idea, but the implementation is poor, with the player just picking a pre-determined response from a set of options. When it comes to playing matches, you’ll control the entire team just as you would with a regular game, but your superstar will be highlighted with a red tag for easy differentiation. Superstar mode is tough as you’d expect, sometimes you have to pull a few strings to give your player opportunities, but progress is slow, and players really have to be committed to get their player to the top. It will be interesting to see where Tiburon takes this mode in the future.
The life of a superstar, or the life of a bench warmer? It's up to you
Of course, Tiburon have taken time to improve other aspects of the game that needed attention in the past. The defensive AI seems to have improved a lot since we last played a Madden title. The new Truck Stick (on the right stick) helps players compete with the improved defence – as an offensive player, you can use it to break through the pack, while a defensive player can use it to smash his blocking assignment into the ground, and go for the ball carrier. The Franchise Mode has seen some tweaking too, with Gameplan Preparation allowing you to run plays that the coach thinks will be effective against your next opponent, which will yield performance boosts for the players involved, should the training be successful. Players can save matches and replay them at any point in the season, and re-merge those results in with the Franchise, perhaps changing their team’s luck, and maybe making that wild-card playoff match. The Tony Bruno radio show that was added last season has seen a bit of attention to, with new callers and segments for some added freshness.
It’s not all glory for Madden NFL 2006. The game seems to have done away with some of our favourite features from the last few games – namely the EA Sports Bio, which rewarded players for the time spent with the game, as well as for time spent playing other EA Sports titles from that season. Secondly, the presentation of games has regressed, with no separate sideline reporter, and absolutely no progression in the TV presentation stakes. When compared to 2K’s NFL 2K5 ESPN style presentation, Madden just can’t compete, though we expect EA and Tiburon will make amends for this once their exclusive ESPN license kicks in next season. Finally, it seems like Tiburon knew that they wouldn’t have to push themselves as much this year due to the lack of competition – we really expected more progression. Are Tiburon saving their best for the Xbox 360 version?
An angry NFL2K5 fan looms in on a defenseless EA
Madden NFL has always been a decent looking title – it was one of the few games that actually looked “next-gen” back in 2001, with the release of the PlayStation 2. That said, the game is beginning to show its age, and this is the first year where Tiburon haven’t added any new significant animations, nor have they strived to improve the player models. Head tracking by players is the only new thing we can see. Madden NFL 2006 supports widescreen for those with nice TVs. As expected, John Madden and Al Michaels return to the commentary box, and once again provide a passable level of commentary, which tends to grate on your nerves after Madden points out the obvious for the 50th time in a match. Fortunately, you can turn the commentary off, and just listen to the sounds of the game. EA Trax are a part of the package as always, but thankfully the selection of music is a little more varied this time around. Madden NFL 2006 features in game Dolby Digital 5.1 support, which is superb for those looking for immersion.
Tiburon have added a reasonable amount of new material for the 2006 edition of Madden, but we really feel as though they could have done more – competition breeds innovation, and now EA have nobody to compete against them, so they can do as they wish. It will be interest to see how the Xbox 360 version of the game turns out in November – perhaps Tiburon held out on certain material for the current gen game in order to differentiate the next gen game? Regardless, Madden NFL 2006 will definitely appeal to fans of the series, but it still has it’s shortcomings, some of which are addressed by it’s budget title competitor, NFL 2K5. It might not have the new rosters, but it’s got far better presentation.
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