Madden NFL 06 Review

Gameplay (Continued ...)

There are some other new features, but none so big and experience altering as the passing cone. First up is precision passing. By moving the left stick up, left, right, or down as you throw you can throw the ball ahead, behind, above, or below your target. This lets you get around coverage by making your speedy receivers turn on the jets to get to the longer passes or fake out the corners by making the receiver slow down and come back for the ball. Precision passing works well and adds a new layer to an already deep offensive game. Madden 06 also features smart routes where you can tell your receivers to extend their routes just a little bit for first down yardage. The running game has also been given a boost with the truck stick. With a flick of the right analog stick, you can make your running back lower their shoulders and try to bulldoze over defenders and break tackles. Another nice feature is that you can easily scramble and keep the passing icons up just like in NCAA Football 06.

All in all, the gameplay in Madden 06 is as good as ever. The QB vision cones aren’t the greatest idea ever, but you can turn them off if you want. Everything else is really solid and a lot of fun.

Graphics and Sound

Visually, Madden 06 isn’t too different from last year. Luckily, the game looked great in 2005 and is just as sharp in 06. The player models and animation are very detailed and look great overall. The stadiums are also nicely modeled and details such as sunlight shining through the windows of Detroit’s Ford Field add a lot to the overall experience and are things that fans will really appreciate.

The sound is similarly unchanged but still very solid. Al Michaels and John Madden are the commentary team and do a good job. Madden offers up the same painfully obvious advice and observations as ever, but it is usually good for a laugh several times per game. Rich Eisen, Tony Bruno, and Terrell Davis also have quite a bit of dialogue in the franchise and superstar modes but their performances aren’t anything to sing about. The sound effects are nearly perfect and the slap of a ball into a receivers’ hands or the crunch of pads on the line all work together to really immerse you in the experience.

Music

One nice aspect of the presentation of Madden 06 is the music. The soundtrack is filled with typical EA Trax rubbish, but there are also a bunch of songs taken from NFL films. If you have ever watched the season highlights of your favorite team or other NFL films stuff you know what to expect. It is music that just screams football and is absolutely wonderful in this game. Another nice feature is that you can now use your own songs and mix your custom soundtracks in with the EA Trax songs in order to get the best of both worlds.

Bottom Line

Madden NFL 06 is a hard game to recommend because the vast majority of the people that are going to be interested in buying it already likely have Madden 2005. There isn’t a whole lot of new stuff here and a lot of the new features aren’t all that hot so it is hard to justify a purchase if you already have the 2005 version. On the other hand, if you aren’t already a die hard Madden fan and are just looking for a new game of football, Madden 06 is just as good of a place to start as any. Madden 06 plays just as good if not better than previous games and is a really solid and really fun game of football, but there just aren’t any new “gotta have it” type features this time around. Hardcore fans will likely buy it no matter what, but I’m just not seeing a whole lot of value here. Give it a rent, because this might just be the year you skip the new Madden and keep playing older stuff. Updated rosters for Madden 2005 or ESPN NFL 2k5 will be good enough for most people this year.