Madden NFL 06

Who would have known that in one short year that one single event would change the future of all football video games? The event I am referring to is EA Sports obtaining the exclusive license to create NFL-licensed games. This means that if you want to get your football craving fed, you will only have one place to get it and that is EA. This puts a lot of pressure on Tiburon to create the best game that they can, continually updating with new features to make people come back for more. People have argued that this single action will severely limit the innovation in football games since they will have zero competition now. Does Madden NFL 06 prove that theory, or were people scared over nothing? Read on to find out more.

If you have ever played any Madden game then you will know exactly what to expect with the gameplay modes as they are all there and remain, for the most part, unchanged. There is the highly addictive Franchise mode along with the owner mode that will keep you coming back for months on end. There are practice modes, mini games, and the highly addicting mini-camp. If you want to play a tournament-style game, then you can as well. If you want to get your game on against other humans then you will be able to do that and see if you live up to all the bragging hype you created for yourself.

Now that we have that covered I bet you will want to know what is new this year, and let me tell you that one of these new features really changes how you will play the game and makes it a lot more difficult. Two years ago Madden tightened up the offense with the offensive playmaker and last year it did the same thing for the defense. One area of the game that had not been touched is the QB passing, because in my humble opinion it was good as it was. Well, this year the developers at Tiburon changed that with QB vision and precision passing, which really changes the entire passing game and makes it more realistic.

What this means is that each quarterback, depending on his skill, will have a wider or lower cone of vision. If you want to make sure you hit your receiver you will want to make sure that you are looking at him. The bad thing about this is that the defenders will read you while you are doing this so it is more likely that they will double cover your man. It really makes the game a lot more challenging and will increase your sacks. To throw a precision pass, which makes it harder for defenders to get to; your cone has to line up with the player.

Next up is the NFL Superstar mode. Have you ever wondered what it might be like for those big-name players? Having to sign all of those endorsements, putting up with your agents, and various other things on and off the field? Well, Madden NFL 06 gives you the chance to find out with this newest mode. You will have to keep track of everything from your games, practices, and face time with the media. This mode is really interesting as you will spend a lot of time trying to make sure that you are the best at everything. Just like in real life, dealing with the media can be a pain, because you want to be good so you will get better and bigger endorsements and gain fans. This mode is really fun because it really helps give players something new to do if the are feeling any burnout from the franchise mode.

To be honest this is the first time I have ever played a Madden game on the PC, I mostly am a console gamer when it comes to playing sports games. So with that in mind I will discuss the controls for the game, which makes a big difference to me because I do not have a controller for my PC so I was forced to use the keyboard and mouse setup. Using the Keyboard and mouse is a little more difficult because you have to remember a lot of keys in order to do things, which makes some of the easier tasks on the controller more difficult here. Even though this was the case, the game still played great on my PC. I never really go over the curve of tying to play just with the keyboard, but I got more proficient then when I first started playing and I think with time I could manage to get decent, or go out and purchase a controller for my PC.

Playing a game on the computer has several advantages in comparison to playing the same game on a console. First off the higher resolution of the computer monitor and the graphics card makes Madden NFL 06 better looking then the console versions. Even though it is not a huge leap in improvement if you look at the two side-by-side you can tell a slight difference. The game still looks good, from the stadiums to the player models, but I am really anxious for the graphics engine to be redone to take more advantage of the current PC specs. I guess we will have to wait till the next generation of consoles comes to the mainstream before that will happen.

The audio for this game uses THX surround sound, so if you have a nice setup you will be rewarded by the feeling that you are much closer to the game. The soundtrack to the game is a huge mix of some of the more popular songs that you are hearing on the radio at the moment. It is nice and gets the job done. The commentary for this game is the same that it has been for the past several years, so do not expect any big surprise here.

Madden NFL 06 is rated E for Everyone.

System Requirements:
Pentium 3 – 800 MHz
256 MB of RAM
Windows XP or 2000
8X CD-ROM
DirectX 9.0
64 MB of Video RAM
2.0 GB of Hard Drive Space
Keyboard and Mouse.

Gameplay: 8.8
The gameplay is just as tight as previous years of Madden gaming. The only thing is that it will take a lot of time to get used to the QB vision and precision passing, and you might fumble with the controls more than you are used to. Also playing this game with a keyboard and mouse with the QB vision and precision passing begs gamers to have a controller with analog setup. If you thought it was hard to play this game with a controller on the console just try it with a simple keyboard and mouse.

Graphics: 8.8
Madden 06 looks just like the console versions, just a bit crisper due to having the higher resolutions available to computers. I just hope that they revamp the graphics engine to take advantage of the processing power that I do have in my higher-end gaming PC for next year’s version.

Sound: 8.5
If you have played any of the previous versions of Madden then you know what to expect here, especially in the commentary portion of the game as it remains pretty much unchanged. I liked how the game supports THX surround-sound, because it really makes playing the game more realistic and immerses the player more into the game.

Difficulty: Medium
The game will be hard to any beginner, but with time players will be able to adapt to how the computer AI plays. It is also a tough learning curve to get adjusted to the new QB vision and precision passing and will take a while to get adjusted. If you are using just the keyboard and mouse setup it will take even longer to get adjusted to how to play the game, but if you keep up at it you will be crushing the enemy in no time.

Concept: 8.8
I really liked how the talented developers at Tiburon made the passing game much more realistic with the QB vision and precision passing, but I don’t think that with it in there it made the game better. As a matter of fact I think that the passing game is now a little worse with it in there. It makes the passing a lot harder and receiving harder as well. I liked the new NFL Superstar mode as it was fun getting all of the various endorsements. This mode really helps add some fresh life into the game.

Multiplayer: 8.5
I will admit it I prefer playing this game on my Xbox in comparison to this PC version. There are so many things that you have to do before you can even get to play the game. The online experience I think is better on the console then what I saw online on my PC.

Overall: 8.8
If you enjoy playing licensed football games, then Madden NFL 06 is the only choice that you have available to you this year. Even though this is sad for the consumer since they no longer have any choices, the good thing is that the developers at Tiburon did a good job with their flagship game. If you have a PC and are itching for a good football game then look no further than Madden NFL 06, even though it is the only choice that you have.