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Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 445
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My Review of Madden 05 (for English Class)
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Year after year, Electronic Arts (EA) comes out with its seasonal sports game. Madden NFL 2005 is usually the most anticipated, critically acclaimed and purchased game during August. This year the Madden series is celebrating it's 15th anniversary. Every year, EA comes up with new ideas to improve the massive series. This year, they are up for a challenge when underdog developer Visual Concepts, challenged them by releasing ESPN NFL 2K5 two weeks earlier for thirty dollars less. Convincing as those numbers are, Madden was confident its fan base would hold out in anticipation. Needless to say, that was the case. Despite its shortcomings, still remains king in the football video game market. EA promises a lot each year. Sometimes they walk the talk and sometimes they flat at whiff. Since the Playstation 2 was released, Madden had become a mainstay in football fan's homes. Because of this people would buy the game despite the negative aspects. On the other hand, it has multiple strengths that we'll explore now.
The first observation one will make is that the graphics have stayed unchanged. The stadiums look good, as usual. Player models sport bulkier muscles and you can see the veins in their arm. Weather elements remain unchanged. Overall the graphics are good. Player models, especially in 2005, are drastically too skinny and compared to ESPN's triple-pass renderings, they are just not up to par.
Throughout the Playstation era, the controls have been the most consistent. The usual buttons include X, O, Triangle, and Square. The still have their normal functions. There have been some major additions to the controls. To celebrate their 15th Anniversary(or so they say), they have added some defensive controls. Frankly, its about time. The new controls include the “Hit Stick†that allows the user to flip the right analog stick in any direction to cause a big hit. Luckily, this hasn't been over done, and in fact it requires a lot of practice. Using it can break up passes, cause fumbles, injuries, and even make the replay. Defensive Playmaker is the other addition. Before the snap, the user can use the same right analog stick, to make the player either blitz, contain the quarterback, spy on the quarterback, or go into zone. Lineman can now be set back into zone on the fly while the user can blitz the cornerback from the weak side if he so desires. I can't convey how much this addition helped the game. With these new defensive controls, the lob-sided score era that plauged the series during its run on the PS2 are now history. Thank God! A minor change was the revamping of the kicking meter, which does take a bit to learn, but turns out it was a much needed improvement, regardless of its meaninglessness.
The playbooks remain unchanged, unoriginal, and extremely repetitive. Although they are better than ESPN, they are lacking. For example, the Chiefs run about every from of a screen play. There is only 2 screen plays in their play book, both of which are practically the same. The only thing they added, that I can tell, is the Squib kick, which should have been added since the beginning.
The AI has been vastly improved. The downfall is that the user must set it on All-Pro or All-Madden to see the difference. The defense has improved in strides compared to its prior version, 2004. The problem is, the run defense is so good, that you cannot run the ball effectively at all. They went from one extreme to the other. The pass defense, although improved slightly, still isn't up to par. Overall, the AI improved greatly. Of course, online play adds another dimension to this.
Madden, despite its record, list of pluses, and fan base, has some issues. For example, its rating system is pathetic this year. The Patriots at a rating of 99. No team in the NFL is good enough to be rated 99. Minor as that may be, there are a couple more. The games used to be high scoring and that was addressed. The defense is too good now. Play calling, as I mentioned earlier, is boring. My biggest complaint comes with their online play. In an online game you cannot challenge plays. This is extremely annoying as it would take little effort for them to implement it, while adding another dimension into a game with a good friend.
Graphically, gameplay wise and control wise, it is still the best NFL game out there. However, ESPN is making a run for their money. ESPN had a superior passing game, while surpassing Madden in every category “off the field†and graphcially. The downfall of EPSN is their execution of their ideas, whereas the downfall with Madden is the lack of new ideas and some poor execution on the main items. Look for 2006 to be even closer between the rivals. For the better or worse, Madden remains king.
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Belated as it is, I couldn't think of a new subject. Too bad it is due on Wed, otherwise id wait until MGS3 or GTA:SA came out. Or even if it had been later so GT4 coudl be my subject.
Just need your thoughts...I am open to suggestions as I want to get an A :P |
10-25-2004
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