Summer is winding down. The smell of BBQ’s and the sounds of people yelling, splashing in pools, and doing whatever else they feel like, is few and far now. Fall will be arriving soon. What does all this have to do with a game? One word can answer that question: Madden. The name synonymous with NFL football for gamers, this year, its 16th year, it even has the exclusive use of the NFL License, meaning it is the only football game this year that can use real player names, team names, etc.
Knowing that it had the exclusive NFL License, EA Sports knew they would be drawing in a new crowd that used to play its competitor’s NFL games. EA knew they would have to deliver big to keep all fans happy. It could also mean, that without any serious competition this year, that they could slack through and still manage to sell many, many copies of Madden NFL 06.
Let’s start off with the new additions to this year’s Madden. And the big one that everyone will notice right away, when starting a new game, is the QB Vision. It is a very solid addition. Have you ever played previous Madden titles with friends, and get so frustrated because their QB seemingly threw a 50 yard pass to a receiver double covered off of his back foot, while looking the other way? Yeah, we’ve all been there. This year, the QB Vision does eliminate 90% of it. You now need to be looking at the receiver you want to throw the football at to get good accuracy; with a quick turn of your analog stick, you can turn to face any player who is out running routes. You can, however, be looking in the opposite direction of an open receiver and forget to turn the stick to look at him, meaning, you may complete the pass, but it won’t be very accurate. EA has given you the option of turning the QB Vision off if you simply find it too difficult. Another thing you will notice on the field is that it is much more difficult to throw deep passes this year. We all know if you get one-on-one coverage (a receiver and a defensive player, no one else), then you can toss it deep and hope for the best. But if another defensive player sneaks in front of or behind your receiver, you can all but forget about completing that pass. Keeping the offensive theme going, another great addition is the Truck Stick, similar to the hit stick of last year’s Madden. This allows a big back to break through tackles to gain that oh-so-important extra yardage. Say for example, you are controlling Jerome Bettis. With a simple flick of the right analog stick, you can lower his shoulder and plow through a weaker defensive back. Now, you may think that would be abused, but I guess EA did as well, because after you use the truck stick, it takes almost all of your forward momentum away, as it would in real life.
Turning to the defensive side of Madden, there are some nice new additions to keep you from abusing your friends with "cheese plays," as many like to call them. You will notice more knockdowns from defensive backs, more gang tackles by linebackers/linemen, and safeties will now react to where the QB is looking if they are playing a zone coverage. You also have the ability to "shadow" a receiver to the left or right. This means that if someone is constantly running an "out" play (receiver runs up field, cuts to the outside), you can select your DB and have him shadow the receiver until he makes his cut, then jump in front of him to try to get an interception, or, at the very least, a knockdown. All in all, EA has made some nice additions to the on-field aspect of Madden NFL 06.
EA has brought with them a new mode to this year’s Madden, in keeping theme with their NCAA Football title, which has a Heisman mode, where you control your player and everything he does from the end of high school on. The new mode in Madden is called Superstar mode. The first thing you do in Superstar is to pick a set of parents (unless you have an NCAA 06 or NFL Street 2 player, when you can import them to this year’s Madden). The set of parents you pick are very important, and could help you gain exposure. You are given the father’s job, a hobby, and his IQ, and the same for the mother’s. If you don’t like the set they give you, you can go to the next pair until you find one suitable for you. One popular way is to have your dad be a Hall of Fame NFL player at the position you want to play, which could help gain exposure for you. After you pick your set of parents, you fill out a form stating your name, date of birth, height, weight, and what college you went to. When this is done, you are taken to your "apartment." In the apartment you will find a few helpful things, including a computer, a cell phone, a playbook, a mirror, and a team map. You will need to go to the computer to access your calendar. The first thing you will notice is you have an IQ test coming up. Depending on your parents’ IQ, you can do poorly or excellent on it. It will also help you in your draft; teams are more willing to draft you higher if you can prove to be a smarter player. Early on you will need to hire an agent. This agent could make or break you in terms of being a "Superstar" in the NFL. You always have the option of firing your agent if a better one becomes available. My only problem with this mode is that you can set yourself higher on the depth chart than someone who is way better than you in terms of overall skill. If you get drafted to the Colts as QB, you could just put yourself ahead of Peyton Manning without working your way up. Madden still has the Franchise mode from last year, if you want to control the team’s aspects, like trading and money spent, because you only control your player in Superstar Mode.
Now, I may have made this game out to sound perfect, but there are a few problems that come around. Mostly blocking. The A.I. can seem to be a little screwy when it comes to this. Punt blocking is a big one, as you can rarely return a punt without having someone 2 yards away from you. The blockers seem to form a cone 5 yards away from the punt returner, without facing any oncoming players to block, so they just run right around the blockers. The offensive line blocking becomes noticeable when you see that sometimes your players are waiting for someone to come in their "direct line of vision," as I like to call it. Basically, they either start off blocking someone, or, like a robot, they snap on and start to block someone when they come into their line of vision. It’s like they don’t move their heads from time to time. You can change aspects of these blocking problems with the sliders, but it still is apparent that the blocking is not right.
Many people expected more from EA when they were granted the exclusive NFL License, but after playing many games with this new title, I can see that EA is trying to stay committed and as close to the NFL as you can get without actually being tackled by 300-pound linemen. But one glaring problem that seems to face Madden is the A.I., specifically the blocking. If EA can manage to fix these problems so that Madden can start out with a bang on the next-gen consoles, than I’m sure EA will have one hell of a football game. We all hope they can deliver.
