Customer Reviews

Madden NFL Football 2005

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

This is a solid football game... Don't get discouraged by the negative reviews.

Game play is enjoyable. My only other experience has been with MAdden 2003 and I find this one much easier to play (I can actually win a game or two). The running game is tough, but manageable. Passing plays are straight foward with quite a bit of variety.

The fancy control pad is not necessary. I almost bought a pad with the "hit stick", as I thought it was essential after reading the package and the information on amazon. My friend has the pad and finds it adds little. I am well into the franchise mode and haven't missed it yet..

Various game types... Multiplayer, franchise mode and select matchups... The multiplayer can be played directly over the internet or through the ea sports website. Franchise mode is very cool with the ability to draft players, manage to organization, control advertising, prices etc...

If you are interested in football and have enjoyed the previous madden games, give this a try...

EA does it again...great game!!! ok and uh one reviewer mentioned the "hit stick" Excuse you...but it does A LOT more than tackle. You can take individual players and set them to play zones, blitzes, or spy the QB. You can also take the complete secondary, linebackers, or d line to do the same things. i'm very pleased that defense is a lot more tougher on this game. It is very much like Madden 2004, but more realistic in the Franchise mode...now players have feelings depending on how they are played....or PAID lol. you have actual restricted and unrestricted free agents now...the draft is more refined. Doesn't it seem that rushing the ball is a lot easier now as well? Anyway this is a great game that MOST football gamers would love...take the time to look at the manual, i know you don't want to...but there's a lot you can do to make this game even more enjoyable. lata

I was really dissapointed with Madden 2005. I am still playing the 2003 version which was one of the best. 2004 was good too, but it had major bugs which I wont get into here that made me stop playing it. Anyway 2005 has MANY issues, first off are the annoying radio station you are forced to here when you enter Francise mode. It's fine if you like it, but there is no off button. I am forced to hear it everytime weather I like it or not. #2 how tacky are the injuries still? Everytime a player is injured he gets up wither limping or holding his arm, etc. it doesnt matter how serious the injury is, in every case the guy gets up and walks off. What about realism? And these new fan created animations. How stupid looking are those? And again, it's fine if you like them but you are forced to see them everytime the home team scores or the opponent scores on the road. A row of 4 stupid looking fans, with the same shirts and props, and rediclous hats. It annoys me to death and you cant turn it off. Also when an apponent team scores a touchdown, the player falls straight back on his back (and this is repeated again and again). How unrealistic again, or he throws the ball down. There are limited realistic reactions when a player scores. These same two are repeated over and over. And when your quarterback scrambles in the rush, no longer can he scrable or run out of pressure. He is sacked everytime. Also Maddens commentaries in regard to turnovers, they say again and again when you commit a turnover what a bad way to start your game with a turnover, even if it's the 3rd or 4th quarter. And what the other reviewer said about maddens same generic comments, I go along with completley. If Madden isnt going to take the time to match his partner with fresh comments, why not just take ALL the madden comments from every Madden game and roll them all into one. Then you would have a much greater variety then saying the same ones over and over. i thought how embarrased would Madden feel if they ever played a joke on him and used his computer commentary in a real NFL game and fans heard the same comments again and again and again. That gives you the idea of how far off Madden is from realism. Not just mentioning the commentary this year, but all the other things put together. For the good points, the gameplay is still excellent. Wish i could play it without all the other bugs. The defensive play is awesome, with the bigger hits, etc. But they did a very poor job of putting together a whole Sim with true realism. When you play a game like this, your supposed to be able to use your imagination and get lost for a while (and seem like it's all the real thing). For me with 2005, thats impossible. Better luck next year?

The PC version of Madden 2005 has eliminated the option of using created teams in franchise mode. If you enjoyed this feature in past versions of Madden PC, you're out of luck this time. Nice upgrade, eh?

In my original review of this game, I said the follwing:

For three years now, I've been a Madden faithful. Why?

Yes, it is STILL the best PC football simulator of all time. This was established with the release of Madden 2003.

Yes, the game is very thoughtful in its post-season mode. With draft picks and coaching changes. This was established with the release of Madden 2003.

Yes, the game still has all the realism, with options to run offensive and defensive sets. This was established with the release of Madden 2003.

So...why did I buy Madden 2005? To get the new pictures and updated rosters? I guess so. Everything else is still kind of the same. The computer is still too easy to beat in pro mode, and too hard to beat in all-pro-mode.

Madden still makes the same generic comments (ie: "boom"; "you talk about a quarterback that can light up a scoreboard..."; etc..etc..) And you still can't import your own picture!

Sure, there's a couple of new twists. First, you have to account for player morale in manager mode. This kind of sucks, especially when the player you create to be yourself becomes a money-grubbing pariah holdout. Also, your players now increase their abilites at every 4 weeks instead of the end of every season. This is a definite plus.

But, still, after three years of John Madden making the same generic comments, you'd think the EA sports team, could work in a way to meke the gaming experience a bit more "personalized". Perhaps I'm being a bit too picky. I did play this game immediatly after playing NBA Live 2004, which has Marv Albert as the announcer. I loved the way that Marv (in the PC game) could "chatter" about each player's specific background. It was cool.

On another bad note, even with the first patch, there was a nasty little bug that made your personalized player (YOU!) get "cloned". You may look at another team's roster 8 weeks through the season and notice that your player is playing for them! I tried to contact EA sports about this, but their support line wasn't responding.

I may wait next year to read some other reviewers' comments before buying this one.

I also got an "update" for the game once nd it shuffled all the players; pictures around!!! Yes, Joe Horn wascnow a fat white man and Brett Farve is become Charles Tillman!!! Anyway, they fixed that one pretty quick, but I had to start the whole season over!

Now where did I put my Madden 2003?

What a HUGE disappointment this game has turned out to be, mainly for the absolutely INSANE decision to no longer allow players to play a custom team in franchise mode. Absolutely pathetic.

What's worse is that there was absolutely no mention of this feature being dropped anywhere. I spent HOURS creating a homemade team, coming up with logos, etc., looking forward to playing it through many franchise years. Suddenly, I can't figure out how to import it into the game. After tons of searching through EA's inept site, I find out....surprise....they CUT that feature this year!!!

THis was by far my favorite feature. You also can no longer hurdle, a move that truly helped the running game. I haven't even bothered to play in franchise mode at this point, as I'm so peeved that I can't play my own team. The new "Hit stick" thing is good, and there are some nice additions to defensive adjustments if you have the right controller.

But the EA site, their total silence on this matter of lack of custom team in Franchise mode and the way they obviously view the PC audience as an afterthought make me ready for something else, and I don't know if I'll ever give EA my money again. They seem to have zero consideration for the people who've been loyal to them and supported them in the past. As usual, it's all about the money, nothing more.

This version of Madden, overall, is a step backwards.

I recently bought this game along with a Logitech Wingman Rumblepad 2 gamepad. It's an awesome game, I got it, installed it and have rarely stopped playing it since. I can't say enough about this game. It is different from the console versions, so if you've played those, you still haven;pt experienced what it's like on the PC. Although the game setup is different, the gameplay is very much the same. The gamepad works really well with it, although I would recommend you buy one if you haven't already, the keyboard just doesn't utilize this game's capability. The hitstick and playmaker controls are awesome, but you can't use them if you don't have a gamepad.

Overall, this game is insanely fun and I would recommend it to anyone that has enjoyed the Madden Franchise before.

Madden 2005 continues to be the best Football game around (albeit the only one for PC). The game is very similar to the last year's...the rosters are updated and there are a few new features and tweaks to the A.I. If you don't care about these, you could always get 2004 for 10 bucks. Either way, this game rocks on the PC. It is MUCH better on the PC than any of the consoles. If you play the PC version and then play on PlayStation, you will think the PS2 is stuck in slow motion or something. And of course the graphics are tons better on the PC. I run with 4x AA w/ my Radeon 9800 and it looks awesome.

People reviewing the PC version seem WAY more critical than the typical console reviewer. I don't understand why people complain about this game so much. The fact is that Madden 2004/2005 is the best football game for ANY platform. Just read the Net reviews for PS2 or XBOX...everybody loves it. And I am here to tell you that the game is even BETTER on the PC.

If you are not sure, buy 2004 for 10 bucks. But then you will be hooked and want 2005...

This video game has excellent graphics and various skill levels
from rookie to all-Madden and it offers realistic gameday playing conditions. I highly recommend this game for any true
diehard football fan. I can play this game for hours! It's the best video football game on the market today.

I love this game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I went over to my friends house to play it and loved the grphics. I am not a vidoe gamer but yet I can play this and actually love it. I can't wait to get it.