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125 of 139 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not a review, just a summary of new features., June 10, 2004
As I said in the title, this is not a review. I just want to save like-minded people some time, and summarize what makes 2005 different from the 2004 title. While this isn't platform specific, the biggest upgrade this year is for the Xbox, as EA and Microsoft have finally settled, and online play has finally arrived via XBLive. I'd like to not assign stars at all, but Amazon doesn't allow for pre-release non-reviews. So I'm assigning 5 stars based on Madden 2004, and the promise of the following new features. It is not meant to be commentary about the 2005 title.I've done this for NCAA 2005 as well, but decided to adapt it for Madden as well. Everything in here is Madden-specific. GENERAL GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS:
- The hit stick: The Hit Stick is a brand-new control innovation whereby players can attempt to lay a big hit on their opponent by flicking the right stick. They are risky, as a mis-timed hit can be devastating to your defense, but it can all pay off with a huge hit and a fumble or dropped pass.
- Reworked DB play/pass defense: Rebuilt from the ground up, with a focus on man-to-man coverage. Good DBs will now blanket their receivers better than ever before, and "shut down" corners will now play as such.
- All alternate team jerseys are now available.
- Updated player models for more intense realism.
- Reworked stadiums, fans, and environmental graphics.
- New running animations. "Over 1000 new animations added." FRANCHISE MODE IMPROVEMENTS:
- Restricted Free Agents - Allow your young guys to test Restricted Free Agency.
- Preseason Position Battles - Let two players who are similar in talent battle it out for the starting job.
- Player Personalities - Players react to everything that happens to them and if things get really bad for them, they demand a trade. If you're not throwing the ball to your star receiver, you'll hear about it.
- Franchise Tags - Tag players who refuse to re-sign with your team.
- New Realistic Off-season Free Agency - Players no longer only care about money. They now look at your team, the players you have, your team prestige and lots of other factors.
- Weekly Game-plan - Your coordinators provide you with a game-plan each week that contains keys to stop your upcoming opponents.
- NFL Icons - They've acknowledged the stars in the NFL and they become Icons in your Franchise. These players influence free agents and affect morale if something happens to them.
- Practice in Franchise - You can now practice with your current franchise team.
- Improved Team Management - Teams intelligently manage their rosters now. They cut dead weight and sign regular season free agents.
- Name Team Captains - You can now name your team captains every year in Franchise.
- Rivalries - Rivalries are a new addition to Franchise this year.
- Team Prestige - A new aspect of Franchise is prestige. Turn a perennial loser around to become a true powerhouse.
- In-Season Player Progression - Players now progress based on how well they're doing during the season. Breakout players are rewarded for their performance.
- Improved Draft - A ticker, announcer and trading during the draft highlight our draft improvements.
- Change Player Positions - You can change the positions of players in Franchise every season now.
- Storyline Central is a new addition to Franchise Mode this year that focuses on every story that is at the forefront in the NFL. The stories around your team now impact your team. If the rookie RB is pushing the veteran for playing time but not getting it, his morale will drop and it will affect his performance. You hear about the stories three different ways.
1) Newspaper. Every team in Franchise has a newspaper from their local city that discusses only the stories that pertain to that team. We also feature USA Today, which is the franchise's national newspaper. In USA Today, the most important stories from the entire NFL appear.
2) EA Sports Radio. They've added sports talk radio to Franchise, where host Tony Bruno breaks down the week's biggest stories. Each week's show includes call-ins, coach and player interviews, trivia questions and from time to time, Tony will rant about important issues in the NFL.
3) Email. Every week on your PDA, you'll receive emails about everything going on with your team. You will receive emails from players, coaches, general managers, the PR department, etc.
- Create-a-fan: Create your own dedicated crazy fans. To be included during game-time celebratory animations. ONLINE PLAY IMPROVEMENTS:
- Opponent scouting: They've added a new scouting report that allows you to check any player's (online) tendencies. You can look at their favorite playbook and formation, as well as look at how much they no-huddle, call hot routes, and audible. It's meant to try and cut down on the number of games wasted to opposition that cheats or otherwise plays in a manner you're not interested in.
- Quick tournaments: 4 or 8 player tournaments built right into the online system.
- Even team mode: An option that will allow an even playing field, regardless of the 'real world' strengths and weaknesses of two programs/teams.
- Improved leaderboards.
- "Rushing Attack" mini-game, as defined above.
- EA Messenger: Track dozens of friends online. That's all I've come across so far, but it's a factual aggregation of information, all directly from the source. Either Electronic Arts, and/or Phil Frazier the line producer via an interview on EASports, much of the info is paraphrased or even partially or wholly quoted. None of this comes through third parties, or speculation. Given that, this looks to be one of the biggest leaps forward this franchise has enjoyed in some time. Particularly for Xbox fans as they finally get online play, but really for everyone. But enough, I now return you to your regularly scheduled, "tHiS gAMe iz dA bOMb!" 'reviews'.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Same great game, same flaws, October 6, 2004
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
I've played just about every iteration of Madden since the original back in the Sega Genesis days, and it sure has changed! It remains the premier football game, although ESPN 2K5 is seriously challenging it this year, and not just for its low price tag. So how does Madden 2005 hold up?
GRAPHICS: Very nice. As with most sports games, I tend to use a far-away camera angle (better perspective), so I don't tend to care too much about the graphics. That said, the bump-mapping, textures and lighting effects are well done, and it's hard to fault Madden's visual execution.
SOUND: Good, but like always, nothing special. The commentary is yet again recycled; "Boom, he got developed!" anyone? The hits and game sounds are good, but they do the job, nothing more.
CONTROL/GAMEPLAY: This is where Madden shines, but also where it comes up short. The control is tight, the running game is more realistic than in years past, and the new tackling animations are getting better every year (ie: Halfback lunging forward for an extra foot or two when tackled, etc). The thing that annoys me is that the basic controls when running (juke, spin, stiffarm) basically haven't changed IN YEARS. The juke works ok, but the spin is easily the most useless move ever. Tacklers somehow always anticipate your spin, and in the rare occasions that you can get it off, you will waste so much time and momentum performing the spin (a canned animation, by the by) that it's usually better to juke or move out of the way by hand. The big improvement this year is the defensive AI; the computer adjusts better than in years past, though do not expect any miracles. An advanced player will still be able to whup the AI with a few games of practice under their belts.
The kick return game is harder as well, but not in a good way. Whereas most users could return most kicks for 30-40 yards last year, this year even a top returner you'll only get 20-25 on kickoffs and you're lucky to get 10 on punt returns. Realistic, but frustrating since your team's blocking usually stinks.
The computer is still guilty of the age-old miracle, come-from-behind-cheat. Last night I was shutting out the Cardinals 42-0 in the 4th quarter, having allowed only 75 yards of total offense. This was before the CPU decided to go into invulnerable mode, completing 10 passes in a row and scoring in a matter of seconds. Come on EA Sports, this isn't good AI, it's cheap! Other sore spots: the CPU linebackers still have trampoline legs and are able to deflect of pick off a pass some 15 feet in the air, the CPU corners are still able to keep up, stride-for-stride, with a 99 rated wideout (regardless of THEIR speed ratings), and the defensive secondary can generally turn on a dime. I had one play where I threw to a crossing Jeremy Shockey, full speed, yet the linebacker who was GOING THE OTHER WAY turned, sprinted some 10 yards in a second and got to the ball before Shockey (who was, again, going full speed in the right direction!). Incredible.
OVERALL: Flaws aside, this is a very fun game. My main gripe is that EA seems to be resting on their laurels, and there aren't any real innovations in this game. The "Hit stick" is fun but somewhat gimmicky, and the addition of online play is big for those who like that (I don't, I prefer a live opponent next to me, or the CPU). The addition of team morale has exactly zero impact. The newspaper and radio elements are fun, but take too long to load and are ultimately boring after the second time you see them. Come on EA, do something special next year!
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15 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Review. ESPN vs. Madden..., August 13, 2004
Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars
For starters, I have played the Madden series since Madden '95 on sega and have been forking over my money every yr since then. I kind of regret doing so this yr.
With ESPN's release date a few weeks ealier, and 30 bucks cheaper paved the way for thier game to be number one. I purchased both of these games on the first day they came out. So while I was waiting for Madden to release, I played ESPN 'til my fingers bleed. So, now after I played a few games of Madden, it looks, feels, and plays horrible after ESPN. And this is what ESPN tried to do!! And they succeeded.
Don't get me wrong, there are soo much to love w/ Madden. The franchise mode has countless additions that make it ten times funner and deeper than last yr. With the new addition to team moral it makes it difficult to cut your old players and go for young ones to make your new young players progress by throwing them the ball 200 times in a season. If you trade, lets say, Peyton for rookie and some picks, your team gets mad, they play worse, and in turn makes thing a little rockier w/ the fans. This is a nice lil addition that keeps players from going out and stealing the top 6 picks in every draft. Another addition in Franchise mode is talk radio. This is a truely interesting and unique feature that plays actually interviews with players and coaches around the league. The one problem I have w/ this is that when you play multiple seasons, and Edgerrin James or Bill Cowher call in to have interview, it's going to be a little off when they both retired from the game 5 yrs ago. Nice thought though.
ESPN would be a near flawless game if they had HALF the franchise mode Madden has. Even though ESPN is deep, it's not even close when compared to eachother.
This yr, it is simply going to come down to personal preference. Mine is going to be ESPN for the simple fact of the running game. I love to run the ball in football games. Carrying the ball 20 times is fun for me for some odd reason. I did this is the new Madden with both Priest and Jamal Lewis and had around 50 yards. This, was NOT fun. Like yrs past, still NO running game in Madden unless the level is set to rookie or pro. Everyone talks on how Madden is the ONE to play because of realism. It's real to run for 400 yards in a season and pass for 100 TD's in a season? Nope... To add to the 'realism' of Madden are those wonderful blitz plays. Such as undersmoke under dime and nickle. Vs. other players, this play is difficult to stop. You could maybe stop it by running, but since D-lineman in Madden games are super human, runnin' up the gut is more impossible than me poopin' gold. Grrrrr
Both ESPN and Madden over great online options. But, ESPN offers a 'League'. This is where you can get into online leagues of up to 32 real players to play in an online season, complete w/ trading and playoffs. This is a great feature if you can actually find a league where everyone plays, which is quite difficult. Madden offers online play which is actually quite good for a football game. Great online stats and online lobby interface. Only takes a few seconds to find a game vs someone else, where ESPN might take some time to find someone to play.
For those of you who are torn on which to buy, I would recommend grabbin' both. It is only going to cost you 70 bucks for two great games. But if not, Madden is Madden. This game is practically the same one since it's debut on the PS2 4 yrs ago. For those of you looking for a different total football expirience, ESPN is the way to go. Great animations, gameplay, and presentation. I mean, a half-time show w/ actually highlights...Wow. So,...go now and buy 'em both. Can't go wrong w/ either one!
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