Gameplay : 8.7 | Graphics : 8.6 | Longevity : 9.5 | Presentation : 7.0 | Sound : 8.9 | Overall : 8.5 Posted by AndyP

Your review score : (rate it) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | User average : 3.63 | 11 users have rated this game

Review summary

8.7

Gameplay With the Next Gen game Madden gets a new engine. The gameplay has somewhat of a new feel but still has great feel of past Maddens. Overall the gameplay is really good but a few problems lower the score from the current gen game. The vision cone is no longer a menu option, instead it can be turned on pre-snap or after the play starts. This is a strange decision as you don’t really know what advantage using the cone has. It’s been stated that using it give you a boost in precision but the manual doesn’t seem to mention that. The other major problem comes in while playing online. While in the play calling screen on defense the screen seems to have a problem refreshing to show you the package that your opponent has picked for his offense, you actually have to just keep moving your cursor around to make sure you get the update as soon as possible. Even if you get it instantly you still have to enter a formation and pick a play within seven seconds. It just isn’t enough time. If your not paying attention you may only get the update with 1-3 seconds left. The kicker is you have to be all the way out at the formation screen for it to show, so say for instance I predict my opponent is going to come out in a 2 WR 2 RB 1 TE set. If I enter a formation the opportunity of seeing my opponents package is gone. This really needs to be reworked for Madden 07. This could be a combination of gameplay-presentation but since it really affects gameplay I used it towards the gameplay score. Overall the game feels and plays great. It’s a great building block for Madden 07. The animations and AI seem to be much improved over the current gen games and hopefully they can continue to build on this.

8.6

Graphics The graphics look amazing. While it’s not quite what we saw on the Madden next gen commercial it’s still a huge upgrade from what the current gen games have. If you want to compare them then the score for graphics would be a 10 but since the hardware is much different I won’t compare the two. The score is based on the fact that there needs to be some improvements. The player models look great but there are some things missing. If you have any players on your favorite team with long hair you will not see that in this game. Also the visors seem to only come in shaded. If you have a player that wears a clear visor it will instead be shaded in the game. Steven Jackson for example is not very well represented as he has no hair and has a dark shaded visor.

9.5	Longevity I still think having a 30 year franchise in the game qualifies it for a high score. Superstar mode didn’t make the cut but that is something that didn’t appeal to me much anyway.

7.0

Presentation While improved it still lacks what we would all like to see. Halftime shows, Post game interviews… the ESPN license put to work is what we would all like to see. We had hoped for more though. However there are some great additions. They have added real NFL QB voices to the snap counts. There are nice close-ups of the players as they head to the line. The menus, stat screens, etc. all look great along with the nice addition of the hometown announcer.

8.9	Sound The atmosphere is much improved again this year. The crowd is very visible and vocal at the same time. What needs to be added now is more reaction from the crowd in key situations.

8.5	Overall For a first version on a new platform Madden NFL 06 will leave you wanting a lot more. It might even leave you frustrated that a lot of what you were used to and had come to expect from Madden is missing. There's always Madden NFL 07 !!

3.63 User Avg.

You can post your review here or submit your rating above