By Tyler Menssen
On a cold January night when I step outside of my Minnesota home with only jeans and a tee shirt on I breathe in a nice breath of fresh air. The air fills my lungs and it feels great for about a second. Then the ten below degree weather kicks in causing my skin to sting and my fingers to go numb. So also must be the feeling of the PC
EA Sports team come early September. After months of work on developing a game to please its consumers, it is released and sells well. They've managed to get the game out once again and they feel that it is a great game. Then they browse their own forums, or the forums of fan sites and then that great feeling starts to numb about as fast as my fingers on that January night. No one has ever been able to produce a perfect game, and the die-hard football gaming critics won't rest until someone does. Let us browse some of the complaints of this season, and let us also bear in mind that Madden 2005 is the only football game available for the PC this year.
This year and every year the PC community has been very adamant in their distaste for the fact that we seemingly get the shaft. The console version of Madden until recently almost always had better game play, and still has more features. The PC gaming community when it comes to sports games is fast becoming the runt of the consumer base, and it continues to show in the overall quality of the PC Madden game. Many in the Madden community feel that features are missing, support is lacking, and effort is waning. Some of the features that were included in the console version of Madden but omitted from the PC version this year include the ability to assign team captains and the ability to use custom teams in franchise mode. It is, however, ironic that in the PC version a loading screen still appears that tells you how to assign team captains. That revelation rose more than a few eyebrows.
The team captains missing became a big deal because it appeared that
EA just yanked it right out of the game. Most people feel that it wouldn't have been very difficult to implement into the PC version. However, team captains are a minor detail in an otherwise expansive game. They are still there in the game you just don't have the power to name those who you want to be captains. The same cannot be said about not being able to use custom teams in franchise mode.
EA may have underestimated how many people actually use this feature, especially with the PC version. The lack of this feature alone as caused many fans to go back in time to their 2004 copy of Madden. Custom teams is most often used when people create college rosters and want to play a season, or when people just create their own small teams and want to test them against the NFL elite.
Moving towards the college rosters fad that always comes with the Madden game is another complaint. In the PC version of Madden it is not possible to assign any number to any player. Allowing for this to happen would probably make
EA seem like Gods to many of the community as it would make roster editing and creating so much easier. Again it would seem like an easy feature to add. Maybe even in a patch? The console versions do have the option. Also missing that relates to rosters is the ability for one of my favorite NFL players to play on defense. Troy Brown who has played on the other side of the ball this year for the Patriots cannot do so in Madden. An offensive player can no longer play defense. This was not so a few Maddens ago. The fact that these additions seem so simple and arbitrary is one of the main reasons critics will continue to assail the upper brass at
EA.
One thing
EA can feel good about is that the PC version of Madden 2005 has great game play and graphics. The on field atmosphere is the best it has ever been on the PC. The game play is arguably the best it has ever been. For every person who is angry about the game there are ten more who have their face glued to the monitor right now playing the game. Football games are played on the field. On the field is where Madden excels.
EA Sports came through where it matters most. Madden is the most fun this writer has had playing a football game in years. Madden gives PC users its only glimpse of football gaming and it is a fantastic look. Is it perfect? No. Could it be improved? Yes. However, it is installed on hundreds of thousands of computers throughout the world. Most of them just playing and enjoying the game.
Just as I stepped in from the cold as soon as my fingers went numb so too can
EA Sports. They can feel good about themselves again and after the initial onslaught of some valid and some completely ridiculous complaints they can rest at ease. They must remember, however, just as I need to step out in the cold again they need to face the critics again next year. Anything that is not seen as an improvement from this year's version will be considered a flop.
EA Sports please take my advice and next year add team captains and the ability to use custom teams in franchise mode to the game. Add the ability to give any player any number, and add the ability for players to play both on offense and defense. For the critics out there just remember one thing. Madden is probably the only PC football game you're going to see. Be glad you get a PC game, and maybe biting your tongue a little more often would be a good idea.
