MPer MarkD took a trip out to San Francisco to visit the
EA HQ recently taking in some playing time of Madden 2005 while he was there. Here are his top 50 observations about the game. You can also post your own opinions on these in this
thread on our forums.
1. When you try and reposition your players on the dline(besides using the trigger button)…you can only do one. When you click off them and go to another player after you have moved them, they will go back to where they were. This is a great move by the Madden team, because this will make it harder on those that try and use unrealistic tactics or ways to screw with the AI.
2. When you use Bump and Run, now the CB’s will only come up and not the safeties. This was a great move because most of the time safeties do play a little off or at a regular position when the cb’s are in bump and run. Most of the time they don’t move up in a situation like this. So I guess it’s one of those things…if you like it or not…it is realistic.
3. The kick returners will confuse you a little when you first see them. They will line up one in front while the other is in the back (like the backs do in I formation). Once the ball is kicked they split up and get in there regular positions that we normally see them in. There are some teams that line up in this in real life, but most use the split. I don’t know if they were trying to confuse the madden player so they wouldn’t pick it up to easy what side your favorite returner was going to line up on or just do something different this year, but it all boils down to the same thing.
4. No more throwing off the back foot. I repeat…no more throwing off the back foot!!! Lol Either off the back foot or on the run. Well you can still do it, but the results will be way different this year. It seemed to be about a 50% chance the ball would end up being thrown way off and a bunch of times…right into the defensive players hand. This is with little or no effort from the defense. I would really think twice about throwing it on the run this year. I am a scrambler myself and felt that Madden was too easy for us scramblers last year….boy how things change so quickly!
5. On Kickoff returns, most teams use a “Wall” of players with there hands locked to set a zone for the returner. Well they haven’t gotten this right all the way, but they do seem to come closer. Once the ball is in your hands on returns, everything seems the same as in NCAA 2005.
6. On defense, a unblocked blitzed player in the middle comes VERY quick. It brings a new meaning of “Bringing the heat”. At times it seems too quick. I found myself checking for the blitz first before I looked for receivers. There was a time I only had the chance to take a couple steps back then…BAM!! But what the heck…it does happen.
7. User picks (INT’s) isn’t as easy as it is in NCAA 2005, but it is a tad bit easier then it was in last years Madden.
8. I was kinda upset there wasn’t a way to change the controller config in Madden. I found it a tad bit different between the ps2 version and the Xbox version. For me, mainly it was the bringing up the passing icons and the throw the ball away button. I am used of the bringing up and down the passing icons with the y button for the xbox and the triangle button for the PS2. Well they are laid out different on both systems. The xbox is where I am used of it being…the Y button.. while the ps2 version you are stuck with using the L2 button to do this.
9. This year on the PS2 version you will notice that it will take way longer to sim those other games in franchise mode. I am not sure about the xbox version (I was told it is faster but I didn’t see it with my own eyes). It seemed like it toke almost 11/2 to 2 min to just sim the remaining games left for the week. Maybe it takes that long now because of all the features like the radio show and the newspaper….I would assume that’s the only reason. Just don’t think you are going to just sim a whole season in a few minutes this year.
10. While conducting a interview with the Madden team in Tiburon…I had to slip in a couple questions about the PC version since I felt that the PC version was getting the short stick on most of the interviews out there (Yes Coach I still feel that the PC version…if you have a up to date system…provides the best that madden has to offer for a football game.). The PC version will still have all the features of the consoles with a huge upgrade to the graphics. I read some interview that said they were adding more features for the hardcore demanding PC users. I hope this is the case and I will be surprised but it didn’t sound like they were adding things they way I read the interview from somewhere else.
11. All you league owners out there….I was told that the stat reports will be the same as last year…so I guess we will all have to get with “No Toad” or those that have moded his stat tracking utility to make it even more better this year since it seems as though you will still be able to use it.
12. In the PC version there will be no more Pro play only in online ranked games using
EA’s lobby games. So now you will be able to play someone on all-madden for the rankings if you choose to.
13. You cant change the color of your shoes like in NCAA 2005 to all kinds of different colors. I guess that not all that bad, because I think the NFL has a ruling that prevents you from using all kinds of different colors (I could be wrong). The only choices you get is black and white.
14. When selecting the sounds this year (not the music) your choices are Madden/Michaels, crowd chatter, and Player Chatter.
15. Sorry no custom soundtracks like we wanted this year in the Xbox version
16. All the camera angles for the console seemed the same that you could choose from, but even with the furthest away camera it was hard to see everyone on the field.
17. Historic Rosters still have #’s and the same old “he is 95 in the real game” but “he is 96 in the historic rosters”. Not sure why they cant add the players names that are a part of the NFLPA, even ones that are still playing.
18. Music (song choices in the game) 20 madden 2005 soundtracks, 4 racing tunes, and 3 fight mixes. I am not sure what the music sounds like, because I was in a room with many tv’s and didn’t want to blast someone away by turning it up so that I could hear it. I could be wrong but at sometime I think I even herd music from last years soundtrack.
19. Seemed like the logos you have to choose from is a little more in create a team, but mostly the same.
20. Tournaments= Double Round Robin, Round Robin 4-16 teams no odd numbers 2,4,8 playoff teams, Double elimination 8 or 16 teams, Single elimination 4,8,16 teams.
21. They give you a choice to create a fantasy team this year. Any players from any team can be on your team….all the players at all the positions to make up your team. I didn’t like this feature cause I know I wont use it, because it seems to take away the fun of trading and such. But I guess some folks will like it. Then again maybe I can create a all rookie team from all the new draftees and create a team.
22. The screen transitions where smooth in both the xbox and the ps2 versions. It’s not like it is in NCAA where you can tell the system is lagging to load up screen animations from players crowd and such.
23. The hit stick will take some time to get used to or to master….except for Andy…seemed like he had it down right away. Most folks will not master it right out of the box…so I suggest you head into practice mode and practice it before you take the field. You will have to learn to use the “cover up the ball” button to counter this. When I tested this out you had to use the Y button for the xbox.
24. There is no button to leap over the person laying down on the ground…like last year. The cpu will automatically do it for you when you are about to step on someone’s back.
25. The running style is just like it is in NCAA. I like it. No more stopping on the dime to make a sharp cut or to go the other direction.
26. The juke buttons are not like they are in NCAA. You will have the left trigger buttons to juke left and the right to juke right….not just one while you are moving in the direction you want to go in. Also the Juke button doesn’t to do as big of a juke as last years.
27. Nothing different in create a stadium…you still have your same choices from last year.
28. One of the things that I didn’t like was when you choose to play your game at another teams field like Green Bay…and the team you are using normally plays on a turf field…well….you take the playing surface with you. It only changes the things outside of the field surface. Not sure why they changed this from last year.
29. During rainy games you will see water come up from the players feet. Very nicely done!!!!!
30. DB’s now react to the ball a lot better even when in double coverage….sorry jetpackers!
31. You can now put your best db or whoever you chose to cover there best wr. No matter where he is lined up.
32. NFL player stat cards are shown between loading screens.
33. I have seen at least 7 new td animations..I have no idea how many they have added, but it seems to be many if I saw 7 in more time with the game.
34. Madden now has custom hot routes!!!! So now you don’t have to use the ones that are set by default anymore.
35. It seemed to me that when you do choose to roll out to make a pass….make sure you roll to the side your qb’s throwing arm is on.
36. You can still run side line to side line with Vick. “BUTT” if it is against the cpu….that will only last you a drive and a half…the cpu will shut it down with better angle taking qb spies. I rolled vick from sideline to sideline…yes he is still fast as hell….but the defense is a heck of a lot more smarter now. The dline isn’t always a bunch of dummys like they were last year. Of the drives I did this running around with vick…he didn’t fumble one time. Maybe I was just lucky…but then again with every good thing comes a bad thing. I didn’t get hit by the “HIT STICK”by the cpu so I know that made a difference.
37. I also asked in the interview about system link games. There will be non this year. They said they looked into it, but didn’t feel enough would use this feature to put it in the game.
38. Face mask and holding penalties have been toned down without adjusting the penalties.
39. If you do all that running around in circles this year, you will end up with several clipping penalties. That’s the way it should be when you run that way…believe me I know! There are times where blockers don’t know what direction you are headed in so this is normal in real life when you just keep running around in circles.
40. On curl routes…wr’s stop longer then they did last year. This is a great thing!!! No more rolling out so that your wr can do a comeback route that messes with the ai. When they do look around for a open spot…it seemed like you didn’t know what for sure direction they were headed in. So you cant expect them to do the same thing on a broken route every time.
41. There are now choice route for WR’s. This is outstanding!!! Folks this is the way real football is. Wr’s don’t always just have a set route to run in real life. Sometimes they have to read what the defense is doing and make a decision on what area to go to or settle in.
42. There seemed to be more trick plays added to the game. I didn’t go through them all, but there were many.
43. Sorry Damon, but the turf in ST.Louis looks very old and very plane “boring!” Sometimes I don’t see how some of you cats do it year after year….playing on plain astro turf every year. The field turf looks great though!
44. You can still get dirty unis in field turf games! The unis will have black marks on them.
45. Create a fan feature was neat, but I wish they could have added different emotion choices to pick from for each fan you create.
46. This year this game seemed not for kids. You will have to know about football to be great at it. Those that don’t know much about football will take some heavy losses against someone that knows a bunch about real football.
47. The kicking meter is kinda the same as it is for NCAA. But it will tell you “great kick” if you hit it right on the money. There was times that the meter seemed just right in speed, but other times it seemed faster then before at different times. There will be a bunch of out of bounds kicks this year unless you practice with the kicking meter.
48. The radio showed didn’t seem like a feature that I would like or that I thought was a waste of time. But it was really done professionally. And wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was…it seemed like a real radio show….and the voice actors did a great job from the couple that I herd.
49. Cheerleaders look a whole lot better this year then they did last year looking like those freaking zombies.
50. Create a play seemed the same from last year. I didn’t have a problem with it last year so I am not upset that they didn’t add anything to it.
