Got Mad Game

Madden 2005: A Review by Everett Eazy Street

After 15 years in the game, EA Sports and John Madden still have a winning combination in their hands. With the release of Madden 2005 for all major systems including the PC, the game all ready has gone gold, selling more than 500,000 copies in pre-orders alone. We even heard that in local game stores people who didn't pre-order couldn't get their copies until 2 days after the game was released. One of the big reasons is that this is the 15 Anniversary of the series and that EA has released a special Madden 2005 collector's edition of the game only for the ps2. The difference is that not only will you will be able to play the instant classic game, you can also play 3 older versions of the game, one for the NES and 2 others versions that came out for the PS1. Also, the collectors edition includes video of the making of Madden and its history, playable Madden moments, trivia, and much more.
On the features side of things, Madden NFL 2005 is the best it's ever been. The franchise mode has a big, new presentational change with addition of a weekly newspaper, email, and sports radio host Tony Bruno, the EA Sports Radio show host. By listening to the show, you'll hear interviews with players and coaches, hear Tony take calls from smart and idiotic fans, and hear little things happening around the NFL.
Madden NFL 2005's offensive game isn't really all that different from Madden NFL 2004, but there are some differences here and there. You can now make formation shifts on the line. You can move your running back out of the backfield and into a better position for the reception, or you can overload one side of the field with receivers. You'll also notice some new option routes for receivers in this year's game. Option routes are typically highlighted on the play calling screen and feature dotted lines coming off of a curl route, for example. These lines indicate possible directions that a receiver may run, depending on that receiver's assessment of the current coverage scheme. The intelligence of the receivers who are running these routes seems to vary depending on the quality of the player, but, as a whole, the feature seems to work well.
A big-time addition is the new defensive hot route system. You can now redesign a defensive player's assignment at the touch of a button.You can push a linebacker into deeper zone coverage or bring a safety in for the blitz.You can also give better pre-snap assignments to your defensive backs now. Individual presses and pullbacks on receivers can be performed, and you can also lock a corner on to a specific receiver, preventing mismatches. Finally, you can now also adjust how a defensive lineman attacks the offensive line without actually having to shift your whole line. What all of this amounts to is a far more user-configurable defense that actually makes playing defense much more enjoyable and strategic.

posted by Sneaker15 @ 1:24 PM