2006 upgrades help in latest installment of the Madden monopoly
With an almost complete monopoly on the NFL-inspired video games market, EA Sports released Madden 2006, the latest installment in its best-selling sports game, on Aug. 9, 2005.
The game includes a new mode and some game play changes from the 2005 edition. The new quarterback vision feature either enhances or limits your quarterback’s throwing capabilities. The better the quarterback, the more of the field you are able to see, but the worse your quarterback is, the less of the field you will be able to view.
If your team doesn’t have an all-pro quarterback, then you’ll have to pay more attention to routes and the defense your opposition has called. Running through progressions like the pros takes an inordinately long amount of time and the right toggle stick on the Playstation 2 isn’t the best way to move your vision – the controller shortcuts are the easiest way to switch receivers during the play.
The vision part of the offense adds a better piece of reality and authenticity to the video game. It’s a nice innovation that will probably creep into other games over time.
The right toggle stick can also be used when running with the ball to try to knock over and run through defenders. On other games, tapping ‘X’ would do the same thing and I would prefer that to having to reach over and use the toggle.
The new superstar mode, a companion to the Heisman mode in NCAA Football 2006, isn’t quite as interesting as its collegiate equivalent. With all of the different demands on your time – from training camp and movie shoots to speaking with your agent, the game moves pretty slowly, unless you actually want to simulate everything, which isn’t any fun either.
After ESPN NFL 2K5 dropped its price down to $20 last year, EA Sports decided it would be better to overpay the NFL for exclusive rights to the players and teams than it would be to lower its game price to compete with others in the market. The price drop of last year wasn’t brought back this year, as seen in the game’s $49.99 retail price.
It doesn’t matter much though, since Madden is still Madden and its years of innovation make it the best NFL game on the market, even if this year’s game is the only licensed one available.
Kevin Nielsen is a senior majoring in print journalism and the senior writer for the sports section of the Utah Statesman. Comments and questions can be sent to him at krn@cc.usu.edu.