Madden NFL 2006 Xbox 360 Review

If you've got your new Xbox 360 sitting under your TV and the Steelers Superbowl victory has got you gagging for some proper football gaming action then your choices are a bit limited. EA recently managed to get an exclusive license to use the NFL team and player names in its products for the next couple of years so if it's NFL action you're after then your choices are going to be limited for a while to come.

That said, it's good news for European American Football fans as EA has decided that Madden should be a launch title for the 360. When the original Xbox launched in USA Madden was close behind but that version never materialised on these shores leaving Football fans with over a year to wait to get their hands on a game. Now, with no competition on the console it would be tempting for EA to create something half-hearted knowing that football fans have nowhere else to go. Have they fallen into this trap or is Madden 06 worth rushing out for on the 360?

Formatting

The Madden series has been around for a long time and each revision tends to be a minor update in graphics, rosters and playing dynamics. This year is the year of the quarterback apparently with the passing game getting it's most significant update so far. Over the years the series has developed a full season mode, then a franchise mode that included the draft and more recently training mini games. These mini games even made it into the NCAA game for the first time this year. When you first fire up the Xbox 360 version you'll immediately notice the lack of features. As the 360 version has been recoded from the ground up EA haven't had the luxury of over a decades worth of coding on features that can be migrated to the new game engine.

Everything's been redone from the ground up and not all of the features we have come to expect made it. Infact, it's easier to list the features that did make it. Single game, franchise, multilayer (although this includes online play for the first time in the European version). The franchise mode is stripped down to the bare basics with minimal management features and non of the trimmings from the other versions. The 360 version is definitely the most feature light version of all of the editions of this year's Madden but that's not necessarily the end of the world.

Passing out

So, 2006 is the year of the quarterback. I've always had a bit of a problem with the passing game in Madden personally, although choosing the Dolphins probably tends to affect that perception. The passing game definitely seems reworked this year not least with the new vision cone and precision passing. These features make it possible to over or under throw the ball to help your receiver escape the defender. The passing cone also helps you to focus in on where the quarterback's looking as throws will be more accurate if he's looking at the receiver at the time.

At the start of the play he looks for the primary receiver, but as he moves around so does his focus. If you spot a hole in the defence then you can change the primary receiver to help you get a quicker, more accurate pass out. EA give with one hand and take away with the other as the running game seems to have got a lot more difficult. I've sort of got used to a fairly forgiving running game especially when the “juke” button was introduced. The effectiveness of the tackle breaking moves has been reduced over the last few editions and the defence really steps up now.

Blitz

The defensive AI is about the best it's been in Madden 06. The defence reacts quickly to your play calling meaning you either have to be very good at either passing or running to keep going back to the well or you have to keep the defence honest by varying your game. This makes it especially satisfying to see the defence come out in a heavy blitz while your primary receiver is uncovered and running a quick post into no defenders.

The computer is very good at tackling and swarming on the ball carrier so don't expect an easy ride. The offensive AI is pretty good as well exploiting weaknesses in your defence and tackling in a rather unforgiving way. The AI does tend to be quite good at making last minute drives picking just the right pass and running a successful no huddle offence, although they tend to even run no huddle even when the clock has stopped after an incomplete pass. Having an intelligent AI calling plays against you helps you to read the defence and offence better which will help you if you decide to take the game online.

Screening

From the time you see the opening movie you know that you're playing on a next generation console. The detail continues into the game in the action and the cutscenes. The detail in the players is quite something to see. The players are recognisable when you see them in close-up as are the coaches. The ingame graphics are nicely detailed although, a minor quibble is that with the detail lavished on the player models the uniforms look a bit static and plasticy. What I mean is that when you're looking at the quarterback in the game his shirt has a few folds in but it's fixed like that so it doesn't move with him. I also had a problem with the camera angle. I couldn't find how to change it as I really dislike the initial view.

You start off in a low close view behind the quarterback and on the snap the camera pulls out to a higher wider view. You can shift the initial view to the wider view by hitting a button on the controller but this is an annoyance as I generally want to do this first on each play so I can see the defence. That aside, the graphics and animations are fantastic. The backs move well and break tackles realistically. The receivers run their routes well and have loads of catch animations. The lines look pretty good in their blocking and the tackle animations look really good with plenty of hard hits. Even the crowd looks good with each person an individual 3D animated character.

Where's John

There's not a great deal that you can say about sound in an American Football game but Madden's effects are about as realistic as being there. The hits are nice and solid and the crowd sounds like a little more than just a roar. The commentary was a bit of a cause for concern initially as Maddens rather stilted, inaccurate and behind the action commentary has been replaced by an anonymous partisan announcer.

You're tuned into the radio station for your chosen team with basically the same announcer talking about your team in the first person and calling the game fairly well. Even though John Madden tended to get a bit tedious it's his name on the case and that's what I've come to expect from the commentary. The new announcer is fine but it's a bit of a surprise.

Xs and Os

Madden certainly looks next gen on the Xbox 360 and it plays like you'd expect it to. It's fast paced and hard hitting. It brings the series to the next generation of consoles with a bang. The missing features like mini camp and even the ability to challenge plays is a disappointment but ultimately it's the game that counts and that's better than ever. The controls take a bit of getting used to with some of the buttons doing drastically different things to what they did on other consoles which means you either have to reconfigure them or accept that you're going to end up spinning when you wanted to sprint and change players when you wanted to tackle for a while until you get used to it.

All in all I'd say that EA can do better. The camera angles and missing features will likely make a return next year and expect the graphics and sound to get another update. If you're a fan of the series who buys it every year then you've probably already got this. If you've got it on another format then don't bother getting this one as it doesn't add anything except graphics. If you're more of a casual fan who'll just buy one or two versions over the life of the console then I'd let this one pass and wait to see what happens with 2007.