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Publisher : Electronic Arts<br />
Developer : Tiburon<br />
Release Date : 8/9/2005<br />
Rating : EVERYONE<br />
4.25 of 5<br />
58_REVIEW_MADDEN NFL 06<br />
Review by 4thletter<br />
Genre(s) : Sports<br />
Category : Football<br />
# of players : 1-8<br />
It’s time for the biggest national holiday that businesses love<br />
to hate: Madden Day. This year, expect record numbers of<br />
people calling in sick, husbands neglecting their wives, and<br />
fistfights over whether that long bomb pass was skill or<br />
a fluke.<br />
Madden NFL 06 continues EA’s tradition of introducing possibly<br />
gamebreaking new features and seeing how they work. The good<br />
ones (Playmaker control, Michael Vick being a demigod) stick around<br />
for the next year. The bad ones never get mentioned again. This year,<br />
we get QB Vision and Precision Passing. Precision Passing lets you put<br />
a little extra touch on your passes and place the ball high, low, left,<br />
or right of your receiver and away from defenders. Once you get it<br />
down, you’re golden. It really adds a new level to the game.<br />
QB Vision, on the other hand, will decide if you love or hate this<br />
game. This innovative feature changes the tried and true Madden<br />
gameplay to a large extent. Your QB now actually has to look in the<br />
direction of the receiver he wants to hit if he wants to be accurate. If<br />
you don’t like QB Vision, you can turn it off. It adds something of a<br />
steep learning curve to what used to be a pick-up-and-play game, but<br />
it gives the game a more realistic edge. It demands a more measured<br />
gameplan and calculated passes.<br />
These new additions, among others, make Madden 06 feel much<br />
more authentic than the previous games. You aren’t just playing a<br />
quarterback, you are the quarterback and have to keep track<br />
of everything.<br />
The graphics have gotten an upgrade, mostly in the form of new<br />
animations. You can tell when a player was brought down courtesy of<br />
a face mask, for example. It’s also nice to see players automatically<br />
hopping over downed players on the field or completely demolishing<br />
a lineman and proceeding to sack the QB for negative yards. EA’s<br />
really delivering on its “If it’s in the game, it’s in the game” slogan.<br />
Some of the hits are brutal.<br />
NFL Superstar mode is deserving of respect. It takes Season mode<br />
and stands it on its head. Instead of just playing games, you need<br />
to manage having an agent, training, and plenty of other things. It<br />
sounds overly complicated, but it’s surprisingly easy to get into. It’s<br />
just another stab at making Madden NFL 06 more authentic.<br />
The presentation of the game is functional and attractive. The menus<br />
are easy to use and brightly animated, complete with real video clips<br />
from your favorite team. The soundtrack is decent, and continues<br />
the trend of spotlighting lesser-known artists (Chamillionaire and Stat<br />
Quo in this case) in addition to more established acts.<br />
Madden NFL 06 isn’t an all-new game, but it’s close to it. There’s a<br />
heap of new stuff to get used to, and a steep learning curve to climb,<br />
but it’s definitely <strong>worth</strong> the effort. It’s extremely rewarding to toss a<br />
pass, alter its trajectory just so, and come<br />
up with the big play for the win. You can’t<br />
buy bragging rights like that.<br />
Rating : 4 of 5<br />
2nd opinion by Shoegazer • Alternate Rating : 4.5 of 5<br />
Madden 06 should prove to naysayers that an exclusive license doesn’t mean yearly<br />
rehashes. A slew of upgrades make the greatest football franchise ever even better.<br />
HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 1_ISSUE 4_A pr0nLESS PUBLICATION<br />
You could almost hear the ice-shattering sigh of relief from<br />
hockey fans across the world last July when the NHL announced<br />
that its lockout would finally come to an end. Hockey is back<br />
and soon, after more than a year off, the players from the<br />
coolest game on Earth will lace up their skates once again in<br />
pursuit of Lord Stanley’s Cup. Despite the lockout, EA was able<br />
to work with the NHL to put the game’s new rules into NHL<br />
2006 even before they were announced to the media. It’s in the<br />
game, indeed.<br />
Three things that you can always count on from an EA Sports title are<br />
quality, TV-style presentation, and insanely deep game customization.<br />
The beauty of NHL 06 is that the default settings are tuned to the<br />
player that wants an accurate replica of an actual NHL game, but a<br />
more experienced player can adjust the sliders to match whatever<br />
style of hockey they prefer. Think the goalie’s agility is too unrealistic?<br />
Turn down the AI. Think the defensemen don’t play hard enough? Turn<br />
up the frequency at which they’ll dive in front of the goal to block a<br />
shot. Whether you’re slow and methodical, or lightning fast and bonecrushing,<br />
the sheer amount of customizable gameplay tuners is dizzying.<br />
NHL 06 is reminiscent of the gameplay from an era gone by in hockey<br />
games. Scoring will require strategy, which means that you’ll actually<br />
use a balanced mixture of break aways, one-timers, dekes and wraparounds<br />
as opposed to simply skating up the middle and attacking the<br />
goal head-on. Hero Players, indicated by a star icon around them, can<br />
perform super shots by pressing the new right analog Skill Stick in any<br />
2nd opinion by 4thletter • Alternate Rating : 3.5 of 5<br />
Review by Shoegazer<br />
Publisher : Electronic Arts Genre(s) : Sports<br />
Developer : EA Canada<br />
Category : Hockey<br />
Release Date : 9/14/2005 # of players : 1-4 (Online and<br />
Rating : EVERYONE 10+; Mild Violence XBOX Live Compatible)<br />
direction. Only the best goalies in the NHL are able to stop these shots,<br />
so be sure to attack when you’ve got a guy like Steve Yzerman free and<br />
clear from the pack.<br />
Thanks to the new rules of the NHL, playing a standard three-period<br />
game is relatively quick, so getting through an entire season hardly<br />
seems like a chore this year. Long-time fans of the franchise will also<br />
appreciate the more subtle improvements, such as the inclusion of<br />
multiplayer mini-games which adds party game value. However, the real<br />
jackpot here for old-school EA fans is the near-perfect port of the 16-bit<br />
classic NHL ’94, which is available from the main menu.<br />
Though most of NHL 06 is exactly what the franchise needed, there<br />
are still a few rough spots left to iron out for next season. The Dynasty<br />
mode serves its purpose, but feels outdated in comparison to other EA<br />
titles. Also, despite the complaints of hockey sim purists about big hits<br />
being “over the top,” EA has got to make body checking more punishing,<br />
like Madden’s Hit Stick. A well-placed hard body check not only insures<br />
that the opposing player will lose puck control, but it’s also just hilarious<br />
to knock them over the rail and into the penalty box. Make it an option<br />
that can be toggled on or off, whatever, but give us back the tools to<br />
dish out the pain! Sadistic fun has always been synonymous with video<br />
game hockey.<br />
In the end, what you’re left with is unquestionably the greatest hockey<br />
game of the current generation, but some overall lack of polish and a<br />
lackluster Dynasty mode take the score down a tad. Quibbles<br />
aside, make no mistake that if you have even a remote<br />
interest in hockey, you need NHL 06. Go get it now!<br />
Rating : 4 of 5<br />
NHL 06 is fun, but difficult, stuff. You’ll earn every point that you make. 3.75 of 5<br />
HARDCORE GAMER MAGAZINE_VOLUME 1_ISSUE 4_A pr0nLESS PUBLICATION NHL 2006_REVIEW_59