Ign's review of Madden

I don't back down from saying there r few improvements in this years madden over last years cuz the only things different is it leans more onto the defensive side this game, the radio show(which talks more about the rest of the league than the team being used), and the lighting, just don't do it for me. I think espn looks a heck of a lot more fluid and natural than madden, but maybe there's a big difference between what Ps2 users and X-Box users see.
The only really kewl thing about the new madden from what I've seen and read is the create a fan feature.

Very few upgrades? What about these?

-Defensive hot routes and defensive playmaker

-Improved AI (As the review says, "2005's AI is by far the slickest, smartest AI of any football game ever put to polygons, period, and the main reason why Madden is once again the single most dominant force in sports video games.")

-The hit stick

-Change your offensive formation at the line

-Black routes, or QB containment on defense, and orange routes, or option routes on offense

-Completely revamped draft

-Computer initiated trading (during the draft too)

-Player morale that effects your ability to re-sign guys

-Player ratings change throughout the season

These are just a few, I'm not sure what you mean when you say few upgrades. The IGN review is chuck full of new stuff for '05.

to me its the same game with new rosters. most of that stuff either isn't that big enough of an adjustment for me to spend $50 on another football game or was something that needed to be fixed anyways ie the draft and trading(which r already pretty good in espn 2k5). I'll take gang tackling over a suped up hit and I've yet to play a madden game with anything in the way of great AI. And I'm saying all this stuff and being such a loud voice against madden this year after having played and sometimes bought practically every madden that has come out. My point of view is why should I spend $50 on a game thats a somewhat revamped version of last years when I could put that money towards another game or 2 or a new skins jersey? Oh and for those who weren't happy with their Espn 2k5 that haven't ordered madden yet could trade it in for $10 towards madden at eb.

Seems like you're writing off the game before you've even played it.

But hey, to each his own. I think it's great there's two great football titles available, the competition only benefits us in the end as both companies try to out do each other.

to me its the same game with new rosters. most of that stuff either isn't that big enough of an adjustment for me to spend $50 on another football game or was something that needed to be fixed anyways ie the draft and trading(which r already pretty good in espn 2k5). I'll take gang tackling over a suped up hit and I've yet to play a madden game with anything in the way of great AI. And I'm saying all this stuff and being such a loud voice against madden this year after having played and sometimes bought practically every madden that has come out. My point of view is why should I spend $50 on a game thats a somewhat revamped version of last years when I could put that money towards another game or 2 or a new skins jersey? Oh and for those who weren't happy with their Espn 2k5 that haven't ordered madden yet could trade it in for $10 towards madden at eb.

Skisnfan, if you dont like madden, its no hair off my back. But none of your reasoning makes sense, other than the price. For years Madden was a roster update, id say basically up until last year. ANd if you have purchased a ton of 'roster updates' it maeks sense that you woudl be mad at this point. But because of the competition they have acutally done a ton to upgrade the game this year.

But if youre happy with espn, theres nothing wrong with getting a skins jersey or somethign like that. Ive been waiting for years for a lot of this changes to be made becuase of how serious I am about playing madden.

As a side note though, had madden not done any of these upgrades, id still buy it just for the new roster and having portis. lol. It would be boring after a few weeks becuase id be able to dominate on all madden, but alteast id have portis. It made me really happy when they said that all madden was so realistic that its really hard to play at. To me the only thing that was hard about all madden was teh stupid kicking...that sucked...

Skisnfan, if you dont like madden, its no hair off my back. But none of your reasoning makes sense, other than the price. For years Madden was a roster update, id say basically up until last year. ANd if you have purchased a ton of 'roster updates' it maeks sense that you woudl be mad at this point. But because of the competition they have acutally done a ton to upgrade the game this year.

But if youre happy with espn, theres nothing wrong with getting a skins jersey or somethign like that. Ive been waiting for years for a lot of this changes to be made becuase of how serious I am about playing madden.

As a side note though, had madden not done any of these upgrades, id still buy it just for the new roster and having portis. lol. It would be boring after a few weeks becuase id be able to dominate on all madden, but alteast id have portis. It made me really happy when they said that all madden was so realistic that its really hard to play at. To me the only thing that was hard about all madden was teh stupid kicking...that sucked...
I don't think I once said I didn't like madden and even went as far as saying I've been a fan since its creation, but when I have a game I like with the current roster, I'm not gonna go out and buy another game with some different features because I've played the title for so long especially when said title would cost me another 40-50 bucks(I'm a penny pincher about soem things,lol). I hope madden is better cuz as someone said the competition between the 2 franchises can only help each game improve and hopefully go the more sensible price route. I know I'm in the minority on this and that's fine by me, but I'm happy with the football title I selected and now have the options with my extra money to get a couple other things to get myself for my b-day :party . in the end it's just a video game and one that loses value quickly.

by the way, has anyone else heard the rumor that this might be the last version carrying madden's name? I've had quite a few people talk to me about it at work so I was just wondering if anyone else had heard this.

For years Madden was a roster update, id say basically up until last year. ANd if you have purchased a ton of 'roster updates' it maeks sense that you woudl be mad at this point. But because of the competition they have acutally done a ton to upgrade the game this year.

uh. what upgrades? have you PLAYED this game yet??? if you're talking about all the defensive pre-snap stuff, ESPN has 'em ALL. including defensive individual hot routes. if you're talking about hit stick then ESPN gives you the option to go for the hit or wrap as well...

now i've bought every Madden (im a chump), and the amount of innovation each year is beyond questionable. owner mode. yay. playmaker. whoaaa. how about getting some animations that arent from 2001? gang tackles that arent scripted, involve more than just two guys, and follow actual physics?

c'mon admit you're being totally maddenite right now, cuz you haven't even PLAYED THE GAME. tweaks arent 'upgrades', and if you're just gonna read the back of the coming soon box and base your judgement on that, you may wanna read the manual of ESPN too.

Long review, got a score of 9.5, which is higher than ESPN.

man you guys are on jihad i swear. its higher in that review by a WHOPPING 0.1 points!! and no one's even played the game yet!!

you guys really think that .01 point and "Improved AI" (aka Tweaks and Glitch Fixes) is worth paying DOUBLE and a HALF what ESPN costs?

:sleep:

man you guys are on jihad i swear. its higher in that review by a WHOPPING 0.1 points!! and no one's even played the game yet!!

you guys really think that .01 point and "Improved AI" (aka Tweaks and Glitch Fixes) is worth paying DOUBLE and a HALF what ESPN costs?

:sleep:

Yep, I guess so. If you like ESPN, good for you. Other people love madden, that's why they get it every year.

by the way, has anyone else heard the rumor that this might be the last version carrying madden's name? I've had quite a few people talk to me about it at work so I was just wondering if anyone else had heard this.

Yeah, I also heard this. I was at Babbage's a few weeks ago and one of the salesman told me Madden didn't sign a contract to keep making the game. He said EA will still continue to make it though, just with a different name.