Madden NFL 2005

 

Storyline Central also has a newspaper that announces the moves you made in the season and off-season, and the articles or headlines found in them are pretty much ingenious. EA Sports has also put in the effort by getting each of the licensed newspapers to sign in to their deal. For example, if you're using the San Francisco 49ers in Franchise mode then Storyline Central will make use of the San Francisco Chronicle.

 

The Off-Season in Madden NFL 2005 is pretty much the same bag as last year's edition, but again, you're graded for what moves you pull of by Storyline Central. At training camp, you can play all sorts of mini-games that can somewhat raise the stats of your players, depending on how well you do. The mini-games are fun, and Rushing Attack is really addictive, but it's a bit of a letdown that you can only play these games during the off-season.

 

Something that should make Xbox fans happy is that Madden NFL 2005 marks the debut of Madden on Xbox Live. NCAA Football 2005 fans, fear not, the problems that consisted on early builds of that game haven't carried over to Madden. Also, newly announced for the game on Xbox Live are online leagues. They basically work as just regular competition or as an online season mode, which is really a nice touch. The game plays great on Xbox Live thanks to its limited lag; a feature that Sony's online game really suffers from if both connections are from different ISP's. While the online features of Madden don't outclass ESPN NFL 2005 by any means, it's still their first year with the service so it'll be better as new versions come out.

 

The PS2 version of the game is back online pretty much leaving the GameCube version in the dust and the competition is as fierce as ever with the EA Sports nation. There you can challenge anyone you please for some gridiron action, and the game will also update the rosters for you (just in case you want to make sure Ricky Williams is deleted since he retired so early), and you'll be able to save them to your memory card.

 

PS2 owners can get a bit more out of the game with an extra $10. For $60, you can pick up the PS2-exclusive Madden NFL 2005 Collector's Edition. This pack features three retro Madden games, a trivia challenge, and some bonus video features. The games are pretty much the same as they were back then, and they have updated rosters which might or might not be a letdown since some might have preferred those classic greats from back in the days of the dynasties. The trivia challenge is okay, but it's hard if you're just coming in to the knowledge of football. The video features, on the other hand, are pretty much just showings of EA Sports patting themselves on the back for what they've done with the Madden series, but there's a really good, hilarious feature they have on the infamous Madden curse that started in 2001'you know, the 2001 box featured Eddie George who had a non-stellar season and lost in the first round, the 2002 box featured Daunte Culpepper who's stats plummeted and led the Vikings nowhere, the 2003 box had Marshall Faulk who missed six games while leading the Rams absolutely nowhere, and the 2004 box had Michael Vick EA actually though he would be a safe pick who broke his leg early in the Pre-Season and missed 11 regular season games, making the Falcons miss the playoffs. The journey continues. This collector's edition of Madden NFL 2005 would mostly benefit diehard fans, but it's still a nice purchase if you have the necessary amount of clams to dish out.

 

As usual, the GameCube version will look and sound slightly better than the PlayStation 2 version, and the Xbox version will look and sound slightly better than the PlayStation 2 version. Also, the GameCube version for whatever reason has fewer extra cutscenes in the game than its counterparts, but it really doesn't matter. The controls of each game roughly are similar, so choosing which version to get is basically a matter of personal preference.

 

Madden NFL 2005 looks great thanks to Tiburon's commitment in improving the game's visuals. When playing, you'll notice a lot of different uses of lighting and changes to the look of the sky as time progresses. There are lots of great little details like grass getting stuck on facemasks, jerseys getting dirtier in the rain, and players noticeably limping more after getting hit hard. The hit-stick tackle animations are also great, and you'll notice that each player's physical build has been improved, and that jerseys look more wrinkled and realistic than before. The field's visual mechanics are pretty much the standard for football sims, and Madden NFL 2005 doesn't miss a pixel.

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