Review of Madden NFL 2005

As I said in the title, this is not a review. I just want to save like-minded people some time, and summarize what makes 2005 different from the 2004 title. While this isn't platform specific, the biggest upgrade this year is for the Xbox, as EA and Microsoft have finally settled, and online play has finally arrived via XBLive. I'd like to not assign stars at all, but Amazon doesn't allow for pre-release non-reviews. So I'm assigning 5 stars based on Madden 2004, and the promise of the following new features. It is not meant to be commentary about the 2005 title.
I've done this for NCAA 2005 as well, but decided to adapt it for Madden as well. Everything in here is Madden-specific.

GENERAL GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS:
- The hit stick: The Hit Stick is a brand-new control innovation whereby players can attempt to lay a big hit on their opponent by flicking the right stick. They are risky, as a mis-timed hit can be devastating to your defense, but it can all pay off with a huge hit and a fumble or dropped pass.
- Reworked DB play/pass defense: Rebuilt from the ground up, with a focus on man-to-man coverage. Good DBs will now blanket their receivers better than ever before, and "shut down" corners will now play as such.
- All alternate team jerseys are now available.
- Updated player models for more intense realism.
- Reworked stadiums, fans, and environmental graphics.
- New running animations. "Over 1000 new animations added."

FRANCHISE MODE IMPROVEMENTS:
- Restricted Free Agents - Allow your young guys to test Restricted Free Agency.
- Preseason Position Battles - Let two players who are similar in talent battle it out for the starting job.
- Player Personalities - Players react to everything that happens to them and if things get really bad for them, they demand a trade. If you're not throwing the ball to your star receiver, you'll hear about it.
- Franchise Tags - Tag players who refuse to re-sign with your team.
- New Realistic Off-season Free Agency - Players no longer only care about money. They now look at your team, the players you have, your team prestige and lots of other factors.
- Weekly Game-plan - Your coordinators provide you with a game-plan each week that contains keys to stop your upcoming opponents.
- NFL Icons - They've acknowledged the stars in the NFL and they become Icons in your Franchise. These players influence free agents and affect morale if something happens to them.
- Practice in Franchise - You can now practice with your current franchise team.
- Improved Team Management - Teams intelligently manage their rosters now. They cut dead weight and sign regular season free agents.
- Name Team Captains - You can now name your team captains every year in Franchise.
- Rivalries - Rivalries are a new addition to Franchise this year.
- Team Prestige - A new aspect of Franchise is prestige. Turn a perennial loser around to become a true powerhouse.
- In-Season Player Progression - Players now progress based on how well they're doing during the season. Breakout players are rewarded for their performance.
- Improved Draft - A ticker, announcer and trading during the draft highlight our draft improvements.
- Change Player Positions - You can change the positions of players in Franchise every season now.
- Storyline Central is a new addition to Franchise Mode this year that focuses on every story that is at the forefront in the NFL. The stories around your team now impact your team. If the rookie RB is pushing the veteran for playing time but not getting it, his morale will drop and it will affect his performance. You hear about the stories three different ways.
1) Newspaper. Every team in Franchise has a newspaper from their local city that discusses only the stories that pertain to that team. We also feature USA Today, which is the franchise's national newspaper. In USA Today, the most important stories from the entire NFL appear.
2) EA Sports Radio. They've added sports talk radio to Franchise, where host Tony Bruno breaks down the week's biggest stories. Each week's show includes call-ins, coach and player interviews, trivia questions and from time to time, Tony will rant about important issues in the NFL.
3) Email. Every week on your PDA, you'll receive emails about everything going on with your team. You will receive emails from players, coaches, general managers, the PR department, etc.
- Create-a-fan: Create your own dedicated crazy fans. To be included during game-time celebratory animations.

ONLINE PLAY IMPROVEMENTS:
- Opponent scouting: They've added a new scouting report that allows you to check any player's (online) tendencies. You can look at their favorite playbook and formation, as well as look at how much they no-huddle, call hot routes, and audible. It's meant to try and cut down on the number of games wasted to opposition that cheats or otherwise plays in a manner you're not interested in.
- Quick tournaments: 4 or 8 player tournaments built right into the online system.
- Even team mode: An option that will allow an even playing field, regardless of the 'real world' strengths and weaknesses of two programs/teams.
- Improved leaderboards.
- "Rushing Attack" mini-game, as defined above.
- EA Messenger: Track dozens of friends online.

That's all I've come across so far, but it's a factual aggregation of information, all directly from the source. Either Electronic Arts, and/or Phil Frazier the line producer via an interview on EASports, much of the info is paraphrased or even partially or wholly quoted. None of this comes through third parties, or speculation. Given that, this looks to be one of the biggest leaps forward this franchise has enjoyed in some time. Particularly for Xbox fans as they finally get online play, but really for everyone. But enough, I now return you to your regularly scheduled, "tHiS gAMe iz dA bOMb!" 'reviews'.



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