Madden NFL 06 – Review

So people in the UK don’t ‘get’ NFL, huh? Our sport of choice is football, no, real football, not the kind that involves a rugby ball and throwing. That’s the kind of outdated stereotype we’ve had to listen to for years, and thankfully anyone with some sense and a little bit of an open mind has ignored it. NFL can be a fantastic, exciting, tactical game and playing it on your Xbox 360 can be a whole lot of fun.

Those of you who have dabbled with NFL titles in the past will most likely have played Madden at some point. He’s the big daddy of the game and the successful Madden franchise has kept many home-based fans of NFL engrossed for months on end. EA has reworked the game mechanics for Madden NFL 06, while including some fancy Quarterback vision and extended passing to keep the game fresh and new. For those who haven’t enjoyed a Madden NFL game before, starting out in this game can be somewhat scary. There are a lot of choices and, if you’re not a hardened football fan, you may easily find yourself lost before you even begin. The menu system is well set up, though, and is in keeping with the style of the 360. It has the sliding windows that are easy to navigate and can show you what is going on with individual players and teams. When you first start, you have a variety of options in how to play the game. There’s the classic ‘Madden’ style that allows you to jump in and start playing straight away, or you can choose the ‘Franchise’ option, which takes you across multiple seasons. You can also simulate the games in each week of the year, or you can choose to play as many of them as you want. All of the available modes are in-depth and you can tweak everything from your players to set plays on the field. For new NFL gamers, the addition of allowing you to take play selection advice from John Madden himself really helps. Sometimes when you’re unsure of the plays, it can be difficult to formulate tactics that will work best, but taking advice from Madden, or simply making plays that are specific to certain players, truly helps define the experience.

The online side of NFL 06 is also brilliant and easy to set up. It helps if you have friends to play with, however, as some of the more seasoned online veterans of the sport are likely to stomp all over you when you first play. Oddly, one of the most fun aspects of previous Madden games is missing from NFL 06: the Mini-Camp section. This is normally used to hone player skills and to provide a welcome break from big games. EA has decided to skip this aspect on this particular version of the game; a fact that will perhaps sadden dedicated Madden fans. For me personally, there were so many other things happening in an overall sense, that I didn’t miss Mini-Camp too much.

The graphics in NFL 06 are quite simply astonishing. From the opening cut-scenes to the in-game animation, EA has gone all-out to render some amazingly realistic images for the game. They’ve also facially mapped around 200 top NFL players to give the characters a brilliant sense of realism, and when you’re fully immersed there are times you forget that you’re playing a videogame. The power of the Xbox 360 is clearly evident throughout NFL 06. In fact, for those unaccustomed to the visual prowess of videogames, such as my aunt, it often looks as though you’re simply watching sports on TV—my aunt couldn’t understand that I was actually controlling the players. Oh dear. Anyway, I digress, back to business, gorgeous graphics galore. It’s not only the players that look sharp, but the specific coaches and other high-profile officials in the game also bear strong resemblance to the people they represent. Another important aspect of the animation is the way the plays are superbly mapped out with no visible loss of detail. Your players will celebrate in traditional NFL ways—one of my favorites being the dance at the goal line after scoring a touchdown. Brilliant fun all round, and they really add to the enjoyment of the game. The stadiums are predictably full of life, with spectators cheering, clapping, and offering encouragement. NFL 06 honestly looks as realistic as any NFL game ever has, and it’s clear to see that it was built from the ground up for the Xbox 360.

Another excellent aspect of Madden NFL 06 is that it has amazing sound—the only missing piece of authenticity being the swearing from the players and coaches. You can choose who controls the plays in this game, and if you take a play from the coach then you get to listen to him call it out to the players in the same way you yourself would if you were on the field with a helmet on. It’s brilliant, and the roar of the crowd gets your heart racing every time you rush frantically up the field, ball in hand. If you decide to watch the replays of some of your best moves, a beautiful orchestral score accompanies the footage and, again, it makes your heart soar and really pulls you even deeper into the game. It’s not uncommon for music to make or break a videogame in terms of impact, but EA has got the sound and accompanying music spot on in NFL 06; it never seems out of place and always adds excitement to the plays you’re making on the field. The atmosphere is perfectly executed from start to finish, and it certainly isn’t let down in this area. Deaf gamers can enjoy the game as much as the next person, because although the sound adds to the obvious enjoyment factor, it doesn’t hinder gameplay to approach the field without it, and you’re still free to make the plays and calls that you need to.

As far as the female gamer angle goes, this is an NFL sports game—don’t you know there’s no room for females on the football field, boy?! Yeah, there are no girls in NFL 06, but then EA are simply following the well-trodden path of sporting patriarchy with this one. For me, it didn’t make the game any less enjoyable in any way. Under those helmets, it’s really inconsequential whether it’s a man or a woman; I’m happy, just so long as they’re catching the ball when they need to. Ultimately, it would be nice to have the choice of playing as a female footballer but, unlike the less ‘traditional’ sports of skateboarding and surfing, this just doesn’t happen often enough. Oh, hey, I think I might have spotted some girly cheerleaders at some point, though—if that counts?

NFL 06 seems as though it’s almost flawless and, when viewed as a whole, this is almost true. However, it does have some little problems that will upset those die-hard Madden fans more than the game’s newbies. There are a few notable areas of gameplay that are missing from NFL 06, which were established in some of the other Madden games. For example, you can no longer really challenge play calls during the game and, for those who know the sport inside out, this could be a real problem. As well as that, there’s little room to alter plays once they’ve been set, and ‘Owner’ mode is also sadly missing. That said, these gameplay edits are more likely to be realized by those who’ve played a Madden NFL game before. If you’re a member of the uninitiated then you won’t really notice any flaws, and will probably be overwhelmed by just how good the game looks and the depth it has to offer.

Madden NFL 06 is a superb opening football installment for the Xbox 360. No doubt there will be many more Madden iterations during the lifespan of Microsoft’s latest next-gen console, and each will probably surpass the last in terms of excellence. But right here and now, NHL 06 is a great fun game and is certainly a good place to start for those players dipping their toes into the pool of NFL wonder for the first time. The hardened fans of the series will likely pick at little points here, there, and everywhere, but I defy them not to enjoy this title. It’s beautiful to look at, effortless in its gameplay absorption, and the online play is simply outstanding. NFL 06 is definitely worth owning for your 360—check it out now.

Review by Tracy