Slashdot Mirror
Only NFL Game This Year Gets Lukewarm Response
aendeuryu writes "The first reviews are in for Madden '06, and the reception is underwhelming -- it's scoring an average rating of 79% on gamerankings.com (at the time of this submission). The reviewers on Gamespot (7.8) and 1up.com (9.0) have different takes on the game, but the readership of both sites doesn't (7.4 and 7.8 respectively). Gamespot's criticisms put the game in a less-than-exciting light: the new QB-vision feature adds realism but takes away from basic fun, and (perhaps most damning) the graphics rate a 7 out of 10 on what was supposed to be a next-generation title. Normally, a mediocre game release isn't a big deal, except that, because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal with the NFL, this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year. So, what are the players to do?"
Where what you play on the screen is what you COULD do in real life. There's no reason people who play Madden NFL Football can't go out and toss a pigskin around. And no, I see no point in buying a comp game that only marginally expands on a previous version. ESPECIALLY at what they're charging for games. Computer games are supposed to allow you to do things you couldn't do ordinarily, like fly a chopper or drive a tank, or infiltrate a Martian base. What's next? 3d Badminton? Or maybe 3d Ping-Pong?
Sports are fun to play and stupid to watch. End of story :)
Religion is a gateway psychosis. -- Dave Foley
Take up an individual sport like running or golf. Those are true sports, because they test an individuals physical talent, agility and endurance, in addition to their mental fortitude. Best of all, they lack the homoerotic comraderie of man-touch-man contact team sports like football and rugby.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
Couldn't agree more... EA has always been in the spot where they have to keep reinventing the game (whatever the means were, competition or no competition). Whether it's creating PlayMaker Mode or Franchise Mode, they have to make something new to the game. That said, the new offensive schemes and the QB visor are simply horrible. EA had 5 consistently good years of added innovation but '06 just sucks because the offensive tweaks are maddening.
I know I'm probably in the minority here but I'll just say it: EA being a "monopoly" didn't ruin this game; it was the fact that they tried WAY to hard to make the offense next-generation but wound up complicating it beyond belief. Maybe '07 will be better, or maybe it won't.
For those that believe blindly in the whole "EA is a monopoly that's ruining all innovation," put down the pipe and the Bill Maher and/or Michael Moore book... It's a game. It's made by EA. EA is in business to make money. Take a couple steps out of your insulated world and realize this for what it is.
Wow, that sounds really gay. 110% gay.