Madden '06 - Initial Impressions

So I picked up Madden 06 for Xbox yesterday, and got to play it for a few hours last night. I've been a dedicated ESPN 2K series fan for years now, and always bought that version over the Madden version. With EA working out a multi-million exclusive deal with the NFL to use players' names and likenesses in the game, Madden is now the only game in town. I was hoping it would be just as good as the ESPN 2K series...

And so far, it is. I started out with this new "Superstar" mode they have. You start off by randomly selecting two parents who have 3 stats - career, hobby, and IQ. What they do in those categories determines your players stats, and what position he is best suited for. It's slightly annoying in that you basically only have two options on this screen: Accept and Try Again. Try Again simply rolls up two new parents randomly. Going in, my idea was to create a Linebacker who would then join the Seahawks and play on my Franchise for years to come. I must have hit the Try Again button at least 2 dozen times before I got a parent combo that said "LB" as the "Best Suited Position". And another dozen times before I got an LB who was white. Then probably 20 more times where I got a white LB who actually had parents who weren't morons. Sorry, but I wasn’t about to enter the draft with a father who had "Below Average IQ" and was employed "Delivering Newspapers". In the end, I wound up with two parents with above average IQ, but not very physical jobs.

The next step is actually choosing your name, position, number, physical appearance, and pads. You don't have to choose the "Best Suited Position", but it's probably a good idea. You probably don't want to be sticking a WR prospect on the offensive line.

So, now that my Superstar is created, I enter my "Apartment" where there's a bunch of things to interact with like my calendar, computer, map of the city, and telephone. Oh look! My phone is ringing! The conversation went something like this:

"Hello?"
"Yo yo yo! What's up!"
"Uhmmm, who is this?"
"It's TO! Terrell Owens! I'm an old friend of your father's, so I'm calling to give you some advice about going Pro!"
"If you’re my father's good friend, why the hell don't you spot us some money so he can stop delivering newspapers for a living?"
"Nevermind that! You need to get your ass an agent! Then you have to take an IQ test and prepare for the draft!"
"Uhmm, okay, bye!"

So I log onto my computer, and look at the list of agents. There's like 20 or so listed, but all but 5 have their names in red, meaning I can't hire them because I'm not bigtime yet. Fine. I hire a crappy agent who will work with just about anybody, including a low-end prospect like me.

Next is the IQ test. Probably the weirdest moment of the game so far. It's a combination Wonderlic/SAT type test. With 20 questions and a time limit. The questions are all multiple choice. And ranged from math ("How many feet deep is an End Zone?") to general football knowledge ("What's the distance between NFL field goal uprights?" Which I had no clue what the answer was, by the way) to SAT style analogies ("Nervous is to timid as bold is to blank.") to the personality ones. There were a lot of those. Stuff like "Would you describe yourself as sarcastic?" and "Would other people consider you cold-blooded?" Weird stuff. In the end, I was given a score of "90%". Which I'm guessing probably really only grades the questions with right or wrong answers, and the personality questions mold some internal numbers of how teams/media/fans view you.

Okay, so I have an agent, I passed the Wonderlic with flying colors, time for the draft! Now when you first startup the game, it asks you to pick your "Favorite Team", and when I picked Seattle, it set my main menu to Seahawks colors, and flashed slideshows of Seattle players in the background. I assumed something like that would be how they decide which team drafts me. Wrong. As the draft begun, and I say there watching the first round play out exactly like the actual draft a couple months ago, I started to get worried I wouldn't be taken by Seattle.. Then the 2nd and 3rd rounds came and went.. And I was still undrafted… Finally, in Round 5, I was chosen by the San Diego Chargers. That's when I decided I must have done something wrong, and exited Superstar mode for the night.

Doing a bit of research today, it seems the draft is fairly random… you can't really predict where you'll be taken. But most players seem to go in the 2nd or 3rd rounds. Which leads me to believe my player is worse than the typical beginning "Superstar". I'll probably remake him tonight, and hold out for a "NFL Hall of Famer" dad.

So, Franchise mode.. More what I expected.. Take over Seattle, and begin a multiple-year run towards greatness. Thankfully, for the first year the drafting and signing is al done already, and Seattle's roster was nice and up-to-date. A little later I noticed a few fringe players missing from the roster, and I haven't looked for them yet among the free agents, but I'd say they're pretty accurate with what the opening day roster will probably look like.

Training cap was actually very cool. You have an assortment of like 10 drills, for assorted positions. For each drill you choose an individual player (and each player can only do one drill). For my first drill, I chose Lofa Tatupu and a tackling drill. I was lined up with one other computer-controlled defender against a quarterback, running back, and a blocker. A bunch of blocking dummies also were placed near the line. Basically, I had to make the tackle and allow as little yardage as possible, being awarded points for good quick tackles, and losing points for missing tackles or giving up big gains. At the end of a set amount of snaps, my point total is compared to a few goal numbers. Depending on if I met any of the goals, I was awarded extra skill points to assign to the player. So basically I got the hang of the tackling drill quickly, met my goals, and Tatupu gained 3 extra points in his stats. Which is a decent amount.

The other drills varied between fun and confusing. There was one where the QB had to throw the ball through these rings and hit moving receivers on the other side. Another had Shaun Alexander taking handoffs and scoring as many TDs as he could from the 10 yard line in 3 minutes. Another one had a ball launching machine firing footballs to a receiver. All in all, I enjoyed doing the drills, even if I only actually met the goals for extra skill points on about half of them.

With training camp over, it's time for some pre-season football! My first game was against the Saints, just like Seattle will be playing this coming Friday night. The gameplay itself is a little different from the ESPN game, but not a ton. Defense is very similar - you control a guy, fly around the place, try and avoid blocks, and try and make tackles. On offense, the running game seems a bit more difficult so far, but I'm still learning. Maybe I'm hitting the holes too soon or not soon enough. The jury is still out on the running game since, like a true pre-season game, Shaun Alexander (and most of my other starters) were benched after the first quarter. It was kinda cool that I didn't even have to do this - the game did the substitutions automatically. So I was running Maurice Morris most of the game, and wasn't too impressed with his cutting ability. Basically, it seemed like everytime I wanted to cut, his momentum still took him in the previous direction, then stopped, then he was gang-tackled.

The passing game was better. And even with rookie southpaw QB David Greene in for most of the game, I was able to complete passes on a fairly consistent basis. They have this new "QB Vision" feature which I don't understand, so I turned it off for now. Basically, it makes QB'ing a lot harder. So I'll wait til later to learn that.

I lost the game when the Saints punted to me late in the 4th quarter with Seattle leading 13-10. A high punt, down to about my 15, I tried to call a fair catch. Only I didn't know what button it was. So I didn't get it called. Mo Morris catches the ball, gets instantly popped hard by 3 guys, and fumbles. It's scooped up by a New Orleans player who scampers the short distance for the go-ahead touchdown. I had plenty of time to mount a comeback, but couldn't get the passing game going once the Saints went into prevent mode. Every receiver had 3 guys on him, and they knocked down every ball. Thankfully, it seems that the defensive backs don't catch that well, which is good. Nothing more annoying than throwing 5 picks a game because the cornerbacks catch the ball better than your receivers. The Saints tacked on a late FG and I lost 20-13.

I wanted to play at least one regular season game before calling it a night, so I simulated the rest of the pre-season. We went 1-3 (yikes). And also suffered injuries to my starting RB (Alexander), Center (Tobeck), and CB (Trufant). All the injuries were listed as only 1-2 weeks, so I didn't reload the game. First team up! Jacksonville.

Without going into too much detail, I enjoyed the game, and felt it played out well. I mixed up the run and the pass, and even though Mo Morris was again not very effective as the RB (something like 15 carries for 25 yards), continuing to run the ball seemed to keep the defense honest. Hasselbeck was dead on with his throws, and my receivers did not have a single drop. On defense, I mixed up switching between man-to-man and zone coverage, depending on the down and situation. Throwing in an LB occasional blitz on obvious passing downs. The defensive play of the game came in the 3rd quarter, Seattle up 10-0 and Jacksonville near the 50 yard line. 3rd and 6, I call for a linebacker blitz. I control Tatupu. The ball is snapped, and I delay the blitz while my defensive line locks up with the offensive line. I fly through the opening, and dive towards Leftwich, hitting him just as he releases the ball. The ball is a little wobbly, but heads towards the intended receiver. Jaime Sharper jumps up, and grabs the dying duck for the INT. A few plays later, Mo Morris dives into the endzone for a short touchdown run, and the score is 17-0 and ends that way.

So far, the game is a ton of fun, and there's still a bunch of features I haven't even touched yet. I'll write more as I get a better feel for the game and march the Seahawks towards the Super Bowl. :)