It’s redemption time for the men and women at EA Sports now. I have for you Madden NFL 2006 [PS2]. This in my mind is by far the best sports game ever released, followed closely by those NBA Jam classics on Sega. Each year EA Sports one ups themselves in Madden somehow, which leads me to wonder when they’ll set the bar too high finally. But regardless, let’s get started. Two years ago when I got Madden 2005, I honestly thought I had the pinnacle of sports gaming in my possession. Well the latest release edges it out with the addition of a few new game play features. These additions open up a new level of game play for you to adjust to, which at first you may hate like I did but you’ll quickly grow to love them. Pros: <span style='color:red'>New! Quarterback vision cone. Shown here, the QB vision cone/control addition adds an extra element of realism in this game. The cone represents the direction your QB is looking in. Throwing the ball to a receiver inside the cone will result in a more accurate pass, throwing it out of the cone will leave you with a nice inaccurate pass that probably won’t be completed. The benefits of this feature? It makes you think like an actual QB while looking at coverage and finding open receivers. Last year, Madden opened up the opportunity to control the prices of concessions/parking/seating for your franchise or improve, rebuild or rename your stadium. They even let us choose to move the team somewhere else. This year, they expanded that to letting us fire, hire or raise a coach up from coordinator to head coach. Now you have even more control over your team than before, so what’s next? Deciding what color hair the owner will have next week? Off-season mode is something I always look forward to in this game. The free agent system they have is fantastic, it’s organized perfectly and your moves during the season impact the decisions by a player you’re trying to sign. If you bought or rented this years NCAA Football 06, you can save draft classes from the dynasties in there and import them into Madden. That’s right, in your second year in Madden you can have the chance to draft Vince Young or Reggie Bush. There’s more to it, but I’ll save you the time and skip over them. The A.I. in this game is, for once, really good. As long as you tweak the settings a bit for them, your games will always be a challenge and not a blow out. There’s plenty of websites where people post their custom “sliders” (the settings for the A.I. in the game) for all to use. Personally, I use Sportscenter’s Pro sliders from the IGN boards. The graphics for this game are fantastic. Even on my shotty 21” TV they look great, so I can only imagine what they would look like on a HD TV or something. You have control of just about every aspect of your franchise during the season which is rather nice. From deciding if your QB is a scrambler to whether you want your Kicker to be a power or accurate one, you can do it. You also can set the importance of a certain position, so if you want your HB to be the focal point, you can make him that. Unlike NBA Live, this years Madden has a great soundtrack. The main music is made up of rock, which personally I think is great. For those of you that don’t care for it, you can choose to have it play those classic NFL tracks you hear on NFL Films which is a nice alternative so you don’t have to sit there in silence listening to the menu clicks. It never really grows old. I've had this since September, and I still haven't gotten tired of it. Even after a three week period in October where I did nothing but play this and go to school. Cons: John Madden's announcing. Just like on TV, he points out the obvious stuff. But I guess you can say this adds to the realism since the only thing missing from John is him saying "Now here's a guy who plays football..." It does offer you a source of entertainment while making fun of him, but still. That's really the only thing I had a problem with in this game. So if you have anymore, please PM me and if I agree it’ll be added with a side note that it’s from you. Overall, I give this game a 10/10. I’d suggest getting this game even if you hardly follow football. It’s a fun game to play with a group of friends, especially if you all are competitive. Until next time, have a nice day. </span>
