The biggest overhaul has come in the graphics department, and in one of those rare cases, this is important. Last years unidentifiable blobs made things difficult to see. Now, players feature some small lighting effects, more polygons, and it's easier to read receivers. It's still tough to identify players during long passes, though the bright, impossible to miss icons make it difficult to make a mistake.
John Madden offers more comments from the booth (so many you actually realize there's commentary in 2006), and the general sound effects haven't changed. The crowd is rather dead, and hardly even perk up for a major play. The menus are accompanied by a single song, which is fine the first few times you power on the console. After that, it's just annoying.
It's odd to think this way, but this portable version has improved itself better than the console games. Everything has been cleaned up, fixed, and toyed with. The results are a staggering improvement. This isn't a replacement for those obsessed any of the home console versions of Madden '06, but a nice diversion when you can't get a fix on the road.
Article comments
1 - WTF
My "Grand" nephews and nieces are down for a couple of weeks. Hmmm.. Playstation 2, hmmm, scads of gaming here. What's this Madden 2005.
Hey Jesse, throw that in and show me your stuff... so he does.
Darlene comments, hey... all the players have the same body. I look, sure enough cyberclones everyone...
Where's the helmet-getting-peeled-offa-your-head-play? Or, the Hulk completely devastating your 250 pound halfback squash.
Hopefully 2006 will have all the "tools" to properly get one into the season.
Of course, my "grand" nephew, being the properly spoiled kid that he is, will probably have it soon enough... his parents are super geeks.
2 - Frustrated Fan
I loved madden 05 and was told that i could create a team then play it in franchise mode, when 06 comes out. Lo and behold that info was wrong. Oh sure if you like to play the game on one of the box games you can. But i prefer PC over boxed any day. Would be nice if they could come up with a patch that would let you play a created team in franchise mode. Am I ranting? Yes. I understand the salary cap, but hey if your created team goes over the cap, its not allowed to play until you get it down. I guess thats why ESPN, ugh did I say that, i like their style. If Walmart would let me return it i would. I have 05 and like it and to mew there was really no change.
3 - Copperti
The "No-Salary Cap" is missing and is a stupid thing to leave out. Some people like overpowered play. Leaving it out is lame.