[theCvgUnit]

Im goin to pick up my tonight at midnight. I cant wait to check out superstar mode. Any other Madden fans here?

[FloorMatt]

I remember I got Madden 2003 (I think) when I got my laptop......I don't know why.

What are some of the new faetures?

[theCvgUnit]

Supersatr mode. http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/m...w_6128568.html

This year the slogan is "fear the quarterback." Should have better graphics and things like that. Ill post a review tom morning, seeing how Ill will probably play through the night.

[FloorMatt]

OoOoo interesting.

Last football game I played was NFL Street 2: Unleashed, on the PSP.......and I was addicted to it.

I see you can import a created player from other EA games, to use with that superstar feature.

[Jordan]

if u got it for ps2, u can use the iToy and take your picture for the "Create A Player" mode. It's pretty neat

[DaEvent]

I picked my copy of madden 2006 up at 12:00 last night.This is a great game, EA has really put some hard work in to this game.

[atmachine]

without a 2k sega game , addenis my only football relief...ugh
xbox tag :TerroristAtm

[TACTIC]

i dont know how i feel about the new passing system though, but the game has potential to be great

[kush_14]

how is it different fomr the old one?

[matt69]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone MM-5600/US/1.0) NetFront/3.1 MMP/2.0)

I Know I am a little late but by now do you think there are any stores that havent sold out? i want to get it.

[Jordan]

Nope, they are still available. Circuit City has it on sale this week for 39.99

[matt69]

Where do you see that it is on sale? On their website it says $49.....

If I go to the store will it still be on sale?

[FlimFlam]

After messing with the game for a few hours last night, I've decided I'm a bit halfway in how I've taken to the game. I hate some parts, and I like other parts.

Graphically, there really hasn't been too much in change from what I see, except for some of the graphical gaffes that were in 2005, like players walking through each other, and odd player reactions. The cheerleaders have improved graphically, now that they've been taken out of the game :P There's a few other tweaks and new animations, but nothing awe inspiring. Not to mention with no HD settings, the game looked rather bad on my friend's HDTV.

Audiowise, it's similarly bland as well. John Madden's commentary continues to be uninspiring, as his glib commentary continues to grate. I'd have been grateful to hear him devolve into a full gush about turducken, lifeless as the commentary was - Madden's a great storyteller, but it's hellish hearing him as quickie color commentary, alone. A few new clips have been added, but it's all familiar territory from last years. At least the soundtrack is tolerable, this time. Instead of just sticking to the normal rock & rap soundtrack, they've also thrown in the original and remixed versions of songs used in the NFL Films documentaries. I found myself muttering quietly about 'icy cold tundras' every once in awhile, listening to those bits of music...

OK, to the new features. First up, the Vision and Precision Passing feature. It makes the game a lot more complex on offense. Basically, if you don't know already, you're supposed to direct your line of sight towards a receiver, either using R2+the button for your designated receiver (presuming you're on a PS2), or the analog stick, before you pass. If the receiver is in your vision 'cone', you're considerably more accurate, and you can also use precision passing - using your right analog stick (again), you can throw the ball a little ahead, behind, above, or below the receiver, to make it easier for your receiver to bust out of coverage for the catch. If you don't have your receiver in the 'cone', however, your QB's toss will be thrown with all of the accuracy from a dart match being played by Stevie Wonder and the Blind Boys of Alabama. It's a bit of a handful. It's made more complex by the fact that your QBs awareness is the determiner for just how wide this cone is - in my case, my QB's cone makes the vision of a Great Dane wearing a bite collar sized for a Chihuahua look downright all-seeing.

There's also the Truck Stick. It's the inverse of the Hit Stick, where runners can basically bowl into would-be tacklers. There's also a juke back move. Nothing too significant, here.

There's also the 'Superstar' mode. Basically, you get to either import a custom character from NCAA 2006, NFL Streets 2, or create one in the game. Through a little genetic matchmaking, a somewhat silly 'IQ' test, and some other factors, you generate stats for the character. You can fire or retain agents, get new deals or traded to other teams, get haircuts and tattoos, seek out endorsements or movie deals, and examine your fansite. It's a sofar intriguing bit of play - we'll see how it pans out down the road.

So what do I think on the game? I personally can't help but feel a little bit gypped. As I was playing, I got the feeling that EA just put this one out because they 'had to', and just wanted it out of the way so they can finish up the work for the games to be played on the next-generation consoles. There's no real feeling of polish to the game, for what I saw. Where we've come to associate innovation and sensory improvement with each newer iteration of a game, Madden 06 leaves you wanting - it's as if this bit of the franchise was driven by marketing and sales, rather than efforts to be particularly clever or inventive. One might suspect that EA's resting on its laurels, now that they have a lock on the whole NFL videogame franchise, adding a few improvements they can point to as evolving the gameplay. It's not to say that it's a horrible game - I'll probably be playing this for a few months yet. Just don't expect this game to shake the world, and it'll be alright.

[Jordan]

Originally Posted by matt69

Where do you see that it is on sale? On their website it says $49.....

If I go to the store will it still be on sale?

I work there. It's on sale all week

[Psmolar]

Hey man, I am a CC employee and yes it's on sale till sat. 39.99 plus lot of controllers and x-box live kits on sale. We are trying to cmpeate with the #1 video game retailer WAL-MART. there so called "always lower prices, always" is an unbeliveable 49.96. WOW!!