Alright boyz, here we go!!! Madden 2006 First Impressions

[Travis]

Favorite moment personally was getting drafted by Tampa last night, then seeing in their playbook a formation I've been using for the last 2 or 3 years in Madden. I can safely admit I've never used Gruden's playbook, so I'm not sure if this was included in previous versions or not.

Can't remember the name of it in the playbook, but it's the formation where the RB lines up behind the QB, with the FB to the right and the TE to the left. Give them a bit better of a TE and that formation is nearly unstoppable in it's versatility. Think the last two years I was making a playbook with about 12 plays for that formation and now I'm kicking myself that I maybe could have just selected their playbook and expanded on it. Ah well.

[bselig]

The training camp portion of Superstar Mode would be a lot less tedious if they incorporated the minigames.

[jbmagic]

the new slide protection for offensive line is pretty cool.

anybody using it?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

the new slide protection for offensive line is pretty cool.

anybody using it?

I think it is essential to use it.

[Pumpy Tudors]

To anybody who doesn't like the game, I'm sorry, but I'm loving it so far. The vision cone definitely takes getting used to, but you know when I really like it? On defense. I've always been uncomfortable controlling a safety because the QB could really sling the ball to any spot on the field. Now I really feel like I'm reading the QB's eyes. I can sometimes cheat toward a certain direction if it seems like a pass it destined for a certain spot on the field. I like it a lot.

[jbmagic]

there a big time glitch.

throwing the ball high and doing curls, you can complete this all day vs the computer.

the cpu can not stop it.



this sucks, because you have to eliminate and not do curls no more. because anytime you do curls and thrown high it will always be completed vs the cpu.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by bselig

The training camp portion of Superstar Mode would be a lot less tedious if they incorporated the minigames.

training camp takes too long. i don't need a month of training camp.

i've come to the conclusion that i simply suck in madden. i think i'm giving up console games and am gonna stick with PC games going forward. i don't get frustrated when i play PC games. i *always* get frustrated when i play console sports. i guess i lost my touch from when i was a teen. i don't got it no more. i wind up throwing my controller at my xbox more times lately than ever. it's a hard reality, but i think video game sports have just passed me by.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

the new slide protection for offensive line is pretty cool.

anybody using it?

what the hell is slide protection?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

there a big time glitch.

throwing the ball high and doing curls, you can complete this all day vs the computer.

the cpu can not stop it.



this sucks, because you have to eliminate and not do curls no more. because anytime you do curls and thrown high it will always be completed vs the cpu.

I'm sorry, but that is BS. I tried this just to see if it was a glitch because I heard about this, and it is not true. Even curls thrown high to T.O. was not an automatic completion. If the CPU shades underneath (which it does sometimes), or hit the receiver hard from behind, it will be an incompletion.

I agree with Pumpy. So far, I'm loving this game.

Edit to add: However, curls do equal a higher percentage completion than say a deep post pattern. That is good IMO. However, in most of my games the curls are completed about 60-65% according to my pass log. However, if I throw it too much, the CPU will really take measures to take the route away.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

what the hell is slide protection?

You can have the offensive line sort of "slide" to either the left or right side to aid in picking off blitzers or help with a very good DE.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

what the hell is slide protection?

its new for 2006.

what it does is you can shift your offensive line to pinch the line, to spread the offensive line and shift blocking left or right.


you do this before you hike the ball. after you hike the ball they do what you said.

its good for protecting defensive blitz and for your running back.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm sorry, but that is BS. I tried this just to see if it was a glitch because I heard about this, and it is not true. Even curls thrown high to T.O. was not an automatic completion. If the CPU shades underneath (which it does sometimes), or hit the receiver hard from behind, it will be an incompletion.

I agree with Pumpy. So far, I'm loving this game.

in one game i try it. i was 10 for 10 on curls thrown high on all-pro.


but you play more games, so i take your word. i really hope so.


i am loving this game more than 2005 madden.

[bselig]

Man, I was so hyped to finally get an agent who could get me into the Performance Institute, then it turns out that it only gives you temporary boosts. Lame.

[Emiliano]

Just arrived!!! Great job again by FedEx. I'll post some impressions later.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

i've come to the conclusion that i simply suck in madden. i think i'm giving up console games and am gonna stick with PC games going forward. i don't get frustrated when i play PC games. i *always* get frustrated when i play console sports. i guess i lost my touch from when i was a teen. i don't got it no more. i wind up throwing my controller at my xbox more times lately than ever. it's a hard reality, but i think video game sports have just passed me by.

I haven't played 2006 yet, but this is how the last few versions have made me feel. I've said it before, but I wish they'd stop designing the game for the 1% of the audience who play the thing 22 hours a day for six months straight and then complain that it's too easy. I have time to play for an hour here and there, I don't want to feel like I'm going to need four months to figure out how to get through a game without throwing eight interceptions.

[rkmsuf]

There's too many damn buttons now for me. In my day we had one stick and one red button. That's all we needed.


And we liked it.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by rkmsuf

There's too many damn buttons now for me. In my day we had one stick and one red button. That's all we needed.


And we liked it.

there *are* too many buttons. 2 more than necessary (white and black buttons on the xbox controller). i love the PS2 controller, although it has 4 shoulder buttons. i jsut want the original playstation's controller (only 6 buttons, since it only has 2 shoulder buttons). i shouldn't have to fight my controller, things should come easily.

and like Maple Leafs mentioned - i fail to see how this game could become so easy unless you devoted a horrible amount of time to master it. i don't know what i'm doing wrong. what gets me extremely mad at the Madden series is when i can't pull off the same plays that the AI seems to do whenever it wants. long passes or runs? can't do them much, maybe twice a game, if at all. playing a short passing game? nope, i still throw INTs. get my RB to run for 150+ yards. *maybe* once or twice a season.

that's why i'm not afraid to admit that maybe the game has passed me by. might just be that the new generation of gamers are more used to having 10 buttons and complicated controls, whereas my generation (late 20 somethings) probably topped out at 6 or 8 buttons.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'm sorry, but that is BS. I tried this just to see if it was a glitch because I heard about this, and it is not true. Even curls thrown high to T.O. was not an automatic completion. If the CPU shades underneath (which it does sometimes), or hit the receiver hard from behind, it will be an incompletion.

I agree with Pumpy. So far, I'm loving this game.

Edit to add: However, curls do equal a higher percentage completion than say a deep post pattern. That is good IMO. However, in most of my games the curls are completed about 60-65% according to my pass log. However, if I throw it too much, the CPU will really take measures to take the route away.

Curse you! I was going to pass on Madden, but I just might have to trot out to Circuit City on my way home. Curse you EF! May a thousand cyber football players give you the finger.

[Kodos]

To the guys who it has passed by? What about playing on Pro or Rookie with no passing cones?

[Anthony]

it's a matter of pride for me. rookie is for 10 year olds, and pro, well, i contemplated that, but when i play i want to make sure i made a great play because of my skill and not because the AI allowed me to. i would never know what was making me be successful - myself (either by calling the right play or my talent) or if the AI was cutting me some slack.

i'm not putting it down though, it was just the frustration talking. i plan on starting the Superstar mode over, though, if i can't get myself traded. i still don't know why the Rams took me, they have Stephen Jackson (rated 86 overall) and backup Marshall Faulk (rated 87 overall). my guy is rated 73 overall.

[Kodos]

I think you should just have fun and not worry what level it is on or if the cpu is going easy on you.

I think my skills are declining too, not that I was ever a star, but I could hold my own usually.

[PackerFanatic]

I can't wait until I get the money to buy this. I love the Madden franchise and this one seems pretty awesome.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Curse you! I was going to pass on Madden, but I just might have to trot out to Circuit City on my way home. Curse you EF! May a thousand cyber football players give you the finger.

Well hopefully you'll really like it and thank me for being the final straw. It's so early to say this, but my early impressions are that this is likely to be my favorite console football game ever. I love the vision cone. In my preseason games, I can do well with McNabb because he can usually see 2 receivers at once, but with McMahon, I throw more picks because I find myself staring down 1 receiver. On the other hand, Brady sees virtually the whole field and hardly has to move his cone. Also it's not that hard to use the Right Trigger and a receiver icon to switch, but it can be tough to work through the progressions with a fast blitz.

I love that games are defensive battles without it being cheap. I've never felt a console football game really had the potential to have consistent defensive battles. Madden does so far for me. Most of my games have been 21-13 or 14-13 or somewhere in that range. I've only had 1 blowout where it was 38-6. I had one 10-3 game!

My only big gripes about the game so far:

I hate that punt returns are very rare (I've had one or two, but every other ball had to be fair caught.)

I don't like the receiving icons for the backs being on the White and Black Button. I'm adjusting, but it still isn't comfortable.

I wish they had kept the Juke button on the right stick. There is no reason that it couldn't have been there like NCAA. I'm still trying to juke with no result because of that.

I also wish that coach mode actually had scrambling QB's scramble. If that occurred, I think the coach mode would be very good and well worth doing a concurrent franchise using it.



A few more good things:

From my two experiments now (I didn't post the second one):

Sim Stats are believable with All-Pro 13 minute quarters. Vick's rushing yards are a bit high and too many DT's get high sack numbers, but overall it looks good.

The draft AI is much better than previous versions. It's not perfect or even great, but I think it is going to end up being good to very good.

The FA AI appears significantly improved as well. A minor grudge is that it appears nearly impossible to negotiate down with your own players in re-signing them. However, that is preferable to last year where you could lower it a fair bit until their green "interest" bar turned red.

Also, there are the few minor extras I like. I like the team scouting reports with reports on every starter. I like the practicing plays against the scout team to try to work on neutralizing the opposition's best defender.

I also like the draft grades that happen after the draft (even if way too many teams get high grades.)

I also like that they are putting text mode into the game. However, from trying it in 2 games, it still needs a good deal of work.

[illinifan999]

I decided to mess around with superstar without RFTH and on my third set of parents I think I got the best you could for a RB. Dad was a hall of fame bruising RB with an above average IQ and mom was a college sprinter with an above average IQ. So I'm fast, and I can run people over. It's great.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

I decided to mess around with superstar without RFTH and on my third set of parents I think I got the best you could for a RB. Dad was a hall of fame bruising RB with an above average IQ and mom was a college sprinter with an above average IQ. So I'm fast, and I can run people over. It's great.

I'd really like to hear impressions about Superstar mode. I keep debating on whether it is worth checking out or not.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

Sim Stats are believable with All-Pro 13 minute quarters. Vick's rushing yards are a bit high and too many DT's get high sack numbers, but overall it looks good.


I also like that they are putting text mode into the game. However, from trying it in 2 games, it still needs a good deal of work.

i agree with all your impressions and dislikes of Madden 2006. i am loving this game.

but the sims stats dont go by the quarter minutes you play. look at the gamelog of the sims games. its 60 minutes. it goes by 15 mins per quarter.
it easy to test. do 5 mins quarter and the sims stats wont be based on 5 mins quarter. i wish it would go by the quarters you play. so that why you have to play with 12-13 mins acerrlation clock on or 7-9 mins non accerlation to get the NFL of 120 plays per game to get close to sim stats.


and the skill level you play has no affect on sim stats. it never has in the past. try simming a season with different skill level and you will see the sims stats pretty much gives the same result.

I agree the new coach mode text based mode found in franchise mode needs work. you cant see how many WR, te, rb the offensive is coming out with. you cant call timeout.

the graphic coach mode is better except qb hardly scrambles for cpu teams

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I hate that punt returns are very rare (I've had one or two, but every other ball had to be fair caught.)

I hated this too -- though, a quick check at Operation Sports' forums produced some sliders that seemed to have alleviated the problem for me. At least, I'm able to get some kind of return on punts. I think it had something to do with the last two Special Teams sliders, bumping them down to 8 or so.

At work, so I really can't recall as I did this late last night before passing out.

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by hukarez

I hated this too -- though, a quick check at Operation Sports' forums produced some sliders that seemed to have alleviated the problem for me. At least, I'm able to get some kind of return on punts. I think it had something to do with the last two Special Teams sliders, bumping them down to 8 or so.

At work, so I really can't recall as I did this late last night before passing out.

That is excellent news. The rest of this game plays so well that I haven't even checked out the sliders to see what was available. I'll check this out tonight when I get home from work since Mrs. Eaglesfan is visiting her best friend and I'll have a few hours to play.

[jbmagic]

Eaglesfan27

so far what you liking more NCAA 2006 or MAdden 2006?


i am having fun with both. can be confusing sometimes to retrain your brain because some things are different to do when playing.

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

I'd really like to hear impressions about Superstar mode. I keep debating on whether it is worth checking out or not.

I liked RFTH, so I enjoy it. They really just kind of threw it in there for this version, and I really think in future versions it's going to be a lot better. Right now you don't really get to influence where you want to go. If you decide to go through free agency you'll see some offers come up and you pick. At the end of my contract with the Bucs I went for FA and I got 4 offers and this is how they looked:

CLE 30.01/9.8/5yrs
KC: 21.91/4.5/4yrs
MIA: 21.3/4.6/4yrs
WAS: 14.5/5.5/3yrs

Salary in the first, bonus in the second. I went with Washington because none of the offers really tempted me. Miami is my favorite team but I want to start going to the playoffs, and well Miami is......

It just feels like they could do so much more with this. I got a message saying I was the spokesperson for some company but aside from that message I wouldn't even know that I was. The movies thing is kind of cool for the wow effect, I'm not classified as a Hollywood Star. It's a nice thing to do on the side of a franchise, and probably next year's version will make it amazing, but it feels empty. Aside from picking what contract you want, and what agent you want you don't really get the feeling that you're controlling your video game life. If they're gonna try to make it a sims like thing, I want to be able to use my money to buy a house, a car, items that might help me raise my stats like a bench press for strength or a better car raises your exposure, etc.

[Eaglesfan27]

I like NCAA, but it has more flaws. So far, Madden is more fun to me.

[jbmagic]

Putting Cone in the Middle of the field...
Just for those who don't know....

for xbox

Hold Right Trigger
Then X.

This will put the cone in the middle of the field when you hike the ball.
it wont put it to any primary WR. this way the defense wont get key on any primary wr when you hike the ball.

then hold the Right trigger button down and pick what WR you want to put the cone on them and then press the WR button you want to throw it to.

works great for QB with small cones.


QB with big cones best to use the Right stick to scan

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Eaglesfan27

That is excellent news. The rest of this game plays so well that I haven't even checked out the sliders to see what was available. I'll check this out tonight when I get home from work since Mrs. Eaglesfan is visiting her best friend and I'll have a few hours to play.

I'm pretty sure it's a special teams slider dealing with distance and accuracy -- I adapted it from someone's special teams slider settings on Operation Sports. I went ahead and did a quick skim, and found them:

SPL TEAMS

FGL-10/10
FGA-8/8
PNTL-10/15
PNTA-8/8
KOL-8/8

The first category being applied to Human, and the second category being applied to the CPU. This was from Playmaker's thread on Operation Sports, and here's the exact link:

http://forums.operationsports.com/vB...d.php?t=136379

Thing is, I think you need to have an account to view the page, but I'm pretty sure this was indeed the section I was referring to. I also think I adjusted that PNTL (Punt Length, maybe?) as well. All in all, it pretty much just increased the distance for more headroom I think. I was more happy with the end result (less fair catches!)

[MizzouRah]

Thanks so much Eaglesfan and everyone else for your impressions, tonight I will get a game or two in to see what I think about it.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Thanks so much Eaglesfan and everyone else for your impressions, tonight I will get a game or two in to see what I think about it.

glad you got Madden 2006. you will have fun with it. its the best Madden version so far.



Todd does this mean your NCAA 2006 dynasty is over?

[CraigSca]

Ugh - I haven't purchased Madden for years. Reading these reviews....i may have to .

[jbmagic]

so far i love how the deep ball is better in Madden than NCAA.

in Madden you have to work for it to be successfull completion. In NCAA its easy to complete a deep pass.

This year, you really have to set it up more. Defenses are geared to stop the deep pass, and cornerbacks have a really strong leap and swat animation. While I wish you had a bit more control so you could lay the ball out to the outside and over the WR's shoulder...think about it. How often you see a WR just blow by a corner with no over the top help and take it to the house. Not that often. Usually somebody has to slip or there is a busted coverage.

here a good tip for Madden 2006 for the deep pass.

http://www.madden06tips.com/papass.html

[Emiliano]

Man, it's hard to keep up with you guys!!!

My general impressions after 3 quarters of 49ers(me)-Rams, I was up 28-0 on All-Pro: I like the cone thing, and most important I like the precision passing. Was it really already in previous versions? If it was, I've never used it. I think the idea is well implemented, and I also think that adds more realism.
Run is better than last year IMHO, and the Truck Stick just makes a smash mouth player like me happy.
Also, I love the drive recap that you get at the end of the drive, with the key player and stuff: very nice little touch!
I messed with Superstar a bit, but I'll wait until I can import my official RFTH guy that has yet to finish his career at Ohio State...

[jbmagic]

Undocumented New Feature not in the manual.

By VG Bert from VG Sports Forum

Here's a vid of the passing playmaker.

Basically, you click the Right stick and then move it the direction you want the receiver to go.

In this case I rolled out, clicked onto Crumpler and sent him deep down the middle vs. the Cover 2 Zone.

http://www.madden06tips.com/images/...aymakerpass.wmv

[illinifan999]

That has alos been in the game previously.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

That has alos been in the game previously.

it probably has, but never documented in the manual.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

glad you got Madden 2006. you will have fun with it. its the best Madden version so far.



Todd does this mean your NCAA 2006 dynasty is over?

No, I'm still going to play NCAA until the season is over, then play Madden, then NCAA, etc... I just haven't had any time to play as of late. Work has been unreal and I don't see it getting any lighter.

[illinifan999]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

it probably has, but never documented in the manual.

I think it was in 04 when they first introduced the playmaker. I remember them specifically showing videos of it for previews, and in the game's tutorial.

[Eaglesfan27]

Yep, it was 04 when Vick was the cover athlete.

[aran]

Hmmm... a small problem in the draft logic: the 49ers picked my QB Superstar (rated an 80, with higher AWR than Smith) in the third round. There've got to be teams that need a good rookie QB more than a team that ALREADY HAS ONE.

It's not really that bad, just a little bit annoying. I was also wondering why the hell i was doing practice so much. Does it actually improve my player?

[Eaglesfan27]

Originally Posted by aran

Hmmm... a small problem in the draft logic: the 49ers picked my QB Superstar (rated an 80, with higher AWR than Smith) in the third round. There've got to be teams that need a good rookie QB more than a team that ALREADY HAS ONE.

It's not really that bad, just a little bit annoying. I was also wondering why the hell i was doing practice so much. Does it actually improve my player?

I don't know. I sure hope so as I'm practicing a lot too.

[jbmagic]

damn i love this game so much.


beside the 5 audibles you can set for offense

there is the new formation specific audibles you can do too.

Each offensive formation has 4 new audibles that can be called at the line of scrimmage to quickly change plays witout tipping off the defense.

For xbox

Press x than move right stick up for quick pass, right stick down for a run, right stick left for a playaction, and right stick right for a deep pass.



i also loving the new smart routes.
Picking up 9 yards on a 3rd and 1 wont do much good. Now you can tell a receiver to run pass the first down marker before breaking off his route by selecting him as you would in a hot route.

For xbox

Y than the button corresponding to him then moving the right stick down.

[jbmagic]

Originally Posted by illinifan999

I think it was in 04 when they first introduced the playmaker. I remember them specifically showing videos of it for previews, and in the game's tutorial.

yep It was, but in '06 you have to first press DOWN on the Right stick then move it while pressing down.

[Riggins44]

Originally Posted by Hell Atlantic

there *are* too many buttons. 2 more than necessary (white and black buttons on the xbox controller). i love the PS2 controller, although it has 4 shoulder buttons. i jsut want the original playstation's controller (only 6 buttons, since it only has 2 shoulder buttons). i shouldn't have to fight my controller, things should come easily.

I agree. I must be getting old or something because I ain't liking it. Gameplay doesn't seem fun to me anymore. Everything seems stiff and unresponsive. I really liked NCAA 2004 and ESPN 2k5. This years NCAA and Madden are beyond me I guess. Not fun at all.

Perhaps it's time to unload the xbox.

[hukarez]

I've noticed something peculiar with returning punts, and *think* I may have found a way to avoid the constant need to 'fair catch' all the time.

Switch to a different player (not the one receiving the punt), and let the CPU receive. The blockers seem to pick up, and once the CPU catches the ball for you, take over and run.

Weird, not quite sure if it's a fluke or what not, but thought I'd just toss that out as a suggestion.

EDIT: Er, scratch that. Seems like a fluke on my second return. Then again, I did have my return man selected before I had switched once the ball was put into motion...I don't know.