10-05-2005, 04:10 PM
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#1
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Pro
OVR: 7
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Minneapolis
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IGN review
X05: Madden 06: Hands-On
We run a few plays of next-gen football goodness.
by Charles Onyett
October 5, 2005 - Though we recently got a glimpse of EA's upcoming Xbox 360 version of Madden 06 at a press event a few weeks ago, this time we actually got to go hands on. As it did in EA's demo, the game looks absolutely gorgeous, with sun reflections and glints of light reflecting in every helmet and portions of the field beneath players' feet reflecting in their visors.
We started up the game as the Cleveland Browns and pitted ourselves against the Buffalo Bills. After picking the type of offense based on every team's head coach and the type of defense we were going to use, we were able to choose which stadium to play in, the time of day, type of weather, temperature, wind, and cloud cover.
According to EA the game updates the weather and time of day after every play, not every quarter. This means that as your game progresses you'll be able to gradually see how all the shadows change position on the field, how it either gets more soggy or snowy depending on the type of precipitation, and an increasing number of grass stains on your uniforms. There is 10 times the amount of detail in every player and 50 times more detail in the stadiums in the 360 version than the current generation titles, as stated by EA.
Once we finally got down to the field, we chose a coin toss direction and unfortunately lost and kicked off the ball. We were finally able to control the highly detailed Madden models, and they moved around responsibly. The tackle we eventually put on the Bill who returned that ball was particularly well animated, which may be in part because there are three times as many animations in Xbox 06 than in the other titles.
The play selection screen had changed as well, and was far easier to use since it organized plays into categories based on play type. We were able to choose this option and thereafter be presented with a plays for man zone, combo coverage, and deep zone, among others. You'll also be able to ask Madden for a play choice, in addition to asking the coach.
Offense was much easier to control since the vision system has been pushed to the background. That's not to say it's completely disappeared, you can turn it on if you want to add an extra precision to your throws, but with it off the precision passing still works well. Honestly, we preferred it off. You'll still be able to dive, juke, and stiff arm your way down the field, which may also prove a little easier since the sprint button has been moved to the right trigger button.
Game modes include a 30 year franchise mode where the interface has been updated to allow previously difficult to access information to be viewed easily with the right stick. The tackles were smooth and fluid, and there was an impressive depth of field effect that lent a sense of realism to the game by blurring out the extremely close and extremely far. At times the passing and running seemed a little sluggish, as there was an awkward delay between when a pass was initiated until it was thrown and the same with handoffs, but of course this title is still being worked on before it launches with the 360 on November 22. This was about all the information we could glean out of a such a short play session, we'll be able to give you more extensive impressions when we can spend more time with the game.
This sounds much better regarding the cone. The other review didnt say it was not a necessaary evil this year. I LOVE the way this sounds.
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