Player morale is something you'll have to monitor in your franchise, because too many troublemakers can lead to a team-wide plunge in motivation.
The last mode addition made to Madden NFL 2005 is an equally unnecessary, but still cool, little inclusion. This new feature is the create-a-fan mode, where you can create and design fans that will show up during in-game cutscenes. There is a fairly wide variety of options to choose from, so you can create fans that range from the mildly obsessive to the out and out crazy--like those lunatics who don Viking helmets and big, old Legion of Doom spiked shoulder pads. The one downside to the mode is that, aside from the cool design stuff, you can't really do anything else with your fans. They always pretty much just run through the same scant few cutscene animations each time, and you can't do anything to make them particularly stand out beyond their visual appearances. Still, if you're one of those people with a special place in the heart for the truly insane football fans who paint their bare chests the colors of a team and stand out in 20-below-zero weather to support it, this is a nice feature.
In terms of online features, Madden NFL 2005 marks the debut of Madden on Xbox Live. For anyone who has immediate concerns about the online issues found in last month's NCAA Football 2005, we're pleased to report that we ran into none of the same problems while playing Madden. In fact, both the PS2 and Xbox versions performed just fine under normal playing conditions, and we barely even ran into any lag. All stats and records seemed to track perfectly. As far as features go, most of the same stuff you'd expect from online football is front and center here. You can join EA's setup lobbies on both systems (or just do the quick match, optimatch thing on Xbox Live), and you can create and join various matches and tournaments. New to the online mode is the rushing attack minigame, which works just as it does offline, so your point scores make up the leaderboard statistics. You'll also be able to track your online career in your EA profile, which is a little like ESPN NFL 2K5's VIP profile system, except that you can't download other people's profiles.
The other addition to Madden's online component is one that came, quite literally, at the 11th hour. Madden NFL 2005 will support league play. These leagues are tied in to a new Premium Pass service EA is touting, of which members of said service can also take part in specialized tournaments, exclusive leaderboards, and message boards. Additionally, members can actually gain special medals. While Madden's leagues won't have the live rosters that are present in ESPN's football offering for this year, you'll still be able to use up to 32 teams in a league, and you can design your own teams and playoff schedules. Of course, none of this is up and running yet, but if all goes according to plan, it should make an already enjoyable online system a whole lot better.
Madden NFL 2005 is online for both the PS2 and Xbox, and league play will be included on both.
While that's pretty much it for the Xbox and GameCube versions of Madden--as far as features go--the PlayStation 2 version does have a little something extra; that is, it does if you happen to pick up the special Collector's Edition of the game. The PS2-exclusive Collector's Edition of Madden 2005 boasts a number of additional features, including three classic Madden games, a trivia challenge mode, and a few bonus video features. The three classic games consist of a pair of PlayStation-era titles (from different ends of the console's life span) and one 16-bit-era game. We don't identify these games specifically, because the game itself doesn't identify them by name. Rather, they're opaquely titled Madden Vintage, Madden Retro, and Madden Classic, respectively. Each of the games has up-to-date rosters, and the PlayStation games even include the modern commentary.
While the addition of the classic games and the trivia mode are nice and all, they aren't so remarkable that you'll simply have to run out to get the Collector's Edition or anything. The classic games are the sort of thing that you're likely to pick up and play once or twice, enjoy for exactly that amount of time, and then never touch again. The same goes for the trivia, because, while there are more than plenty of different questions, it is, after all, just trivia. None of the video stuff is especially engaging, and unless you're an absolutely diehard Madden enthusiast, you really won't want to watch it. In fact, that last statement really sums up the whole Collector's Edition: If you're a diehard Madden fan, you'll like it. If you aren't, you don't need it.
Graphically, Madden NFL 2005 looks pretty much like, well, Madden. The Madden series hasn't really made any significant leaps forward in visual design in recent years, and 2005 isn't much different. Yes, things are improved. Some of the new tackling animations are especially awesome and give you a pretty incredible sensation of how hard the hit is actually being delivered. Other animations, however, don't really look all that different from last year's game. In fact, a few animation glitches do rear their ugly heads from time to time, such as when some rather nasty clipping presents itself during between-play cutscenes and when runners occasionally get hung up on offensive linemen when trying to hit holes, thus causing themselves to vibrate a bit. The player models have basically the same sort of generic look that they've always had. Little details, like player jerseys and body builds, have been improved quite a bit, but the faces all sort of have the same glassy-eyed look. Some of the more marquee players definitely look like their real-life counterparts, facially, but a lot of other players could have stood for a bit more detail in this area. On a more positive note, the different arenas, playing fields, and such all look fantastic. Each arena is spectacularly detailed, from the many ads and banners that line the walls, right down to the turf or grass.
Madden NFL 2005 also delivers a presentational improvement over last year's game. Everything, in terms of menus and stat screens and so on, all looks great and is extremely easy to navigate. The in-game stuff isn't quite as impressive, because the replays aren't typically all that exciting. Furthermore, there isn't much to the various cutscenes that present themselves from time to time, save for a bit of cheering and gallivanting here and there. The commentary is still a weak spot for the series, because neither John Madden nor Al Michaels is especially enjoyable to listen to. All around, their dialogue is pretty wooden and repetitive. As mentioned before, the Tony Bruno stuff is quite cool, though it isn't quite up to the level of ESPN NFL 2K5's TV-styled presentation. It still holds its own, though.
The remaining portions of Madden NFL 2005's audio are similarly unspectacular. Most of the in-game sound effects are quite solid, though if you were to listen to Madden NFL 2004 and Madden NFL 2005 side by side, it's unlikely you'd take note of any major differences between the two. Once again, EA has trotted out a number of licensed artists as part of its EA Trax service, which includes the likes of Green Day, Franz Ferdinand, Midtown, The Hives, and Faith No More. While the songs themselves are all perfectly fine, they don't always feel quite right within the scope of a football game.
The graphical differences between this year's Madden and last year's are pretty subtle--and there aren't a whole lot of them.
Between the three console versions of Madden NFL 2005, this year's iteration manages to bridge the gap a bit more between the PS2 and Xbox versions, and, subsequently, it also manages to leave the GameCube version a little more out in the cold. Control-wise, the PS2 and Xbox versions are probably the most natural feeling. While the GameCube controller might feel a little strange to anyone who doesn't typically play sports games on the Cube, if you are used to playing sports games on the Cube, you shouldn't have any problem with it. Graphically, the three versions are pretty predictable in that the GameCube version looks a tad better than the PS2 version, and the Xbox version looks a bit better than the GameCube version. With the addition of online play in the Xbox version of the game--coupled with the slightly better graphics than its console counterparts--the Xbox offering is definitely the one to get, unless you're really jonesing for the features included in the PS2 Collector's Edition, in which case you'll need to go with the PS2 version of the game.
When all is said and done, Madden NFL 2005 is still Madden. That is to say, it's another superb game of football that continues Madden's long legacy as one of the best in the business. The defensive changes made to the gameplay are likely going to set the standard for football games in the years to come, and the additions to the franchise mode easily make the mode the best of its kind. It's unfortunate that the other portions of Madden NFL 2005 aren't quite as improved over last year's installment in the series as these key areas are, but that small quibble shouldn't stop any Madden fan from running out to purchase yet another highly accomplished game of football in Madden NFL 2005.
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