Only NFL Game This Year Gets Lukewarm Response

aendeuryu writes "The first reviews are in for Madden '06, and the reception is underwhelming -- it's scoring an average rating of 79% on gamerankings.com (at the time of this submission). The reviewers on Gamespot (7.8) and 1up.com (9.0) have different takes on the game, but the readership of both sites doesn't (7.4 and 7.8 respectively). Gamespot's criticisms put the game in a less-than-exciting light: the new QB-vision feature adds realism but takes away from basic fun, and (perhaps most damning) the graphics rate a 7 out of 10 on what was supposed to be a next-generation title. Normally, a mediocre game release isn't a big deal, except that, because of EA's negotiated exclusivity deal with the NFL, this is the only NFL title you'll get to play this year. So, what are the players to do?"

Another misleading Slashdot summary...

[aixou]

If you'll notice, it's the PC version of Madden 2006 that has a collective 79% rating. The Xbox and PS2 versions (presumably more popular than the PC game) are at 87.4 and 88.2 respectively, only 1 or 2 points behind the score of Madden 05.

yes

[rebug]

Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl.

Re:I'm actually pretty happy about the poor review

[fractalus]

Burnout 3 is a great game, but it wasn't developed in-house at EA, it was created by Criterion in the UK before EA bought them (a deal that went through partway through development of the title). I remember working with the Criterion guys before I left EA last year. BO3 does have some really fun bits, I remember being impressed with it even at the early stages.

Nothing a good ol' Fireball spell won't cure...

[leftie]

Check out http://www.chaosleaguegame.com/ [chaosleaguegame.com]

Chaos League is similar to the old Game Designers Workshop board game Blood Bowl. Orks vs. Elves pigskin play. It's a nice little game that got kind of overlooked. They just released the Sudden Death expansion.

Re:Another misleading Slashdot summary...

[crutchman]

One group of people who WILL slap a game on the back of it's hands and say "No" are Morgan & Adam on X-Play. I just saw two reviews of 2/5 on it's last showing. I think I have even seen some 1/5's. EGM, GameSpot, etc... all give fluffed up scores.

Now, I can see the "fear of giving bad marks" as being true in some cases. I used to review PC hardware for a now closed site (stupid .Bubble Burst), and at times I made my reviews a little more tame than I wanted to so I didn't lose industry contacts. Does that mean I gave everything much higher than it deserves? NO, it means I said "You may want to consider X or Y" rather than saying "This is a peice of crap that should have never been made" because one man's peice of crap, may be another man's pot of gold.

The same goes with the movie industry, the automotive industry, etc... How often does motortrend call a car a peice of crap? Not often. They are more critical than most and they still seem to be padding ratings of cars.

Then there's the CFL?!?

[Phronetix]

As in Canadian Football League. We've been waiting for a decent video game for our league. Now's the time I say. C'mon, the field is 25% wider, 10 yards longer, the end zones are twice as long. You can score single points on missed field goals or on punts, our balls are bigger (ahem!), and we only have 3 downs to make the ten yards. That, and you can knock a zero or two off of the salaries. Anyone know the contact particulars for 989 or 2k Sports? ;-)

Re:I'm shocked!

[TrappedByMyself]

The quality of a product dropped after it became a monopoly?

It did? Hmmmm, lets actually look at the Gamespot scores over the years.

Madden NFL 97 6.4
Madden NFL 98 8.1
Madden NFL 99 8.8
Madden NFL 2000 7.4
Madden NFL 2001 7.0
Madden NFL 2002 6.7
Madden NFL 2003 9.2
Madden NFL 2004 8.8
Madden NFL 2005 8.8
Madden NFL 06 7.8

Hmmm, seems pretty inline doesn't it? It's amazing what facts can do to FUD.

Re:Madden

[FatRatBastard]

The French once had the right idea with fencing - a couple of guys having at it with swords seems like a good recipe for spectator fun, but for some reason that dropped off the radar.

I say this as a fencer: fencing isn't exactly the greatest spectator sport. Points are determined very quickly -- the action last a few seconds at best -- and without the lights/official its damn difficult sitting in the stands knowing who actually scored. Don't get me wrong, its a great sport to play, but a spectator sport it ain't.