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Madden NFL 06 
Release date: 22 Nov 2005
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Madden Heads For The Xbox 360 Endzone
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One of the largest publishers of video games in the world, Electronic Arts, is flexing its muscles, which were recently enhanced steroid-style via the purchase of the exclusive rights to use the NFL in their football video games. The flexing comes in the form of the version of Madden NFL ‘06 that is near completion for the upcoming Xbox 360, which is promising graphics beefed up to the point where, as my editor has told me, they look real. Just how real are the graphics in Madden NFL ‘06, actually? How is it going to be different, in terms of gameplay, from the current generation’s version of Madden NFL ‘06? The game has taken a few knocks in terms of its actual, as opposed to advertised, graphical prowess, as a result of prudent questioning in light of some actual gameplay footage released in September, but there is still optimism that Madden NFL ’06 will at least live up to its graphical hype, and hopefully deliver on gameplay too.
In case the aforementioned references on unimpressive footage and EA’s newfound exclusivity power, and what they bode for the game, don’t ring a bell, here is a short summation. In early December of last year, EA inked a deal with the NFL wherein EA would be given an exclusive license to use the teams, stadiums, and players of the National Football League and NFL Players Inc., a subsidiary. This license would last five years. Needless to say, this had a chilling effect on sports games as a whole, with Take-Two Interactive, a publisher of the NFL 2K series of football games, decrying the deal as a “tremendous disservice to the consumers.” The fear with any sort of exclusive monopoly is that without competition, the company who owns the monopoly will have no incentive to improve and create quality products. The acid test for how this theory applies to EA is its first game to appear under this exclusivity license, Madden NFL ‘06, which has already been released for the current generation consoles, and for which the ultimate test appears to be its next generation console offering on the Xbox 360.
Initial fears of monopoly quashing the quality of the Madden NFL series abated somewhat when screenshots of Madden NFL ‘06 were shown at E3, to much jaw-dropping and subsequent acclaim. The screenshots shown at E3 were borderline photorealistic, with the player in the screenshot, Shaun Alexander, being so exquisitely detailed that the scar on his chin is visible, as are the scratches on his neck, the specific haircut, and the tear ducts in the corners of his eyes. At the time, EA boasted that the level of player detail seen in the screen shot was 10 times that of the current generation, and that the actual game would look better than the current “target render.” Then came early September, when footage of the actual Xbox 360 game as it stood then was released. The footage was met with much less enthusiasm, as the graphical quality shown in the footage appeared to be much less than the screenshots shown at E3. At the time the footage was released, it was called new footage by EA, which certainly didn’t bode well for its reception, considering what it looked like – almost identical to the current generation’s graphics. Fans understandably balked, with the web comic Penny Arcade coming down harshly upon the footage, even coining the term “bullshot,” in reference to the prior screenshots shown at E3 not being anywhere close to real gameplay footage, and possibly being doctored up to look better and thus be more tantalizing.
Now it’s early November, with the official launch of the Xbox 360 looming just over the horizon. How has Madden NFL ‘06 fared since then? Have enough changes been made to it to regain its E3-generated reputation once more? According to new updated screenshots, and some additional commentary from its developers, it looks on track to do so, and then some. According to the senior producer for the Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL ‘06, Jeremy Strauser, the game’s latest iteration has been built from the ground up, with a new graphics engine (different from the current generation console engine), a new animation engine, and a new single player experience with new systems in play calling, control, playbooks, and more. In the new round of screenshots, the new graphics engine is certainly pumping far more polygons than was previously demonstrated in its September footage, with many of the details from the E3 screens restored, from the stitching of the player jerseys, detail textures such as dirt spots on uniforms and skin blemishes (e.g. scars), and players flailing about in new and realistic ways, with more animations than any current generation console version. According to Strauser, lighting is one aspect that has been heavily emphasized: the time of day updates after each play, inclement weather can show up mid-game and affect lighting, shadows slowly turn about their origins just like they would as the day goes on, and there will be a quad-shadow effect from night lighting (where multiple shadows appear as a result of multiple light sources).
But for all the hype of how Madden NFL ‘06 will look light years better than its current generation console predecessors, Strauser promises significant changes to the gameplay of the next generation version of Madden NFL ‘06 as well. Perhaps the biggest change is in the single player, where there will be a new Franchise mode, ditching the previous single player iterations of games past such as Storyline Central and Owner mode. Franchise mode’s biggest promise in the Xbox 360 version of Madden NFL ‘06 is in ease of use, where Strauser stated that major changes have been made to the user interface to make it infinitely easier to navigate, with many screens with relevant statistics being available at the touch of a button, or, in this case, the right analog stick. In Franchise mode, the right analog stick is used to jump from screen to screen, from player stats, to season and career stats, contracts, schedules, and more. Franchise also promises to be truly epic in scope, reportedly spanning 30 years of football seasons, with records of game milestones, such as longest pass thrown, longest yardage, etc., being kept, starting with the real records that were held 30 years ago being in there (though the players from back then have been omitted, due to an inability to acquire rights to their names) for your players to subsequently break. Also, your team will not be static, as players will retire, hot prospects will show up for you to recruit, and players will improve (or degrade) in various areas as the games go by. Of course, Xbox Live will also be supported, with Strauser promising a “very seamless online experience,” with the game supporting all of the enhancements to the Xbox Live service Microsoft has promised upon the launch of the Xbox 360. Messages and game invites can be received while playing single-player, leader boards and global stats are included, and there will even be roster updates to be downloaded to the game.
EA may have fumbled once already in its development of the next generation version of Madden NFL ‘06, but it looks to have recovered the ball and is speeding towards the end zone, with its promised graphical prowess and new gameplay modes that definitely differ from the current generation’s version keeping the cleats on the field. Though whether or not these new features will actually make a better game remains to be seen, let’s hope that when the Xbox 360 finally launches on November 22, Madden NFL ‘06 can score the touchdown.
Preview by Phillip Miner on 15 Nov 2005
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