Madden 2005 -- Finally

Robb put in some good words when he mentioned that this year's version of Madden NFL Football is something else. You know what? The kid's right!

I immediately delved into the Franchise Mode, taking the Vikings (for obvious reasons) and got to learn about what was new. This year, there's this new radio show which I really don't understand, because it basically gives out trivia questions, but you have to remember, I'm still in the pre-season so there's nothing really important to talk about. He (Tony Bruno) did give some good insight to an injury to Ted Washington, a d-lineman for the Raiders, about his broken foot in Week 2 of the pre-season and there's talk about letting him go (since he's out 12 weeks). I'm sure during the regular season, the radio talk show will get better.

Also, there's newspapers, like the national (USA Today) with headlines around the NFL, plus local papers for every football team (Vikings -- StarTribune). But what I really impressed with is that during the pre-season games themselves, certain players are battling for that top spot on the depth chart. After two games into the pre-season, there's a halfback battle between Michael Bennett and Moe Williams, and right now, Moe has the #1 spot. I get all of this news on my handhald PDA, where a person can get "e-mails" from players and coaches (kind of like in MVP Baseball 2004) and you can keep track of endless information. It's almost a little too much, but hey, that's fine with me!

As for the gameplay itself, the player models are more graphic than they were in last year's game. There really isn't much difference in the motions themselves. A big improvement is the defense. There's no way a running back can get 10 yards on a carry (unless the defense picks the wrong coverage), since the d-line and linebackers are super-quick now. That's the big difference between Madden 2005 and NCAA '05, if you pick a HB Dive play in NCAA, if the hole is plugged, you can usually juke and take it outside. No way that's going to happen in Madden, they'll sniff you out before you know it and you'll end up losing yards.

The passing game for the Vikings is all too easy. Daunte and Gus Frerotte both are probably chalking up 200+ yards per game just by themselves, which helps if you have great receivers like Randy Moss and Marcus Robinson.

And Mike, this game has more turnovers! I'm my first game vs. the Cardinals, I probably fumbled like 4 times. Also, if a passer throws a bad pass and it goes directly at the cornerback or safety, he's not just going to bat it down, he's going to catch it. Tackling has also improved, where there is more gang tackling and not just one-on-one. Mike made the comment that if a defensive player "bangs" into the offensive player with the ball, he'll fall down too easy. This year it is not the case, in which there is more broken tackles and like I said before, more defensive players will gang up on the ball carrier for more realistic tackling.

But I still need some experience on this game and it's only going to get better. I'll report more on Madden 2005, plus more on Missouri's season on NCAA '05, which by the way won big time over Iowa 56-0, and moved up one spot to 5th in the rankings due to a Miami loss.