Here are some customer reviews of
Madden NFL 2005
: This madden game will be awesome. You can decide if you want to knock the stuffing out of someone or just takle him lightly, with the new hit stick. I am a huge Madden fan and i just can't wait for the game. Another great feature is the xbox live.I hope this reviw helped you.
 It seems EA will never fix their obvious AI problems. Yet each year they add more gimmicks without fixing one of the main problems in their football game.
I haven't bought Madden since Madden 03, and I will not buy another Madden title until they fix the AI problems. I am sick of having CPU's sub par running backs breaking 5 and 6 tackles on 3rd and 6 just so they can get a first down. QBs breaking tackles from LBs who outweight them by 100 pounds. How about the CPU always allowing your CB's to be out of position when the CPU passes the ball, and on top of that, they slow the CB down to give the receiver a better chance to catch the ball! Sub par receivers making leaping one handed catches in tight coverage while getting hit. Passes going through defenders' bodies, helmets, hands, legs, arms etc. to end up in the receiver's hands. Balls changing direction in mid air just so the receiver can catch it. The CPU intentionally making tacklers dive in the opposite direction you expect them to, turning a would be minimal 2 or 3 yard gain into a maddening 20 yard gain. Your defenders all seem to be conntected by a string so if you go in and dive to make a sack and miss (and most of the time you will miss or the QB will miracously break the tackle), your defender who is guarding the intended receiver, will automatically dive too if you switch to him, resulting in a BS 50+ yard TD pass. The CPU automatically moving your linemen across the line on 3rd and 10, to give the offense a free 5 yard and then the CPU gets exactly 5 yards on the next play. CPU QB's getting off perfect passes while having a LB inches from taking him down.
If your offense you have to deal with your all star 95+ rated receivers dropping wide open passes. All star QBs throwing balls out of bounds. All star RB's fumbling at the worse possible time. You lineman are moved across the line by the CPU and you get flagged for a false start. Your linemen miss obvious blocks so big gains are rare in a close game. Your QB automatically tucks the ball and takes a sack if a defender is 10 feet away, while the CPU QB can get a perfect pass off while he's being sacked almost. Psychic defense that almost always know what play your going to run. Refs almost always get in the way of your receiver when you absolutely need to convert a 3rd down.
And who can forget the infamous comeback AI? No lead is safe. Even if your up by 20+ points at the half, your better off running the clock out starting in the 3rd quarter because the AI will do any and everything to get the lead and screw you; that includes your offense fumbling the ball, receivers dropping wide open passes, refs constantly calling clipping and holding on you after you get a good punt return or big gain. Refs calling you for face mask penalties or pass interference after you stop the CPU on third down so the CPU can get a free first down, bad calls in the final two minutes of the game so you can't challenge.
On special teams I have seen where I was lined up for the game winning field goal and I see my play clock is about to run out, so I call a timeout with 2 seconds left on the clock. The screen signals that I called a timeout, but a few moments after I call a timeout, the ref throws a flag AFTER the timeout was called. and I get pushed back five yards. Talk about a LATE whistle. Another occasion the CPU punted to me, and the ball CLEARLY went out of bounds at the 35 yard line. It was way beyond the side line and in fact nearly to the end of the thick white line; however the ball bounced back in bounds and the CPU downed it at the 21 yard line. I was so shocked, that I saved the replay. No matter what this CPU does to screw me, they always do one better everytime I play the game.
I have experienced these things and more in Madden. More so on defense. while these problems certainly don't happen in every game, it happens on average every other game. Sometimes the CPU will cheat on every single down making it impossible to win. Most of the time however, I can usually still win in spite of the cheating, it is still very frustrating when the CPU can constantly pull 60, 70 and 80 YD TD passes out their a$$ just so the game will be close. This ruins the experience of an otherwise fun game. I still play 2003, because I want to at least get my money's worth and play all 30 seasons while drafting college players from NCAA 2003. After that, I will never even think about purchasing or playing another Madden or NCAA title again.
For me, gone are the days that I rush out and buy the current year's sports title. It is usually the same game as the previous one. However, if you absolutely want a football title this year, get ESPN, and while it has its problems too, it is certainly a much better deal being only 20 bucks versus 50 bucks for Madden.
Since the folks at EA are shaking in the fear of a little competition from ESPN, they have decided to purchase the NFL liscense exclusively for themselves so no other companies can make NFL games. Because of this I suppose I won't be buying any football titles for the next 5 years. Even IF EA fixed their obvious game problems during these 5 years, I STILL wouldn't buy Madden or NCAA ever again. I don't even know if I will buy another EA game period. I am sorry I just can't support any company that buys their way out of competition. So long EA!
Its true! You get free tickets to the Super Bowl when you beat the game with every team and you post your stats on XBox Live! Don't let these doubters fool you!
 Madden 2005 was being advertised as probably the best in the Madden series, but at least to me first time around, it didn't fully live up to the hype. problem is, my madden 2004 got stuck in my XBOx, so i decided to guy Madden 2005 so i can add the new rookies, like Alex Smith and Aaron Rodgers, and i love it!!!
because of the competition from ESPN NFL 2K5, Madden dropped it's price to $30, which they should keep from now on.
here are some of my pros and cons for Madden 2005..
CONS
-for one, some players looked like steriod monsters. some don't even have necks!!! they went to much on pad detail, but you can change that by lowering pad height and width sliders.
-they got rid of the situation mode, which i loved.
-excluding Super Bowl, all game ending celebrations are STILL the same. 3 years and running.
-loading takes to much time. everytime you want to see a newspaper or read an email, the loading eats you up. Madden 2004 for the most part was smooth, but here all the new stuff lags behind and you have to wait to read every single paper or change menus.
PROS
-weather. i loved what they did here. games can go from snowing in the first quarter with dark clouds all around to bright and sunny by the 4th. you see storm clouds pass by and you get a good sense of time change in the game.
-Draft trades. now, teams will swap picks during the draft, which makes you have to draft better franchise wise. also includes announcer and draft ticker.
-player switch. now you can during franchise move players around. take a 4th or 5th WR and move him to TE during the year. good moves.
-pressure kicks. NHL 2003 had the gamebreaker mode in breakaways, but Madden 2005 has kicker pressure mode which is intense. you don't hear the crowd, and your control starts to give off a heart beat for the pressure kick. makes the kick much more interesting.
-smoother animations. before, a player would automatically get up and when it would cut to a close up of the player, all of a sudden he's barely getting up. now the animations are smoother.
-better tackling. some of the tackling in this game is awsome, especially the hit stick where you can knock out guys and force fumbles.
-better animations and screen shots. the sidelines are now filled with players, and there are some nice screen shots showing the coach talking to the offense or defense, or showing players on the losing side with their heads lowered. also shows fan closeups, my favorite being where the two guys bump chests, and one of them gets dropped to the ground.
-better TD celebrations!!!!!!! my favorite is when a WR scores a TD and chunks the ball towards the end zone wall. shows real emotion and gets you fired up. also, if a team is getting beat real bad and you score, he'll just hand off the ball to the ref instead of throwing the ball or something like that. real class act. ;)
-Super Bowl celebration is AWSOME!!! coach gets the gatorade bath, confeti flys, fireworks, hoist the coach, it's awsome. losing team just sits in disgustment on the bench, can you blame them?
OVERALL
(old review)
i thought Madden 2005 was good, but i'll save $50 and stick with 2004. for me, the only real thing i would take from 2005 to add to 2004 is the Super Bowl celebration. Madden 2005 is good, but it's not great. 2004 was great.
(new)
i love the price drop to $30. makes the game a bit more affordable to most people. i love the animations, the cut away scenes, the td celebrations, weather, just about everything about this game is good.
it does have it flaws, but overall, it's awsome, and a big improvement from Madden 2004. the defense in the game is good, and i love the music and radio talk show that Tony Bruno does with real players and coaches.
overall, i recommened Madden 2005, i love it, and will be keeping it around for a long time.
I am a Browns fan so thank God for the "Madden curse." I am not thrilled with EA sports putting Ray Lewis on the cover this year but I will still play this game obsessively and lose hours of my life with this game. Madden is by far the #1 sports franchise!
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