Madden 2005 is probably the best handheld football game on the market at the current time. That being said, it does not necessarily mean that the game deserves a 10/10 but it should be the closest thing to it for a handheld football game. It is all right for a launch title but I could definitely see Madden 2006 being better since the people at EA were probably on a tough deadline for Madden 2005. I have to say that the graphics are not the graphics are not the best the DS can do especially after playing Super Mario 64 DS and the Metroid Prime demo. If you want a comparison I have Madden 2000 for the N64 and the graphics are very similar. The player models are kind of stupid because the supposedly thin and quick wide receivers are just as fat as the linemen. Everything is sort of blocky and the stadiums are all pretty much the same. I do not think that the graphics for the DS were used to the full potential. This game, much like its console counterparts has actual songs. Oh, no wait I meant song, that’s right there is just one song in Madden 2005 and you can here it every time you are browsing through the menus. This song is not horrible but can get on your nerves. The in game sound is not much better. The crowd just basically has this big long drone that they seem to be able to keep up the entire game. You are lucky if John Madden says two things during one game and Al Michaels never talks except the occasional first down or touchdown. The sound effects however were done decently with the players grunting when they get hit or the pads hitting each other were done nicely. The touch screen was defiantly not ignored in Madden 2005 and they found a few good uses for it. One is the fact that instead of memorizing long button combination to audible you can just press the audible button and choose the play and it’s that easy. Also, you can choose your plays by touching them instead of having to scroll all the way there. You can also call hot routes and draw a receiver’s route right on the touch screen. For some reason you cannot use the touch screen during multiplayer and I do not know why. Madden 2005 has pretty fun gameplay but not the greatest. The game can get old quick because the computer cannot stop the run for their lives. Passing is a challenge but if you run every single play of the game there will be no need to pass because you will have blown the other team out and won. Multiplayer is fun but both players need the Madden 2005 game card which kind of stinks and you can’t use the touch screen in multiplayer. There are plenty of modes in the game and in the season individual player stats are kept which I think is great because to my knowledge this is the first Madden handheld game to do so. The rosters are not perfect but they are pretty upgraded and you can always just trade. The difficulty has many different levels because they start you on the easiest one, which is way too easy so you are going to need to make it harder. The games themselves last a bit of time so if you are on a long trip it’s good but if you have better things to do you then after like one or two games you will most likely be bored. So overall pretty good gameplay but some minor issues. Not very good I have to say. The only possible reasons that you would even think about playing after a season or two would be to 1. play with a friend or 2. collect all of the Madden cards. These reasons are pretty lame because I know that I am not going to do that because it is too much of a hassle and how much time do you have to play Madden with a friend? Well, I guess if you need to have Madden on your brand new DS than go ahead and buy it. But if you do not like Madden games or football games as a whole stay as far away as possible because this game is not changing your mind. Otherwise I would say rent and see how you like it and then make your decision from there.
Ever since the early 90's, a Madden game has appeared on pretty much every major console released. So it is to no surprise that the DS has gotten a copy. Let's see if it can stack up to it's next-generation counter-parts... Read Full Review
With the lack of sports games available at the launch of the nintendo DS,many hungry football fans have turned to Madden 2005, with mixed reviews. First off I'd just like to say that regardless of how rushed this game is... Read Full Review
