Gameboy Advance - Madden NFL 2005

Format
Gameboy Advance
Publisher
Electronic Arts
Developer
Exient
Country of origin
UK
Genre
Sports

Madden NFL 2005

By David Rasmussen
30th Dec 05

Are you ready for some football? ARE YOU Red-E FOR SOME -- which football?
Yeah. We have the two footballs, as if you didn‘t know. One recognized by the world court of sports, and the other an American icon of sports (you know what that means).
Football in the world court of sports means “soccer”, which is the arena of such games as the excellent Winning Eleven 8 International and the not so great FIFA 2005 and 2006 Soccer (Football)… and an occasional outing here or there, like that one company that put out a whole fistful of games (each custom fit for each franchise known from what I heard of it). When it comes to these games to play, of course, is Winning Eleven 8 International… when a Winning Eleven 9 International will make it’s way into the marketplace, however, is something I have no idea of (hopefully soon).

Meanwhile if we’re talking football in the USA court of sports that must mean it’s time to talk about the NFL, which is the arena of such games as Madden NFL 2006 -- and Madden NFL 2006 for the Nintendo DS -- and did I mention Madden NFL 2006 for the GBA? ? How about Madden for… Madden… John Madden, Madden for… Madden. And did I mention Madden? Madden.
Either I’m stuck like a broken record (or a whiney conservative Republican) or there’s only the Madden to be had for official NFL football fixes… which is the situation we find ourselves in this season.
Well, sad to say, as of this year any alternative for the sport of NFL Football that is an officially licensed choice has just flown out the window! That means no ESPN NFL 2K6 (which probably wouldn’t have happened anyway since ESPN seems to have parted ways with 2KSports), no 989Sports Football (though you probably wouldn‘t have missed that anyway since 989Sports is supposed to be having a low moment in sports games that they‘re only recently coming out of with their PSP MVP baseball game), no -- well, no alternatives whatsover in the official capacity! Why? Because EA Sports has bought themselves an exclusive ticket to ride, with their Madden franchise being the only game in town that can carry the official NFL franchise logo on it. Yeah, right, competitive spirit and rivalry seems to have died a harsh death via buyout. So since Madden seems to have a fear of rivalry this year I’m going to stick to a review of last year’s Madden… mostly because it’s available cheap at under $20 which fits my budget just nicely.

Madden NFL ‘05 is your typical football game, hosted by your not so typical Madden.
John Madden, who has been at the football game making game for years and years now (spanning from the old NES all the way to the modern GameCube and upcoming Revolution) has been making football games for the longest time now, and this is the latest of his game of pigskin that has come out.
Now I know what you’re thinking -- I wanna play the other football -- oh, wait, I mean you want to know how it plays on the GBA… of course you’d rather play the OTHER football, but for those fans of NFL Football let’s stay focused on this game, I’ll -- well I’ll get a game of the other football to review soon.
Well this game, which seems to play up like Madden ‘98 (PSOne) with a more -- more -- guess 3-D feel to it -- gives you a new slice of football that you might like… well, at least it’s for a portable that’ll last longer on trips than the PSP despite the fact sports on the PSP looks nicer and plays nicer.
Yeah. Apparently the PSP excels in sports, while the GBA excels in RPGs… or RPG Sports in the case of Mario Golf Advance Tour. But as for NFL Football? Well… it’s a fan thing.

While it does offer up a slice of NFL, and it gives you all the teams and options to customize your game (and even pick out which teams you want to play as during each and every week of a season) there is some issues I have with this game and how it plays.
Let’s start off with control issues. Making plays and choosing plays is simple enough, but heaven forbid controlling your chosen player, especially when you are running with the ball! I mean really, somehow I have a feeling that I’m running through molasses or something ‘cause I feel as if I’m having a very hard time controlling my player, which kind of sucks when I’m trying to avoid tackles and I am unable to avoid said tackles due to the lack of maneuverability (I run nice, but shifting and moving left and right on the field to avoid tackles blows.)

Throwing is OK, and I’m not sure if it’s the game or me that sucks but -- ah, I’m going to say that it’s me since I don’t think I was any good at throwing the ball in games regardless of what system I’m playing on.
Oh, and the characters are small! Though you can see fairly well you can get a little confused… or is it just me? Maybe it’s just me. Just as long as you know that you’ll be staring at little characters running moves as you play then maybe you’ll be set for this.

There’s a few modes (Season and a few quick play options) but sadly there is no career mode for multiple year play. In fact there’s no mode to pick a specific team to play! You can do trades, and so forth managing your teams -- though again you can pretty much manage a whole bunch of teams and I kind of miss the customization of picking ONE team and working on them… guess I could do that though, but still…
Ok. Ok. Nitpicking. Anyway we have a game, it’s Madden, and it’s not a horrific NFL experience. I mean it’s for the GBA so you know you’ll get a watered down experience, right? So it’s not the best but if you are sufferin’ from a NFL fix you’ll want this game. Anyway it’s like $15 or so dollars right now so dammit it’s a nice little drop of cheap and that’s good since it’s better than dropping $30+ dollars for the newest Madden (so you can have a taste of Madden without spending a chunk of change on that taste)!
Anyway playing this hasn’t really made me anymore of a NFL fan than I was when I first played said game, though now I finally have a sports game for my GBA that isn’t a golf game. Oh, well. Breakdown time!

Madden Breakdown the 2005
What’s Hot?
If you are looking for a taste of the football for your GBA? Well then you don’t have a great deal of options to entertain you, yet I have a feeling a taste of Madden might do you some good. Of course it also helps that said taste of Madden is like only $15 a taste, and by golly if you can find a game for such a nice low price then you can afford that taste without dropping too much on said taste.

What’s Not?
Controls seem a little sluggish (especially when you are running with the ball), throwing is probably solid but it’s mastery still seems to elude me, and I wish I could customize a single team and make a Super Bowl ready team customized to my own playing style, which doesn’t seem possible here though there is some customization of teams here. That and you are playing with wee little fellas so you’ll need to pay attention and look closely during gameplay… oh, well, it’s a taste of NFL and if you want such a thing then maybe this is for you. I don’t know, it’s up to you. It’s not the greatest ever played by me, but it’s not horrid either.

Moments to Remember?
Looks like John Madden did a few lines for the game, that and his Madden’ 98 co-anchor… what’s his name… I forgot (sorry)… and that’s about all there is for the memorable. Sorry.

What to Ignore?
I’d like to know what’s up with the whole trading card collecting aspect for “improved gameplay”. As far as extras in a game goes the thing about earning Madden Challenge points to buy packs of cards with power-ups for your players -- well -- it kind of sucks. I usually ignore it when I’m playing.

Overall?
It’s not the worse NFL Football game you have ever seen, and it’s not a nightmare to play.
It’s not the best either, but again if you are a fan of the NFL and want a little portable taste to take on the road along with your GBA this might be it… of course it’s not the best, but at $15 a pop it’s good enough.
And if you own a Nintendo DS you can possibly check out the Madden NFL ‘05 game for the DS… though if you can find it for the same low price as the GBA version (or about that much), and if you are that much of a Madden fan then go for it… of course you’d better be a major Madden fan since sports games (again) only seem to look nice and play pretty on the PSP (so don‘t expect perfection out of these Nintendo portables ‘cause you sure as heck won‘t be getting it here), but at least it’s a taste… speaking of which if I ever get ahold of a Nintendo DS I’ll review Madden for the DS… yeah, I have that for the DS -- why yes, it IS the EXACT SAME GAME I reviewed above… go figure! I have two copies of the same football game… guess 2005 was a good year for cheap games. Ok, nuff said.

-- David Rasmussen 30th Dec 05

Gameboy Advance Madden NFL 2005 Images