smackson

I am a really big fan of the NFL and also NFL Video Games. For the past 3 years I really enjoyed the Visual Concepts NFL2k series and have not been impressed with the Madden gameplay.

As a lot of you probably know EA bought the exclusive rights to the NFL. So this has really upset me since I heard about it, but I was waiting for Madden 06 to come out so I could give it a try and see if they improved their gameplay.

Well I rented it and was very unsatisfied. The gameplay is nowhere near where the Visual Concepts 2k series was. One thing I did like is that there are a lot more options in Franchise mode and a lot more statistical breakdowns than the 2k series, but what is so good about that when you go and try to play a football game and you just can't get into it.

My brother was here the other day and we were going to play a 2 player game against the computer. Usually when we play I pick the offensive plays and play with the QB and he will be the RB or WR. One thing I don't like about this game is when I pass it to a WR(not the WR controlled by Player 2), it automatically changes this receiver to me(the 2k series would change to Player 2 because he is playing the WR position). Now my next gripe. He normally picks the defensive plays. Well this game does not allow Player 2 to pick any play or call any audible, it has to all be controlled by Player 1. So after playing a whole game we came to the conclusion that when you play a 2 player game it is actually only a 1 1/4 player game, because player 2 has really no control over anything.

I just found out a few weeks ago that you can download rosters off the internet to update your ESPN2k5 rosters to 2k6. This was pretty cool, but I really wish there were a variety of NFL games on the market so I could have a choice as to which game I wanted to purchase.

I am not trying to bash the Madden series(for about a 10-year stretch it was, in my opinion, the best NFL game out there), but the only reason you would purchase rights for a particular game is if you felt the competition had something that you don't have. Madden has excellent franchise features and options, but to me gameplay is the most crutial and that is where I feel the Madden series is missing something.

FailedEagle

How?? Link?

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mmm...kyle

Looking at gameplay vs Licences, its very much similar when looking at soccer games, on one hand you have the Fifa series with full licences and pretty nice graphics, but the gameplay is just nowhere near as good as Pro Evolution Soccer (which I believe is called winning eleven or something in the US) which, while it doesnt have all the licences and you have to put up with silly team names and player names is a much better game to play.
It seems that EA Sports is banking on people buying their games because of the licences and the nice packaging, despite the fact that there are better games out there without these.

smackson

You need to purchase an Action Replay card from either the internet or the store. I purchased mine at a local Game Crazy store for 29.99. This is like a memory card for your XBox, but it comes also with a docking station that you hook up through USB to your PC, it also comes with software you need to install on your PC. There are a few different places to download rosters, but I used the gamefaq website. Most rosters also have alot of the new rookies.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox/save/920177.html

Just look for a roster update for Aug 2005 there and download it. Copy that file to your Memory Card, then take the card to your XBox and there are your new rosters.

One thing to remember is that these rosters are made by other people, so they may have a bias towards certain players. But there is also another program that you can download to actually mess with each and every players ratings and create your very own rosters(this does take a little bit of time though).

Anyways if you would like info on any of the above you may also want to check out this website. It has a message board, so you could also find answers there.

http://www.nfl2k5forever.com/

canuckguy

change madden to ea sports mvp baseball and 2k to ea and were in the same boat. while i like the madden series of games I feel for ya when a game you enjoy playing is no longer made. the mvp baseball series is done after this year, same thing, ea lost the rights to the player names..etc. bummer. i love that game, play it daily.

smackson

I didn't know that this also happened with MLB(I am not a big bball gamer though). But anyways what company purchased the license for this?

This really sucks, because it is putting business interests above the actual consumer interests. But I guess thats life.

canuckguy

i believe it was espn series that got the official license. i even went and bought the espn baseball game this year to get myself use to the layout. not good, hated it, don't know what i am going to play next year. I tried and tried the other game and it just was not the same, would rather not play at all.

funny thing is that with the NHL series, i've been playing the ea line since 91'ish and have never been disappointed. My friend gave me a copy of the NHL2k series last year and i loved it more than the ea version. the game play was just more realistic, but the game lacks the addon's and glitz that you get with a typical ea game.