On offense running and passing just feels good to me. You can still do hot routes and send a player in motion or audible but that’s it. I can see running holes better than ever. I love the mechanics of the game. Defense feels just ok.

One of the problems have to do with the controls. Again if you’ve played this year’s Madden, you’re probably familiar with what you have to do to speed burst. Well forget it, because it’s now the right trigger.

The kicking game is also a lot different. If you’ve ever played the old Sega NFL games, you’ll be right at home. Yes, it’s the return of the automatic arrow. This is one of those things that I think was done very well by the Xbox version of Madden and why they changed it here, it beats me. No one likes the automatic arrow! Again, it’s not very realistic!

As far as the mini games or owner mode go, you’ll have to look elsewhere because they aren’t in this version of the game. Same goes for Madden cards. All you have is your franchise mode, so enjoy it. If you’ve never played the Xbox or PS 2 version of the game, perhaps you won’t miss it; however the fact that I know these modes are in a supposedly inferior version of the game, and they aren’t in here, really make me angry, especially when I had to pay $10 more for this game.

Audio is better than the other consoles – the EA Trax is still here (same ones), but the play by play is done as if you’re listening to the game on the radio. There’s not a whole lot of dialog (ESPN NFL 2K5 is still much better), but the play by play is not annoying.

Overall Madden NFL 06 is a great game to get if you want to show off the graphics capabilities of the Xbox 360. The gameplay does have a whole lot of potential. The onfield action is enjoyable but it’s tough to recommend when the game is not realistic in the least and so many options are removed from other console versions of the game. Throw in a $60 price tag, and the only winning move here is to wait until next year.