jase12881

Rented the game On my second attempt (first was a WR with Cleveland Browns that had the wrong skin color), I began a superstar mode with a player who would ideally be suited to being a Running Back. However, I changed his position to qb before finishing the creation screen so I have a QB who can't throw real well, but is fairly fast (85 speed). His throwing power and accuracy both started at around 78. I got 100% on the iq test and got drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the third round. I got a movie deal in the preseason and also went up 2 points from practicing. I got tired of watching Delhomme start in the season and requested to be traded in week 6. I ended up with the K.C. Chiefs, and luckily for me, Trent Green went down a few weeks later, and I ended up starting with the team record at 5-4. 4 games later, we're currently 9-4, but I'm not putting up big numbers. Mostly our defense wins the games. I basically do just enough to let us win. My biggest problem is my lack of arm strength. I keep seeing receivers one on one with cbs on fly routes but when I go to throw to them the pass is too short and nearly always intercepted. In fact, I can't throw any kind of deep ball. It's amazing that the defense helps me win though, really, since I don't even play as them. When it's time to play Defense, I switch the control setup so that the computer is playing both teams, and then I switch back when the chiefs get the ball. Also I let Madden call most of the plays (Unless he calls something stupid like FB up the middle on 3 and 13 in the 1st quarter), although I do audible out of them alot or alter them with hot routes. I'm liking the superstar Mode ok, because it's slightly better than I thought it would be, but still not as nearly as good as I hoped. The passing cone does make the game harder, but you can get used to it. Especially since the r2 button plus the receiver's icon allows you to immediately switch to the receiver. My main problem is that sometimes my qb won't throw when he's looking at a wide open receiver, no matter how many times I press the button.

Of course I want to be in the NFL! I don't have the talent though. Maybe I should be out practicing instead of playing games! nah. I guess I just think the focus of a "superstar mode" should be playing as...*gasp* a superstar. Not playing as an entire team. That's every single other mode.

Well, I would imagine the point of a career mode would be to be able to play the game from the perspective of an NFL star. NFL stars don't get to choose whether the QB throws to them on every play, or call run everytime, or get to control what happens on the opposite side of the ball. The lack of control is part of the experience of playing in a team sport. Sure it's frustrating for a QB when the receivers drop perfect passes. It's frustrating for the RB when too many pass plays are called or their fullback misses and important block, but that's football. Maybe I'm too into football, but I think that the dynamics of having to get open, make the catch, keep your feet in bounds, make the blocks, etc. would be enough to keep me entertained and make every play feel like something new. Hell, I've even thought it would be interesting in real life to play as an offensive lineman. Of course that might not translate too well into a video game, but I'd try it. The other thing I'd like to see from a career mode is realistic reactions to your play (whether or not you control your player alone) by the coach/general manager. That's not been done in either of the other two games with career modes I've played. In NCAA 2005, you will continue to start no matter how badly you play, and you can completely and totally blow every play with absolutely no consequences if you wanted. In the MLB game...MLB 2006? You were mostly treated based on your ratings. You started with low ratings, so you weren't playing in the majors for long no matter how good you played. In the real world, if you were called into the majors and spent half a season with a batting average of over .500, lead the league in homeruns, rbis, on base percentage, runs, and stolen bases, they would not send you back the the minors, but they do that in MLB 2006. In Madden I would like to see bonuses offered to good players, a chance to earn the starting job in the preseason, and/or training camp (depending on the play of the starter), and most importantly, in my opinion, a chance to actually lose the starting job or be released based upon your play. Yeah, it may make the game frustrating, but it would add to the challenge a little too. I just think that if you want to play as the entire team, you can play franchise mode. Any management aspect you don't like can be done by the computer entirely, so you can simply play every game if you want, using the entire team as you want to. Give me realism in my career mode, not more of the same thing dressed up as a brand new mode. I would like to be signed as say....a second string qb, then have all games simulated until a point where the starter gets injured, at which point (mid-game) I would be taken to the game to take over. Perform well enough while the starter is out, and take over the starting job. The ability could be added to simulate parts of the game you're not involved in, such as the opposite side of the ball, and anytime where you're on the bench, if you so desired. That's the game I've been dreaming about, and the one that's at best a few years from being created, but most likely will never be created. I can dream though. If the only one of my ideas that was implemented in this Madden was the coach/gm reaction to your performance, I would become incredibly excited about the game, but we'll see.

This is the kind of thing I've been waiting for in a Madden (or other football) game for a long time. However, I'm pretty sure they'll botch it. You may think that I'm just being negative, but I'll explain myself. My major problem with it will be (especially if NCAA 06's heisman mode is any indication) that when playing as a superstar, you'll be given too much control when on the field. Too much control? How can there be such a thing? Simple. If I'm playing as one solitaire player, I want to control only that player. I don't want to have to pick plays, do kickoffs, punts, play the opposite side of the ball, or control the qb (and/or rb) if I'm not playing that position. I shouldn't have control over the depth chart, or anything else besides my player. While I know some people like to have this control, it would be nice to have the option to turn it off. Also, if I'm a WR, I want to be able to run my own routes...or rather run the routes by my own control. I hate the fact that in NCAA 06 you can't control the receiver until after the ball is in the air (unless you use two controllers). It completely undermines the whole idea. I mean, anyone can put up good stats as a receiver if the QB throws the ball to them on every single play (because the qb is under the player's control) RBs can rack up the yards if they are allowed to call the play and pick run every single time. etc. So far, two games with promising career modes fell short of my expectations because they only offered the same control that you got playing the game on exhibition or season mode (once in the game, I mean) (ncaa 06 and mlb 2006 *I think*)

Just remember that with Perfect Dark you need the expansion pack (thing that goes inside the n64) to get a lot of the game modes. (Single player mode and more than 4 bots in multiplayer, plus player skins etc) I think I pretty much post this same message in every n64 topic forum I read in which people ask for recommendations

Finishers: Instead of limiting the moves that can be used as finishers, the change I would like to see in regards to finishers is the damage done by them. The most powerful moves can only be done as finishers, which is fine, but is exactly the reverse of the way it should be in my opinion. Rather than reserving the most powerful moves for finisher-only they should make finishers the most powerful move no matter which move is chosen. Example: If I want to go old school and use the DDT as a finisher, I want it to do finishing damage. I don't want it to do as much damage as a regular grappling DDT even though the animation would be the same. While this may lead to some idiotic moments such as a "punch the guy once" finisher or something, it would add a lot of versatility to your choices for finisher. I mean I can't even begin to count the times in SvR where I would be choosing a finisher for my new CAW and find a cool looking move only to see that it doesn't do enough damage, or more often deciding that I can just do the move as a normal grapple move and free my finisher slot up for something more powerful. Stamina: I like the idea of stamina, but what I would really like to see is the ability to regain stamina though "hold" type moves. The moves are more-or-less in SvR and the other smackdown! games, but they serve very little purpose. If I spent 30 seconds having my opponent in a reverse chinlock to recover stamina, I think that would add something to the matches, and perhaps more importantly, give me an actual reason to use the move. Season Mode: I think that the season mode from Smackdown! SYM comes the closest to what I'd like to see in a wrestling game, though it still falls way short of my vision. I'd like to see more variety in the storylines. Maybe allow you to create your own feuds by running in on matches, etc. Which actually leads me to another point. I liked the fact that you could randomly run-in on (some) matches in SYM but I would like to see it have consequences, or an effect on your relationship with a certain wrestler, or even just make them run-in on one of your matches. Basically, I guess my point about season mode is that I would like it to have varying, and interesting storylines, that allow you to do a little more in the way of choosing your character's creative direction. Also continuity, and hopefully replay value. I'd also like to see them bring back the belt-system from No Mercy where you would not only defend the belt in Exhibition, but also maintain the champion whenever replaying season mode. I think if they even put in a few of those features, I'd look at buying the game.

Soul Reaver. Even though it's a PSX game, the intro sequence is still my favorite in all games I have played.

A few things i had to add (My own opinions here so don't get too insulted if you don't agree) Firstly, the first Zelda for Nintendo 64 is not, in my opinion an RPG. While it has an rpg setting it is not played like a classic RPG. It is more of a puzzle/action game, and in my opinion one of the best games ever created. I never played FFVII and I never cared that much for Final Fantasy games, so I can't make a comparison, but I do know that both games were extremely popular and both could be considered classics from this generation. Secondly, I agree that PS was a better system in it's own way since it had more games, and had better sound, but Nintendo did have a few games that were superb. These games alone almost made the system worth buying. Perfect Dark (which cost me $90 altogether including the expansion pack), Zelda:Ocarina of Time, and Goldeneye were games that were as good as, or better than anything PS had to offer. PS still had some great games though. I never owned a playstation, but I wanted one. Soul Reaver was awesome and would be, in my opinion, a better comparison to Zelda. While the setting and tone were -much- different (no comparison there) the gameplay was similiar: Action Puzzle games. And both sported some of the best graphics either system was capable of. Anyways, Soul Blade was also awesome. Best fighting game of the generation, period. Also as for the CD being a better medium than cartridges...I agree, but I think the cartridges had some advantages. For one, cartridges couldn't get scratched and didn't have load times. For two, some of the cartridges had their own data storage so you don't need a memory card. As for the N64 being durable.... Well, the system itself may have been (though my reset button broke like a month after I bought the console), but the controllers certainly weren't. The more you used the joysticks the less sensitive they became. If you compare a brand new N64 controller with a used one, you could see how the joystick became loosened over time. I guess that's not a huge deal, but it was a bit worrying to see my favorite controller with it's joystick rattling around. Other than that they weren't bad though. Playstation also occassionally had problems reading discs if they were too dirty, or the head got messed up. That wasn't really a problem with the N64. The fact is though, both systems had their merits and flaws. I have to give it to the PS because it had more games though.

I think that as time goes on, we'll see more and more of the most popular gaming franchises becoming Xbox exclusive. It already seems almost as though Microsoft has been trying to gain an advantage by buying out gaming companies and then making their titles Xbox exclusives. Fable is an example of this. Originally Lionhead planned to release the game for all consoles (at least according to what I read) but Microsoft bought Lionhead and that (of course) changed. While Sony may have a good share of the gaming market, and may currently be on top of the gaming mountain so to speak, I'm not sure they can compete with the deep pockets of Microsoft. Then again, Sony has fairly deep pockets (not as deep as Microsoft!) and the Playstation makes up the majority of their sales, while Microsoft has their hands in a lot of different things. So we'll see. Mostly though, the only thing I can for sure predict about the next generation is that more games will become Microsoft exclusive.

Tecmo Bowl?! Any game where you could throw the ball from endzone to endzone for a touchdown can't be considered that hard. Especially since the computer almost never took advantage of that. As far as River City Ransom If you buy Stone Feet or Dragon Feet or whatever it's called, it makes the game easier, and then if you get Grand Slam near the end, it helps with the last boss fights. However, in my opinion that took a bit of fun out of the game. Furthermore it got much easier on Two player mode where if one of you died, the other could leave the screen and the first one would come back to life. Or something like that. And For the Quick Man level in Mega Man 2....it sucked....unless you used the ability gained from Freeze man? I believe that was his name. Anyways, that made it much easier. Still a hard game though. I can't think of any games that I found particularly hard, but that's probably because if I found them too hard, I quit playing them early and thus don't remember them.

If you get Perfect Dark, keep in mind that you can't play the Single Player mode, nor most of the multiplayer modes without the Expansion dealy...I can't remember exactly what it's called, but I assume you know what I mean. Ah, I remember spending about $90 just so I could play PD. I loved it though. Although it made me nostalgic about the old Goldeneye more than anything. Anyways, I'd also recommend highly recommend No Mercy as the best of the N64 wrestling games. Even though I have a PS2, I still sometimes go back to my N64 just to play PD and No Mercy (Or I would if my brother didn't have my N64 )

I suppose maybe I was playing on Rookie mode. I don't think I was, but it's possible. I don't think I ever changed the difficulty though so it should have been on the default. I can't check now though as I had rented the game and it's gone back now.

Season mode in HCTP wasn't even as good, imo as SYM was. I bought SYM because I so enjoyed the season mode, but passed over HCTP because the season mode wasn't as good, and I will pass over Smackdown vs Raw for the same reason.

Nearly all the minigame-like features can be automated so that you don't actually have to do them, though I believe you get a bigger advantage by doing them. It's not too much of an advantage though, so if you want to avoid them, you can. As an example, I hate the combo dummy, so I simulated aggressive speed training the last time. I got +4 on speed (+5 is what you get for doing the minigame perfect) so I'm not complaining. The create-a-champion mode is better than before, but I wish there were more/cooler nicknames. I went with "The Hammer" As far as the lining up thing goes, I've only been knocked down once, but it's easier to line them up now since you're actually lining up a target (I'd actually prefer it without the target like 2004, but it is easier than 2004 so if you found that difficult, this should be a little better) Also, I kind of don't like total punch control, so I go with button attack, but I still have to use the total punch control for haymakers, but it's not too bad. If I practiced it I could get into total punch control, but I find I can hit faster with the buttons. My favorite thing is, to knock the guy down via a headbutt

I've found that I hit homeruns with just about anyone (except the 20 something year old guy that has half bar overall rating that I signed from free agency and the computer wants to put in the game at third base) by pressing the left stick diagonally up and to the left or right (pulling the ball since I usually tend to swing a little early anyways) depending on the placement of the pitch. That got me 2 homeruns with Dimitri Young in one game (which I intervened in the 6th inning and started out down 4-1 but came back thanks to those two homeruns). I also for some reason, hit a lot of home runs with Vina though he has poor power in the game. Mostly though, if you hold up and inside, and you get a slightly inside pitch, if you can make decent contact you should get a homerun or at least a hit off the wall.