Madden: how can I get started?

I know this will sound ridicolous to many of you guys...but I'm not american and I know nothing about football. But the madden series has been so praised throughout this website, and it is often consider the best-in-class when it comes to sports videogames....that I decided I want to get into it...and probably buy the 2005 version.

However as I told you, I doubt I'll be able to play the game. Do you have any idea on how I could get started? First of all....what's a good site to study the rules of the game? And strategies?

Is there any website for madden, which is as good as NLSC and nbalive.org?

Do you think that just buying the game and try to play will make me learn how to? Or do I need to prepare myself before?

Any help is appreciated, I really don't know where to start from.

truth be told i learned alot about football by playing madden growing up. of course back then players didnt have names only numbers but still. madden has a realy nice practice mode in it that should help you out alot and even though i cant name one off hand i am sure there is a website that lists the rules of the nfl. maybe someone can help you there. i do think that if you just buy madden and mess around with practice for awhile you can learn alot about football.

i'm on the same boat as you buddy
i'm thinking about getting madden 2005 too but i dunno much about american football. they don't show it on tv too much here so i don't really follow the game.
they didn't show a lot of basketball on tv either until a few years back. it was one of the nba live's (99, i think) that really got me interested in the NBA.

Do you think that just buying the game and try to play will make me learn how to?

I think so because I bought EA Fight Night not knowing much about boxing rules and I got the hang of it. I say just buy it, try to learn everything as you go.

Hey guys, thanks for your replies.
I decided to go for it, and right now I am downloading the demo of the 2004 version...so I can practice before 2005 comes out.

This brings up another question: I've read that the PC version is worse than the console version (for 2004). Do you know if the 2005 version will catch up?

i'd go with console if you have xbox especially, the biggest perks of the pc version are just the roster updates, which you can get easily with xbox too...

i'd go with console if you have xbox especially, the biggest perks of the pc version are just the roster updates, which you can get easily with xbox too...

You can also get them with PS2 but the only difference is with XBOX you don't need a memory card. You can save it to the Hard Drive on the XBox

Well imo American football is a hard sport to learn. I've been following football since I was like 7 so I grasped the concept of it in a few years.

www.maddenmania.com is a good place to go. It actually has more users than this site does.

Well, i think you can get into it pretty easily with madden. You can practice and in game you can let someone choose what strategie you are going to use for each play. The plays are well explained too, it's great after playing a while.
You better learn the base of the game though like 4 downs...etc.

I always buy it every year, it's a tradition.

Go to http://www.maddenmania.com for help.

The practice mode in Madden will teach you everything you need to know. It takes 30 minutes.

2005 will look good on your PC if you have a controller and also a high-quality videocard.

Football-Freaks.com
is a little bit better than Maddenmania because the forum people are quicker to help out so I recomend them

Any more questions lemme know

Good Luck on your learning

Thanks for the maddenmania site. i'm going to have to check that site out right now

when does Madden actually come out?

August 10th here I think 11 everywhere else

MaddeMania has good forums.

thanks guys

Yeah, maddenmania looks good...and I just registered.

Well...I played a couple of games with the demo 2004....I'll defintely need to study some rules

But what scares me more is the strategy behind this game...I guess it will take me a while before I can start to understand something (i.e. selecting plays by myself).

But I'm excited about it. You know..some videogames have "side effects". With Nba Live for example, I expanded my knowledge of the players soo much....My head is like a datebase right now. Hopefully Madden will help me in a similar way.

So, 10th of August eh?? Almost there!

.

Last edited by Homer on Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah, maddenmania looks good...and I just registered.

Well...I played a couple of games with the demo 2004....I'll defintely need to study some rules

But what scares me more is the strategy behind this game...I guess it will take me a while before I can start to understand something (i.e. selecting plays by myself).

But I'm excited about it. You know..some videogames have "side effects". With Nba Live for example, I expanded my knowledge of the players soo much....My head is like a datebase right now. Hopefully Madden will help me in a similar way.

So, 10th of August eh?? Almost there!

I could help you with alot of football stuff, since I actually play. I also own Madden 2004. Do you have aim or yahoo?

I could help you with alot of football stuff, since I actually play. I also own Madden 2004. Do you have aim or yahoo?

Cool

Right now I have to put it aside...I got 2 jobs and I'm working 60 hours/week. But only for the next 3 weeks...then I'll dedicate myself to madden. I've got msn and I use it with my gmail account acasali@gmail.com

I'll start by myself, but It's good to now I can ask you some question if I need...thanks!

.

Last edited by Homer on Tue Jun 09, 2009 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

Ok, I'll help.

Thanks! I'll sign up.

Also if i were you i wouldnt spend my money on Madden 2004,2005 is coming in 2 months(PC).

you might be right....but it's only 9.99 at compusa now...very tempting.

IGN Reviews:
PS2:http://ps2.ign.com/articles/536/536289p1.html
Xbox:http://xbox.ign.com/articles/536/536298p1.html
GameCube:http://cube.ign.com/articles/536/536285p1.html
PC should be out soon...

Well, here's a comparison:
PS2: 9.5
Xbox:9.5
GameCube:9.4

ESPN NFL 2K5
PS2:9.3
Xbox:9.4

Thanks goes out to IGN.

Whoa...

Someone tell me how Madden can receive a 9, 8, 7, 9, and 10 in the respective categories and receives a 9.5, while ESPN gets a 10, 9, 9, 9, and 10 and receives a 9.4.

I know it's not supposed to be an average but someone please show me the logic here. C'mon...