Madden NFL 2006 [PSP]

Six months ago, EA may have kicked the football out of the gate with the launch release of NFL Street 2 Unleashed, but Madden is the game everyone has been waiting for. The company slowly developed the portable version of the only licensed football video game, and some dared to hope that would translate to a masterpiece able to quell any rival... provided one existed. Though Madden 06 is a strong first step, it doesn't quite achieve that goal.

At first glance, this seems like an admirable conversion. Sure, the graphics and models look a little flat, but the action is clear and the presentation unassailable. Street features more impressive animations, but with so much going on all the time, we'll take clarity over flash. The sound is of mixed quality; EA's trend towards irritating licensed music continues unabated, though we just turned off the Trax to save battery power. There's plenty of commentary from John Madden and Al Michaels, and the on-field sounds are solid.

Similarly, the AI doesn't seem much reduced from the console releases. Teams will still lock onto any over-used play, and persistent attacks on a QB will still dampen his confidence. In short, while on the field, this feels like Madden, which is all anyone can expect from a port.

It's become tiring, but any discussion of a franchise ported to the PSP has to take account of how familiar controls work with the handheld's constrained interface. In this case, the glib summation is "not bad." The vision cone has been dumped, as there is no right stick to control it, and some defensive moves have been re-mapped to the triangle button for the same reason.

Otherwise, any console player should be able to grab their PSP and jump right in. It's that consistent. There's a bit of touchiness with the analog stick, which translates overly precise controls to running backs. (On field movement can feel too crisp and digital.) But on the flipside, the precision passing of this year's console game has been included, and works quite well.

For those new to the game, EA has raised the head count on the included training mini-games to 18. Through drills covering passing, running routes, and blocking, offense and defense get quite a workout. More important is that the mini-games will help new and old players adjust to the small differences and overall feel of the PSP's controls. Typically, extra mini-games are a cheap way to add content, but here it's a great move.

What this version of Madden really boasts, however, is some fine integration with the PS2 release. Franchise players can take games on the road by uploading info to their EA Locker from the PS2 console, then transfer play data back in the same manner. (This can require some irritating online navigation which Madden doesn't handle well, unfortunately.) And the franchise mode is as deep as on any console, with full control over trades, contracts, free agents, and training.

All this sounds pretty good so far. So why's the score not in the "great" range? In a word: fluidity. As in, Madden doesn't have it. Madden 06 has some of the worst load times and sludgy menu screens we've come across on the PSP. Having played all of EA's previous games, that's saying something. Calling a play takes time. Flipping through the menus takes time. Fully taking advantage of the trading and deal-making capacities of the franchise mode takes a lot of time.

In short, the people that should love the franchise mode may be put off by the performance. In addition to the sluggish menus, load times are too frequent and too long. Portable games should be fast and accessible, and Madden isn't. Granted, it's everything else the game should be, but until EA smoothes out performance on all fronts, less than patient buyers should be wary.