What a company will do to get some cash.

That is the question one should ponder prior to purchasing Madden 2006. With the next generation consoles at our doorstep, how much effort is EA going to put into this game?

Well the jury is in, and the long awaited verdict is in.

Not a whole hell of a lot. Millions of fans shelled out 50 bucks to get a regurgitated 2005 game with some fancy extra’s that in many ways hinder your play.

Lets go to Game play first, that is essentially the most important part of this game. Madden 2005 had a lot of flaws in game play. In 2006 they fixed enough flaws to create yet even more flaws and glitches.

The offense was over hauled quite a bit if you consider the vision cone advancement and not a deterrent.  The amount of finger movement in just one play is mind-boggling.  I give credit where credit is due, it is a much more realistic way of passing the ball, but for the majority of people who can’t hit 8 different buttons continually in a pattern to get off a pass in 3 seconds, its tough.  Sacks are way up, interceptions are up and the unrealistic stats are soaring. Blocking has improved and also has gotten worse. You can customize your blocking, yet you find yourself getting sacked every third pass because your tackles don’t know enough to jump outside to block the DE, so he lets him run in free and the offensive tackle just stands around. Any blitz usually ends up in a hurried pass, sack or an interception. 

The running game introduced the truck stick. Novel idea but poorly programmed. I find it hard to believe that a 5’10 running back that weighs 180lbs could truck stick a 6’0 230lb strong safety.  I have seen Rosco Parrish, maybe the smallest player in the NFL truck stick a Free safety. Somewhere down the line EA has got to test this game prior to releasing it.

The defense AI has improved and is as realistic as it is frustrating. They seem to learn your plays and then jump on them instantly. But the kicker is if you run a different play in the same formation, they still jump all your routes. Not to mention yet for the 4^th year, the computer AI seems to know your plays 100% of the time. Line up with 4 WR’s and 1 RB and have a draw play, they have a run stuffing formation in. Odd how they would know that, yet it has happened in Madden since I could remember.  Jet packing is still apparent; the 76 Speed linebacker will always catch your 95 speed WR and illegal contact down field? That isn’t in the Madden rulebook, your TE and WR’s over the middle will get held up, knocked off their route and they are pretty much useless to throw to.

Presentation is still complete ass. Its year 6 now that the presentation has been passed by. Even though it’s been on the top of many peoples list for a long time. Commentary has barely changed, the beginning of the game has cut down to 10 seconds, no halftime show, no post game show, absolutely nothing. Quite unbelievable that they would ‘mail it in’ on presentation for yet another year.

The Franchise, which is the main reason why a guy like me would get the game, has barely changed. They just took 2005 and stuck it into 2006. The only additions to this feature is a gameplan option during the year to prep for the upcoming opponent. They did tweak the draft so you can draft some players that are actually useful in some sort of way, but of course they seemed to over do it. Now you can get 80 rated players in the 4^th round.

Superstar mode is a complete and utter joke. A complete waste of time. I played it for 5 minutes, and all I was doing is practicing. Practicing does nothing to your rating, so why you practice is beyond me. I was getting offered a movie deal every other month, Terrel Davis stalked me and some wacko Webmaster kept painting me. The amount of time EA wasted on this useless feature is probably sickening.

The graphics were not touched; in fact I think they might have taken a step back. There was hardly any new animations for tackling, catching, etc. To round this all out the many glitches with the QB throwing the ball, are still there. The perfect 30-yard spiral after getting lambasted, the “incomplete” pass that really is a fumble and the 3 second a play 2 minute drill.

What will company do just to get some cash. It appears not a whole hell of a lot. The fans of madden have been squashed under EA’s feet. Now that the NFL has signed an exclusive agreement with the NFL, we are stuck with whatever EA dreams up to be a “cool” feature instead of giving the fans what they truly want. A solid game with minimal glitches and no frivolous garbage like Superstar mode.

• Starring: Queen Latifah, Jimmy Fallon, See more
• Director: Tim Story

• Rated:
• Studio: Fox Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: February 15, 2005
• Run Time: 97

TAXI

Over the course of ones lifetime, you figure to have seen some amazing movies and  then you can say you have seen some turdballs.  Well in this case, I am not sure I could compliment TAXI to say it was just a turdball.

Jimmy Fallon couldn’t convince a blind and deaf man into thinking he was a Cop. The acting abilities of Fallon really come to the forefront in this assjammer of a movie. From start to finish you just cringe and eventually become embarrassed for this guy. I mean he made millions for the movie, but people will look at this and pretty much know the guy is a wretched actor.

Queen Latifah is a solid actress, but has really pigeon holed her career into these cutesy movies that are poorly written and directed. Latifah spent the entire movie saying “whaaaat are you talking about?” or “You are so dumb!” I mean I hate to ruin the plot for you but that is essentially the complete story line.

There are a few saving graces of the movie. Casting models as the villains was a good movie and believe it or not, these models were better actors/actresses then the stars of the movie!  The outfits and the blatant attempt at putting these women in skimpy outfits were noticeable but appreciated.

The hottest scene of the movie was a Pat down of the Lieutenant played by Jennifer Esposito by the leader of the Female villains played by supermodel Gisele Bundchen. I stopped the DVD, replayed that scene a few times and found myself being aroused. One of the few scenes that I felt they did well, but this might not be the case for a female of course.

By the end of the movie, it was a relief it was over. No more cringing at poorly written lines, horrible acting, and an over-all pathetic ness to this waste of a DVD. The bloopers that aired during the credits was the only time I laughed throughout this so-called comedy. I suggested it be a Drama, because half way through this putrid film people would start crying that they just lost 4 bucks renting it.

I am not sure I have a rating for this movie. It was that bad. I have saw some real winners like My Boss’s Daughter and I am Sam, but this one is even worse. Believe that or not!

There are very few games in which I buy within a week of their release. Fable was a game I tracked for well over a year with anticipation. The hype behind the game was a phenom. "Fable will reinvent the RPG world." This was going to be the end all be all of console RPG games.

I had a good 3 hours time to get home and play this game right away plus a good amount of time over the weekend to continue on with it. When I write this review I have logged in a good 16 hours play time.

To start this off, I am going to say this. Don't believe the hype. This game did not re-invent anything. It is a console RPG game. But to break it down farther read the review below.

The first thing that I noticed is the Graphics. The graphics are detailed and well done. The problem I have with it, there is some haziness over all the graphics, and it always seems like I have to wipe the screen of fog. The colors are not that vibrant and that will always bother me. My guess it is a way to keep the processor from working so hard.

The camera angle for the game is tough to get used to. I enjoy looking all over the place and exploring areas that maybe end up being empty and useless but the search is the fun part. You can zoom in on your character, wheel the camera around but 24/7 you have your character in the middle of the screen.  Your only option for this is to take out your bow and you can manually move it around. Seems cheesy to me.

Interaction between character and NPC's are pretty fun and unique. As you grow powerful they act different. If you are Evil and well known people run in fright from you. They cower and stutter when you are around. If you are well known and good, they stand and applaud you. They walk up and thank you, they whisper how great you are and they women start to fall in love with you. The one good benefit of being good is you will have the pick of the litter with women, including married ones. This is by far the most unique part of the game.

The options you have to interact, range from a simple wave, to farting in the middle of a crowded pub. As your power and recognition grows so does your interaction options. This ranges from giving someone a Middle finger to giving a posed heroic laugh that makes girls melt. You can even attack innocent people if you wish but this will reflect badly on your good/evil rating. That would be good... if you are bad.

The actual combat play is very close to perfection in my opinion. You can lock onto a target and hack and slash, you can just hack and slash widely (when there are many attackers), you can aim your bow manually or a lock on. The use of bows and crossbows are truly a fun part of the game. From long range you can hit a target, but it takes skill to do it. There are many feature to the combat from combinations, to an unblockable strike when you avoid being hit for so many swings. Usually by now I am tired of the combat, not so in Fable. I still enjoy a good flogging.

The menu system has some great features and some horrible features. Someone mentioned that the menu system is very similar to clicking the START button on windows XP. Very true. Some random options pop up in the four bar quick menu system, but usually they are too random to even notice. When you get low on health the health potion option pops up on the quick menu, so all you have to do is click the D pad to the left and you use it. Nice touch, and easy to do.

There is some real odd features to the game that seem more like a work in progress then an actual working feature. The "spade" feature where you can dig up the ground for treasure seems to be some truly random thing. There is a five piece puzzle in regards to some huge treasure that can be found. I have only found one piece and I have to ask, what’s the use if by the time you get it if the game is almost over? Another feature is the fishing pole. This is actually kind of fun. You set yourself up along a shoreline or off a bridge and fish. Sometimes you catch a fish, sometimes you catch something else. Definitely a cool feature that they added.

You can have sex in the game. Get a wife and shag her all day and night if you wish. Don't worry Fable took out the possibility of having kids among many other features out of the game. So screw with no worries! You can buy a house, rent it out or live there with a wife. They even give you options to upgrade. There are demon doors through out the land that you have to either solve a riddle or perform some task for them to open up and give you some treasure.

The main plot line that you get dragged along is nothing to write home about. I will not divulge the details because I have already run through allot of the fun extra's I discovered. The point I would like to make is that this game is NOT open ended. It is very linear and you have to follow the main quest or you will be stuck in a time warp almost. The hype was based around being able to do whatever you wanted, and that is not the case.

If you take away the hype, the game is a fantastic RPG that will keep you entertained for a good 20+ hours. The replay value is pretty decent considering things change when you are good OR evil. You can even play it down the middle neutral. So realistically you can go through all the plots 3 different times with three completely different characters. Though this is quite a limitation it is a unique feature to the game to make this different.

If you don't take away hype, this game is a disappointment. It is a shell of what it was originally supposed to be. Lions head studio has done this before with the Black and White game. I have read how people say they can't wait for the follow up, and I just shake my head. It took them 3 years to develop this game that realistically only takes 15-20 hours to play and finish, we can expect the next one in 5 years with more hype and more let down.

I give the game a 35.00 rating. If you can buy the game for less then 40.00 it is probably worth it. But in the mean time rent the game and you have a good chance of beating it before taking it back. This game will be a steal next year when it drops to 19.99/29.99.

It seemed as soon as my father left, derrizal decided to take out her frustrations on me. It was a whirl wind of pain and screaming. Anyway I turned it seemed I could not get away. It was like she was possessed in beating me to death. I finally found the door to the equipment vault. I ripped open the door and went to shut it, but it wouldn't shut. She had her arm in the door and my closing it, pinned her arm.

"AHHHH! That hurt you worthless little guar hide!" She screamed.

At this point Derrizal lets me go and leave me locked up for a day or two. The door ripped open and I glanced back. This will not be one of those times I thought to myself. Derrizal charged me, knocked me into the corner and began kicking and hitting me. All I can remember was the first waves of pain, blinding and nauseating.  It was the last thing I recall before everything went numb and everything went black.

I awoke in my bed with a priest overlooking me. My head throbbed unbelievably, enough so that tears began to trickle down my cheek and onto the pillow.

"Quite a nasty fall you had there Radenal" he said softly with eyes of suspicion.

I moved my head to the side to see Derrizal standing across the room, with a very worried look on her face while she wringed her hands.

"It won't scare will it?" She said hopefully.

The priest glanced down, and then peered into my eyes.

"No. That shouldn't be a problem." He said with some restrain.

A relieved look came over Derrizal's face. She took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

The priest glanced over to the door as Derrizal left the room. Once the door was closed he looked back at me.

"Now little one, what truly happened here? No one gets in imprint of a boot on their forehead when they fall out of a tree." the priest asks soothingly.

I begin to sob uncontrollably. The pain from my heaves and quakes was almost unbearable. I could see him wave his hand around and the pain slowly subsided. He opened a vial of light blue liquid. I opened my mouth and he poured it into my mouth. A warm safe feeling came over me as I drifted off to sleep. The last thing I saw was the priest standing up from the bedside gritting his teeth.

During Christmas season last year, I was wandering through the video game area of Best Buy. I was supposed to be buying gifts for my family and friends, but something just drew me to the area. Kinda of an unexplained phenomena.

Best Buy always has a top seller on a sick sale, like a 50 dollar game for 29.99. So I went to see what it was.  Well they had TWO games on sale. Dead or Alive Xtreme beach volleyball and Splinter Cell. Since it was the Christmas season and I was in the spirit of buying, I bought both games.

I truly enjoyed the original Splinter cell. So I looked forward to playing the new one.  I did regret a bit buying the first Splinter Cell because of its limitations. I buy games like Morrowinds and Grand Theft Auto because there wide range of possibilities. You can do all different things all the time, while games like Splinter Cell are confined to accomplishing one task, and that is it.

Anyways, enough with my mumbo-jumbo.

The game starts off with some great graphics, and the beginning of the story.  I watched it twice because it’s not really that informative. But much to my hastiness, they inform you of what is really going on a few minutes later while you get dropped off in some water.

The game picks up where it really left off, having your character have to watch where he walks, how he walks and things he does. There is some official in your ear at all times telling you what you have to do and if you screwed up.

The graphics are killer. They best the last game with sharper and tighter scenarios.  The attention to detail in everything really makes you want to play this game more.  The sunset is very realistic and casts a orange glow on most of the buildings, while water looks and sounds like water. If you have ever played some older video games, water usually looks like glass in most video games.

The game play is still very fun and exciting.  He has some new moves now, like a spin move to move from doorway to doorway.  I found that the original game made me nervous to play. I get to a point in the game where you can't screw up and you move like 2 inches in a minute. I have no nails left.

The plot is similar in most ways to the original, and of course a few different things. but over-all it is definitely in line with what Splinter Cell is all about.

Over all the game is an improvement over the original, and should keep fans very happy. 

I rate this game 40.00 out of 50.00. For the fans of the game, it has good replay value. If you are going to rent it, make sure you have enough time to play it, this is not a 30 minute game. One part of a mission took me 45 minutes to sneak around. This is a solid game that you will have fun with.

I went to my local Blockbuster to find a game to rent and review. I am truly getting sick of the skate board/snow boarding games. I also have been seeing a surge in funky cutesy racing games and the redundant fighting games. I am waiting for some real good Xbox games to hit the shelves soon like "Fable."

I walked up to the counter of my local blockbuster and asked if they had any new games out.  The cute girl at the counter said, "this one isn't that new but it just got returned and it gets rented usually the same day it is returned." So I told her I would rent it. The name of the game was Prince of Persia.

The opening sequence was inspiring. A cool sequence into your game lets you learn how to play while starting off a great adventure.  The controls were easy, and quite unique. So far so good for the POP game.

The non combat moves are extensive. From walking on walls to flipping around, and over balconies, this game is very unique in that aspect.  There are many different ways you can get through and around obstacles.  The majority of the moves are used right from the get-go and you can get used to it.

After five or so combat sequences, I was finding out that there are like three moves the Prince has, a hack, slash and some "jump over a guy move."  I felt very limited in my movements in combat. Another problem was once you engaged in combat you get into this hunch and you couldn't run around at all.  I just felt that the fighting wasn't living up to this games level.

I went through scene after scene and it seemed like the same damn thing over and over again.  Jumping from pole to pole, fighting zombie creatures and wondering where I had to go next.  The game was becoming redundant even before the first 2 hours of game play! It took awhile of going through the same things, but I made it to a point that you meet up with the girl. More then likely the love interest for the Prince.  She is a Disney knock off, and unspectacular.

Where Prince of Persia made its mark with me was the graphics. The wonderful graphics were well structured and realistic.  People looked realistic and so did the surrounding area.  The interaction to your character and the surrounding area was very limited.  There wasn't much you could do with objects, tables, etc.

According to the game completion meter, I finished 20% of Prince of Persia – Sands of Time and to be honest, I was bored.  I was able to play the game for another couple days, but I returned it. I am not discounting this game, it is a quality game, but it was to limited and repetitious for my taste buds.

I rate this game at 30.00 out of 50.00.  Worth a rent for sure and even a buy if you find it reduced.

My Boss's Daughter... I was debating on whether to review this movie. Can a movie be so bad that you can't review it? Can I come up with enough descriptive adjectives to relay my complete dislike for this horrible flick? I will give it my best shot.

Let me lead you in with how I came across this DVD. My friend bought this movie because he is a big Carmen Electra fan.  He said there were some hot moments in the movie with Carmen and some Saturday Night Live chick (Molly Shannon).  I figured, for free, what the hell! What do I have to lose right?

It started off slow, and I chuckled a few times. Ashton's character is trying to hit on Tara Reid on a subway train.  Can Tara get anymore eye liner on her eyes??? I never really thought she was that good looking to begin with, even in the American Pie.  Ashton's character gets into these impossible situations and eventually makes a complete ass of himself (surprise) in front of Tara.  At that point in the movie, I was fairly sure this is going to suck.

As the movie progresses I became embarrassed for these actors. Who wrote this crappy script and how in gods name did a studio OK a complete mess like this?  None of the movie was all that funny. Yeah there was one or two laughs, but it was so forced and scripted, not to mention the truly weird plot.

The few saving graces was the Carmen Electra wet t-shirt scene. Fake or not, she has some beautiful cans. Carmen is a beautiful girl, but this movie was not for her.  Carmen was friends with a bunch of rednecks? Even a hot trailer park girls tries to hang with a better crowd then that.  Molly Shannon played the obnoxious woman who Ashton's character accidentally got fired from her job.  Molly doesn't have that bad of a body, and it shows in the movie. Unfortunately that head of hers is attached to that body.  The boob feeling sequence with Carmen-Ashton-Molly was interesting, but not all that hot.

Over-all the movie sucked.  It was a bad episode of Frasier.  The acting was bad, the script was worse and the director of this move should of stopped production two days in and said screw it.  This was a horrible flick.

What did I have to lose I said.  Well a good hour of my life GONE.  I will never get that back. If you can get this for FREE.  Go for it, but don't waste any money on this whether it is renting or buying.  I give it 0.00 out of 20.00.  You might feel like you lost an hour of your life for nothing too!