In the world of video games, there are those few that move progressively forward, treading new ground; there is the greater group that seem content to parlay popular concepts and ideas and tread water, so to speak; and then there are those titles that, for whatever reason, seem to be a throwback in style to an earlier gaming era.

Madden NFL 06, on the Game Boy Advance, falls into that latter category. This game seems to be a retro title, reminiscing the arcade days when sprites ran in from the sidelines before every play, the view was from the end zone and the graphic style was simplistic at best, with player size eclipsed by the size of the ball.

What is startling is that this year’s version, from Electronic Arts, boasts some graphic tweaks that have upgraded the graphics.

Football is a particularly hard game to render and Madden NFL 06, with the nuances of the home console platforms and their graphical capabilities, tries to make the game experience as realistic as possible. Unfortunately, the GBA is a machine with limited capabilities in that regard, so giving the game this retro-arcade look is one of the more viable options. The game does have updated rosters and has added mini games to bolster passing, running field goal and tackling techniques.

The game features four modes of play – season, two minute drill, situation and practice. The game also has the ability to manage rosters, earn tokens for Madden Cards, a power rating system, and a series of challenges (completion of which gives players those tokens for those aforementioned Madden Cards) 

The playcalling is simple. Between plays you are afforded the opportunity to pick a formation and then draw from a list of plays available for that formation using the hot buttons and shoulder buttons. Once you have the play selected, snap the ball and available players, for offensive plays, are assigned hot buttons. Receivers may be labeled A, B, L or R. To throw to a particular receiver, simply hit the corresponding button.

The control mechanics are really rather simplistic, but there are factors that come into play, such as opposing team strength, formations and the like which do prohibit even the New England Patriots from marching down the field to score each time they touch the ball.

The kicking game is based off the more standard console function with a meter to measure strength and accuracy.

The game’s sound is simplistic and the commentary is basic. 

Considering the graphical quality of games available on handheld platforms these days, the retro-arcade look of Madden NFL 06 is a style better left in the past. This game just does not measure up to today’s gaming standard. This is not a bad game, by any means; it just harkens a past time in gaming and underscores some of the limitations of the GBA when compared to its handheld competitors, including its Nintendo cousin. 

Gameplay: 7.0
The game does move smoothly and quickly although you may be warned to hurry up, even though the play clock shows 20 seconds before a flag is thrown for delay of game. The framerate seems steady, though.

Graphics: 6.5
This is a sprite-based football game. The animation is rudimentary and if you are used to higher-quality graphics from the Nintendo DS, this may be a bit of a shock to the system. But this is the way it used to be, a long time ago in an arcade galaxy far, far away.

Sound: 6.0
The commentary is very basic, at best, and could be excluded with no penalty flags thrown.

Difficulty: Medium
This perspective takes a bit to get readjusted to but the game has solid challenge and gives players the opportunity to skill up to march down the path to the Super Bowl.

Concept: 6.5
Rosters, uniforms, logos, a small tweak to the graphics and mini games are all that is new here.

Multiplayer: N/A
Unable to test this, but the game does have 2-player link play available.

Overall: 6.8
This is not a bad game, but it doesn’t make the playoffs when compared to other handheld systems. The GBA shows its age and limitations with this title. Still, if you have a hankering for those old-style arcade sprite-based games, this may fit the bill.