My wife gave me EA Sports Platinum Series Controllers from Jakks Pacific for Valentine's Day. For some reason, Amazon.com's catalog says this controller set has three games built in, but it actually has only two games: Madden '95 and NHL '95.

This was a nice gift for me because enjoyed playing NHL '95 on the Sega Genesis game system very much. As far as I'm concerned, that's the only reason to own these controllers. While the NHL '95 game feels very much like the Sega Genesis game it emulates, the Madden '95 game seems less authentic.

I find the play calling interface in Madden '95 fairly difficult to use. Each play is represented by a descriptive phrase and a graphic representing the player formation. Some of the phrases that descibe the plays are difficult to read. This impairs the playability of the football game.

Every one of these Plug and Play TV Games made by Jakks has features that are slightly simplified, compared with the original games that are being reissued. In both Madden '95 and NHL '95, they've deleted the names of the players on each team, probably because having the names would have added to the licensing costs.

When I'm playing NHL '95 and I see the New York Rangers numbers 11, 35, and 2-- I immediately think of Mark Messier, Mike Richter, and Brian Leech. Clearly that's who the on-screen players are. The problem I run into is that I don't remember the players on many other NHL teams in 1995 as well.

I enjoyed playing NHL '95 very much and I think that game alone is worth what my wife paid for it. If you are a Madden '95 fan, I'd be cautious about getting my hopes up. I may understand the game better after I play it a few more times, but right now I find Madden '95 is more trouble than it's worth.