Quicker. Simpler. Deeper. Madden ’11, such is the Moniker for the latest edition of Madden NFL football, and the question for this year’s madden is: does it live up to the moniker?
The popular football franchise hit the shelves a little over two weeks ago, which is just long enough for VGH to see all they need to see about this game.
EA Sports Tiburon’s Madden ’11 continues where Madden ’10 took off, in gearing towards the more casual sports gamer, and after a couple weeks of playing it, you notice this. All the major changes to this year’s edition of Madden are in the game play, and how the game is run and/or progressed. Elements of presentation that used to take up time such as seeing the chain gang on most every short yardage situation have been eliminated, much to the pleasure of Madden fans everywhere. Madden ’11 is filled with subtle, and obvious changes throughout the game that really makes it difficult to judge. For VGH’s review, I will break down the pros and cons of each of Madden ‘11’s new features, as well as her more traditional ones.
First up, GameFlow.
What is GameFlow exactly? It is a brand new, intelligent play calling system. Instead of sifting through your playbook looking at hundreds of plays, GameFlow picks one for you. It uses the situation you are in to decide which one. For example, if it is 2nd and 4, you are more likely to get a running play, or a passing play that has shorter routes for your receivers. Most of the time GameFlow is satisfying. If it is 1st and 10 on my own 43 yard line in the middle of the second quarter, I don’t really care what my play is, so GameFlow helps me with that. You are still able to audible and change your play at the line of scrimmage, so you are not completely surrendering control to the A.I.
The second goal of GameFlow was to cut down the times it took to complete full games. This is where GameFlow comes up short, but not because of the engine itself. When playing online ranked matches, many hardcore Madden players do not fancy giving up their play calls, especially since most of them have only twelve cheap plays they run anyway. So if you are using GameFlow on offense, and your opponent is not using it on defense, the game still takes forty minutes. However, if you are just playing a game against the A.I., GameFlow does significantly reduce the time it takes to finish a game.
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| GameFlow in action. |
Some of the issues that other gamers have raised over GameFlow is the creativity of its play calling. Not to say that GameFlow isn’t creative, it is just that if you use it enough in one game, you will use the same plays a few times. The way I see this, is that you cannot duplicate the play calling of an offensive guru, such as myself. Half the time I am changing my play before the snap anyway, so I fail to see the issue here.
The only major inconvenience I have experienced on GameFlow is the use of the Wildcat offense. I despise it, and never use it. But, of course, on 3rd down, GameFlow decides it is time to run the Wildcat and calls a half-back pass. Since the inclusion of this trick play, I have never seen it work.
All in all, GameFlow is good and fun. I cannot wait to see how it improves.
Next in the list of Madden’s additions is new commentary in Gus Johnson. He gets excited in the game, and adds a little spice to big moments in the game. At first glance, this is an upgrade to previous Madden commentary, but after two weeks of playing this game, all I want him to do is shut up. Whether it is him giving bad nicknames to players, or him singing the Batman theme song whenever somebody breaks away for a touchdown, Gus Johnson just gets on my nerves. So much that I actually listen to the horrid Cris Collinsworth now. I understand what EA Sports was trying to do with Johnson, and to a degree he was a success, but the audio clips are limited and you will hear the same things in back to back games. I am not saying do away with Gus Johnson, just make him tolerable. The excitement is good, but the audio clips they chose to include in the game are just bad. All you need to do is hear him sing“San Diegooo, Superrr Chaaaaargers!” one time, and you are ready to quit.
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| Great commentary...for real life. |
Another addition to the audio experience of Madden is the inclusion of stadium chants and sounds, this is something I was particularly interested in. As a huge soccer fan, I especially cherish the songs that fans have made to sing during games. They have been enjoyable in the FIFA titles, and I was curious to see how they would do in the Madden title. My reaction is the same as Gus Johnson, exciting at first, but then, just annoying.
To begin with, the best chants and songs that actually are not annoying in real life, are overplayed during games and just make me want to puke after awhile. Even the beloved “Go, Pack, Go!” chant of my beloved Packers has gotten on my nerves. The J-E-T-S chant for the Jets is just another annoyance to the game. But, what about the stadium songs that play for each team? I’m afraid they are equally, if not more annoying. Sorry Eagles fans, but I do not want to hear “Fly, Eagles, Fly” after every score you make.
My last rip on the stadium sounds addition is the audio quality. For some, not all, of the chants, it doesn’t sound like 70,000 people in harmony. It sounds like 15 guys in an empty bar downtown. In other words, just bad. This is most noticeable in the king of all annoying chants, the “Who Dat!” chant of the Saints. Not only do I have to listen to this abomination, but now the people singing it, suck.
Of course how can I forget to mention Online Team Play? Three on Three games of Madden have been surprisingly entertaining. Running back-yard plays with your friends, and using teamwork on defense is wildly satisfying, and this feature is a surprising hit this year. There is a lot of potential for this feature, such as Online Team Play Leagues, tournaments, and even more.
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| Online Team Play...wait, is that Connor Barth!?! |
So with all of these new additions to the game experience, Madden seems to be getting it all right, right? Unfortunately, the crew at EA Tiburon have been spending so much time paying attention to the in-game experience, they have completely forgotten about the other aspect of football: team management and the Franchise Mode.
For those of you who like playing with your favorite team for seasons on end, winning Super Bowls, drafting rookies, all that fun stuff, you will be sorely disappointed in this year’s Madden. Franchise Mode is absolutely no different from last year’s. The same hub, the same feel, and the same dry feeling that you should not get. However, I should point out that the Super Bowl celebration has been greatly enhanced, which is really cool...but that requires you to win the Super Bowl to experience a change in Franchise mode.
I used to be able to enjoy multiple seasons on Madden, now, I’m not sure if I can make it through one before I hang myself of repetition.
What about the SuperStar mode that has been surprisingly popular? Like her Franchise Mode sister, she is left untouched. No additions, no changes at all. You just pick a player, and play with only them over the years. It is boring and in my opinion, inconsequential to the value of this game.
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| The brand new kick meter |
That about sums up most of what I have observed about Madden, but there are still three major elements I would like to discuss. One of them is a major pro, the other, a huge con, and the other will ultimately decide what I rate this game.
I will start with the bad. Online Franchise.
EA Sports absolutely, 100% dropped the ball here. Last year when Online Franchise was introduced, there were a few tiny grievances that gamers had with it, but were overlooked because we all assumed they would be dealt with in future titles. EA Sports, you disappointed us.
Online Franchise is identical to last year’s. There is still no salary cap, you still cannot practice with your team, and the player progression is still pre-set, meaning it doesn’t matter if he throws 30 touchdowns or 3 touchdowns, your player will progress the same. It is wrong of EA to charge the Online Pass to gamers buying used copies, because you are charging them for Madden ’10 features, not Madden ’11.
Now for the good, the overall game play.
I take my hats off to EA Tiburon and congratulate them on the most realistic game play to date. Exciting animations, realistic player movement and locomotion have made this game both fun and realistic. Who knew the deletion of the “sprint-trigger” would be such a success? The auto-sprint is smart and feels the same as if I was using the spring trigger. Quarterbacks are now hindered by their throwing motions, and acceleration is now more important than speed. The offensive line provides decent run blocks, that allow you do be patient and wait for holes to open up. The offensive line still struggles with pass blocking, but I will blame that on over-blitzing from online opponents.
The kicking game has been re-shaped as well. Instead of using the right stick to kick field goals and punt the ball, you now have a bar in which you press A to determine the power and accuracy. It is difficult to explain, all I can tell you is that you will miss more extra points and kickoffs in Madden '11 than you have your entire life.
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| My name is Chris Johnson, and this is my offensive line. we're here to wreck shit. |
Which of course, brings me to the final and most important topic of this game. Online game experience.
I realize the ESRB does not rate your Xbox Live experience, but if I am paying $60 for a game that includes an online experience, I am going to judge it.
Madden players are as cheap as ever. Game exploits are down this year, but the same cheap, unstoppable plays are alive and well. Things like coming out in a goal line formation every play, to run the clock and gain four yards every play. To things like eight man blitzes that will render any offense useless. It is this little things that hold Madden back form being an amazing game.
However, to be completely fair to Madden, it is not the game’s fault. The Madden community kills its own game with these kind of tactics and strategies.
So the time has come to give a verdict on Madden '11.
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| Timmy! |
The dryness of the offline game modes really hurts this game, but the game play is so fantastic that it is hard to be too critical of the overall package.
My VGH verdict is: if you are a yearly Madden player, buy it. We have been waiting for this game play for years.
If you are a casual gamer, let this one pass, maybe buy it reduced when football season is over.
Thank you all for reading!
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Madden is good this year....So was last years madden, and the year before. Madden since next gen has become a product of itself year after year. Franchise mode remains unchanged which is very frustrating year after year. What happened to owner mode? or even the interactive training camp games before the season. Those were fun. This years madden is really not much different from last year. I have been a loyal fan of Madden for about 11 years now and there have been some great changes to the franchise but the past few years are going backward. Last years All Madden setting was very hard to run, this year its incredibly easy to run for 200+ yards per game. Also to get ran on for 200+ yards is very easy for the AI to accomplish. When will they get it right? I will leave out my complaints about the whiff stick this year. The developers keep sending out the same thing every year and it is making this awesome franchise very boring. If some changes aren't made for the next year I am probably going to stop buying the franchise until they are made. A Word to the developers...STOP FOCUSING ON SELLING MORE COPIES BY DUMBING DOWN THE GAME, you are going to lose some of your very loyal fans if you do not try a little harder with the franchise. If you need evidence look at basically every single review on the list from the readers. I don't know why i even bothered typing this whole thing because i know there will be nothing done about all of our complain
defense and special teams are pitiful. i kid you not, i was playing this guy online and within the second quarter the score was 46:21 me. i was the st louis rams and he was the washington redskins! he ran back three kickoff returns, including one that was squibbed. i had to onside from then on. also, i don't know who's idea it was to change the pre-snap controls, but whoever it was, i want to beat him up with a stick.
@ Lamont23Dh
Have you looked in the settings menu? The option to turn the sprint button back on is right there in clear view. There is no need to wait for a patch for this reason.
P.S. Good relaxing music in the background LOL.
This Madden took a nose dive into, "I will never buy another Madden as long as I live, mode"..
No, speed boost you idiots left the QB's hanging. You can't scramble with out the speed boost. It makes the cuts more realistic, HUH?? If you don't put out a update to bring back that speed button. EA will be finished in football...period.
Thanks for the responses guys! let me get on this.
Dallas GB: I am willing to completely ignore my biggest pet-peeve which is people typing in all caps while substituting letters and numbers for words.
I see your complaint. I too am sometimes annoyed by the quarterback drop back system. It doesn't let me control him very well, and if my opponent is blitzing 8 guys, he will get sacked more than half the time. My advice is run out of shotgun with runningbacks to block.
Creezpeezi: I agree with you, a number of loyal Madden followers are abandoning the game because of how little attention Tiburon is spending on classic game modes. While I think the realism and authenticity is important, you need to be able to work both things.
Rentthedog: I have no idea what you mean with special teams, because they are incredibly hard!
But I am with you about the pre-snap controls. I am getting the hang of it, but having to hit one extra button means the world to a fast adjusting defense.
Lamont23Dh: The turbo button is there.
Tru bucs fan:
I think they are banking on the fact that most Madden fans will always buy the game, regardless of what they do, so they might as well target the casual audience.
Thanks for the comments guys!!