Reviewed by David Farland
As another season passes and the customary anticipation mounts, I finally throw the Madden 11 disc in eagerly for my hype to be met with…trepidation?
That is seldom a fear that should be in conjunction with the EA staple series, but when you know how good this game has the potential to be, you have expectations that you’re scared for some illogical reason won’t be met. So this year round after plenty of mulling, I’m not going to say that they were off-target completely, but it was definitely no bulls-eye by any stretch either. This undoubtedly is a little disappointing, but more frustrating as the EA mega-franchise has had ample practice to get things plum.
My biggest concern with Madden every year is the gameplay. Is it really going to look and feel like the NFL I know and love? Well, this year’s game has come close as it ever has, but with some drawbacks.
The things that are good are the little touches like deemphasising the suction field of the hit stick so the timing and spacing have to be more tuned, making it feel pretty bloody good when you land a savage hit-stick. Same goes with the new dual-control setup that’s been introduced on the field now that the turbo (sprint) button has been eliminated. Admittedly it feels pretty weird at the beginning when it’s gone (and for those who can’t live without it, you can keep it by changing the settings) but after a while, like everything new, you just adapt and you’ll notice your player adjusting his speed accordingly. This gives you more control when running as all the moves can be maneuvered using the right stick.
You will also find that the players finally have a sense of out of bounds now. If you throw a ball to the endzone, the animation ensures that they catch and maintain possession in-bounds creating a touchdown, instead of their previous generic gameplay momentum taking them straight out. Also I’ve found with running to the endzone to score, the developers have tweaked the line-to-ball ruling. Normally you would need to get at least a leg or your entire body over to score, but as in real life, as long as the ball has touched the air above the line, it’s six points.
On the flipside of the good stuff, EA has now jacked up the AI in regards to the O-linemen landing and holding successful blocks – which by itself a good thing, but once you get out into open field because of the extra space, it is all just a case of literally moving left and right to burn down some heavy yards. Reason being is the introduction of new ‘cut moves’ which are just in essence glorified directional changes. So now when you are breaking away down field, to beat the defenders is far too easy. In all other Madden editions, you had to always work to school a defender, whether it was a well-timed juke, spin, or stiff-arm. But now I just simply turn left at pace, and the cornerback is left sitting on his arse. As a result I found myself pulling off multiple 300+ yard games ON THE GROUND on the All-Pro difficulty, which people should know is no easy feat in previous titles.
The biggest feature introduction into Madden 11 is called GameFlow. It's an automated play calling feature that shortens a typical gameplay experience to about 30 minutes (where it used be closer to an hour) by theoretically cutting the amount plays from more than 300 to one. I think if you're someone who's new to Madden or if the complexity of figuring out formation types was too much for you in the past, you're going to enjoy the bulk of what GameFlow does for you. On the other end, if you're a fairly hardcore football fan like me who knows their X's and O's, chances are you aren't going to use the feature all that much. The AI can make some pretty idiotic play calls that, while they won't be noticed by casual players looking for a quick game, will likely be lamented by hardcore veterans of the series.
On the defensive side of the ball, EA Sports tried to turn all of the hot routing and assignment changing functionality you're used to into something called the Strategy Pad, but the results are a bit frustrating. You navigate through options with the D-Pad, adding one extra button press to access the aforementioned functions. Anyone playing against a fast-paced offense is going to be a bit handcuffed to make their adjustments in time before the snap.
EA Sports did take the time to enhance its presentational elements with a new commentator Gus Johnson replacing Tom Hammond in the booth and he seems to provide a lot more intensity with the in-game calling. It’s still a bit shaky and a little cheesy, but not too bad for his first year and I’m sure he’ll stick around to perfect the craft for editions to come.
Also the new game mode Ultimate Team that was introduced in a patch last year in Madden 10 is now a permanent fixture. It combines the franchise mode with live fantasy football as the season progresses with the resurrection of Madden Cards that you collect to help you boost stats and even collect info on your opponent’s tendencies. It looks like a whole lot of fun if you have the time to get in-depth.
The other big addition in the way of presentation elements is new Super Bowl celebrations that do a great job of delivering the weight of the event. Winning the biggest game in football no longer feels like any other Sunday. Now Gus delivers team-specific commentary to let you know that what you just accomplished is something special. Oh, and Obama makes an appearance too, which is…unnecessary? Americans I guess.
So all-in-all Madden 11 is still overall a good game, and one I will still play a lot of because there are plenty of great aspects about it, and also because there really isn’t any other alternative. It just seems that EA Sports can’t settle on some features that are tried and true and just leave them at that. They always have this need to be shaking things up with a kind of callous hit-and-miss approach. When we get a great edition - predecessor Madden 10 for instance - a few tweaks here and there with updates wouldn’t go astray. But this unrelenting effort to be cutting edge every year becomes unsettling for all the Madden series veterans who just want to play some football.
Four stars.
Madden NFL 11
:: Publisher: Electronic Arts
:: Developer: EA Sports
:: Format: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
:: Rating: G