Not your everyday Madden review...
See, back in the old days of Madden, there was this idea that every year the game was around, the game was getting better, fuller, and more like the real NFL game. You could always count on some glitch or screwy tweak you could perform to win all the time. But as the years went by, the Madden crew got better at delivering a truer NFL football gameplay experience, leaving out the tweaks and goofy predictability.
For this year's release, the gameplay model seemed to be the major focus of the guys who write this game (or update rosters...). What I've noticed the most about the gameplay is how the players appear to react with more realism to what's occuring on the field during the play. In the past, you could rely on linebackers watching the ball sail past their heads. You could rely on runningback sprinting to the sidelines and then turning upfield for a big gain. Not this year.
The reaction system written into this release makes the gameplayer's job all the more challenging. You have to look to different formations, hot routes, audibles, and key players to be successful on either side of the ball. You have to adjust your thinking, just as a football coach would. You have to take what a defense gives you in order to sustain drives. The reality is that you just need more practice at making plays, both big and little, to be a success here.
These are good things. Knowing the game of football is important, not just being a button mashing punk. Understanding blitz packages, option routes, clock management, and much more are real concerns you need to account for. If you're trailing in a game, you can't just bomb it down field to catch up. You have to dink and dunk your way down the field sometimes. You can't abandon the run just because you're behind. And, perhaps more importantly, you can't just sit on running plays to eat clock when you're ahead. Now these are all single player concepts, but since I don't play online, I don't give a rip about playing against other people.
The franchise mode is pretty damn cool. You can do a lot here. The superstar mode seems to be the bastard child of this game, as it's stripped down to a calendar view just like NCAA 08. It's a shame too, since the boys who wrote this game really pushed the whole "Hall of Fame" thing last year. I guess the honeymoon is over.
What's troubling though, is that the general Madden feel has been stripped away and replaced by a homogenized game presentation and play experience. The raspy-voiced radio announcer is a cheap-ass way of replacing the expensive-to-hire Madden and Michaels. The ring builder is pretty dumn, since all you do is build up points. There's nothing you can do with it other than log time. The trophy thing is pretty lame also. Gone are Madden cards with cheats and powerups. But most sadly, gone is John and Al. Even though their voiceovers are tired by now, they were still part of this franchise. Remember the days of Pat Summerall and John Madden? They partnered together broadcasting for CBS and Fox for 22 years together!
I guess what's the most troubling of all is knowing that other game builders and publishers have great ideas on how to make the NFL football experience come to life on consoles, but are asked politely to shut their mouths and bow down to the mighty EA Sports. The contract won't last forever, and if Roger Goddell and his posse help decide things when it comes to console games, they won't offer any exclusive contracts anymore. Monopolies kill competition and kill innovation. The Madden series would be much better today if the exclusive contract was never considered by the NFL.
My only wishlist item would be that next year's game use DVD technology to pack more crap into the same box so EA couldn't shrug and say "we had to remove some things to make room for others..." What a bunch of crap that is! Sorry guys, but you can't fool me. You have Nex Gen consoles that have hard drives and network connections that can store a butt load more data than you say you pack onto one disc. Get with the damn program and make an all out effort to release a game that leaves nothing out. I want a Disneyland's worth of stuff to do in your game, not just a screen and a calendar!
This game would be perfect if I could change my imported CL quaterback's appearance and so on... Jerks!