EA did a Good Job... Not revolutionary, but the best Madden I have played.
Now, this is my first Madden purchase since '02. The challenge presented to me is by far the biggest since Madden 95. Do people hate on this game so much because they aren't any good? I played 2K5 and I have to say it is pretty lame. I know a lot of people like it, I don't know what they see in it. Kind of like the ugly girl with a good personality. You might be able to date her, but I can't.
2K5 aside, Madden gets it right in more categories than they get it wrong. QB's have a "real" pocket to pass from. Pretty much anything an opponent does can be successfully countered if you know what to do.
A blitz or line crash can be picked up by a slide protect. You can key on a certain offensive player, effectively shutting him down, (although it leaves another player wide open). Passes over the middle can be defended by selecting the proper coverage in Playmaker.
Madden 10 just has the welcoming competition to me. I am not that good on the sticks. I really like learning how to play it and seeing the results of practicing plays over and over.
This is the only NFL game out there, but that doesn't mean EA didn't try. Don't believe all the hype from 2K5 fans, EA has put out a reliable game year after year. It's always in the game with EA.
It does have its moments when a fumble or running into the kicker penalty gives my opponent another opportunity to come back when the game should've been over. My online record sucks because of this. 3 out of my 5 losses have been from fluke turnovers or kick returns for td as time expired.
I would like to break the game into a million pieces when this happens. But, you know, what goes around comes around. The same crap that happens to me will happen to them the next time. Football has to be on EA for the time being.