Madden NFL 11 – Reviewed (PS3, 360)
Well, this Thursday marks the start of the new NFL season. The bad news is that I have to endure another rollercoaster season supporting the Raiders. The good news is that I get my yearly fix of Madden to try and turn the negative tide that surrounds my team.
I have been a long time supporter of the Madden franchise and have seen many ups and downs. As with all sports franchise games, the owness has always been to try and improve the way the game is played and to also make it as realistic as possible. The problem with this has always been that while many improvements are made to a game, sometimes there has also been some bad decisions included too. Luckily for us Madden NFL 11 has made some big leaps in this year’s edition of the game and with Gameflow, which I will talk about later, it has also made a lot of headway into bringing people that are unfamiliar to America’s largest sport into its loving arms.
Madden has always been a franchise that will sell heavily due to the popularity of the sport in the U.S. and although you may think that it may not sell here, there are enough American Football fans in Europe to justify its release. As with all yearly sports franchises now I will concentrate on the improvements, rather than the game as a whole because this will be what you will think about if you are considering purchasing the title as an upgrade or are feeling that this may be a title that you would want to sink your teeth into.
The first improvement and arguably the biggest one too is the introduction of Gameflow. Unless you really know your gridiron or have been a long time player of Madden you could initially find the sport very confusing. Although the basis of Madden is quite simple, the playbooks and what plays to execute have always caused a nightmare as you come to terms with what I formations are, why establishing the run is important, etc. A few attempts have been made in the past to try and explain things in order for you to learn the more intricate aspects of the game but only to some degree of success.
Gameflow not only speeds up the game but also allows you to learn where and when plays will work which is essential to gamers that are unfamiliar with the sport. Gameflow will not only automatically choose the best play from your teams playbook against a certain situation but your coach will explain to you the reason for this play through your headset so you can concentrate on executing the play rather than getting confused at all the extra information pre-snap.
Gameflow can also be used in conjunction with Game Planner which is a handy little tool to develop your own playbook using the hundreds of plays available and setting them up for down and yardage situations. Not only does this take away the displeasure of having to trawl through pages of different plays but Game Planner will allow you to execute plays like real coaches do and also speed up the time it takes to play a game and therefore appeal to a more pick and play band of gamers. Of course, both of these features can be switched off for the Madden officienado but I would highly recommend any beginner to the game keeping Gameflow on until you become more familiar with it. Game Planner though is a must for everyone and I cannot emphasise enough how much this has refined and streamlined the game for the better.
Along with the traditional updates to the rosters and uniforms a few gameplay tweaks have also been included, most important of all being LocoMotion. For how great a game Madden is there has always been a problem with trying to make the players move more realistically. LocoMotion, I am happy to say, has taken a lot of these problems away and introduces the most realistic movement system in a Madden game yet. The turbo button has been taken away as default and has been replaced by a stick system that takes away a lot of the complexities of trying to blast through opponents defences. The left stick is still your traditional direction control but some key moves have been mapped to the right stick to enable subtle left and right dodges plus leaning into a tackle which adds more realism to the contact part of the game. Due to these tweaks the game feels a lot smoother and more intuitive with an added sense of immersion that has not been felt before.
The final addition to Madden NFL 11 that deserves a mention is Ultimate Team which was first seen in Fifa 09. Although not strictly a new addition (it was released as a download for Madden NFL 10) Ultimate Team now ships out of the box. In the simplest terms, Ultimate Team is a trading card game with a twist that allows you to purchase packs of cards for coins to create your team and then play Madden with that team. As you progress coins are awarded for wins and certain goals within a game. These coins can then be used to purchase more cards to try and upgrade your team with. There is also an auction house where you can sell cards and EA Sports even have their own weekly sales where you can find the more rare cards for a cheaper price. I was addicted to Ultimate Team in Madden NFL 10 and this remains the same now. A subtle blend of trading, contract negotiations and traitional Madden gameplay will get you spending hours at a time playing games to earn the coins, buy more cards in order to create your perfect team which you can play against the computer or head to head against another player online.
The only downside to Ultimate Team is the ability to buy coins with real money and therefore take the hard work out of the game. It is a cutesy way for EA to make more money through micro transactions and is something that is becoming a talking point with gamers around the world. I appreciate the business model that EA has created to generate more revenue but I know that is upsetting quite a few people.
Madden NFL 11 online is as great as it has ever been and there are plenty of opponents to play at any time of the day and from what I have experienced there is no lag at all. Online franchises, plus new co-operative modes, will allow you to play competitively or with a friend and when you start to feel confident in your skills then this is where you will remain.
Madden NFL 11 offers no obvious faults in terms of how the game plays and feels. My only complaint is a couple of things that I feel have been overlooked. The franchise mode has been a staple game mode in Madden for a long time now but there has been no tweaking of what appears to be a now aging system. This is one area that Madden fans have asked to be updated but also one area that EA Sports have failed to deliver on. It could be the fact that Ultimate Team is has started to build a huge following and perhaps that is why EA Sports feel that the time should be used effectively in developing Ultimate Team rather than the franchise gametype. Whatever the reason, franchise is starting to become a weak link in a game that is always striving for perfection.
The other feature that has failed to make a reappearance is the Play Creator. It may not have been everyone’s cup of tea and very difficult to use but I loved it. The ability to create your own plays and add it to your playbook was a beautiful thing and I would spend many nights creating a playbook that I felt stood a chance against an opposing team. It may be a personal thing but others have commented on this too so I know I am not alone. Perhaps there were too many complaints on why it was included in the first place but if you are to make the game more realistic on the coaching and playing side then this really should be included again.
Overall Madden NFL 11 delivers the most competent version of the game yet. Improved movement, control system and pre snap options enhance the game to another level. Madden NFL 11 also tries to seduce the player to the Madden system by making it as user friendly as possible whilst catering for the seasoned veteran at the same time. There is a reason that the Madden franchise does not have a lot of competition and that has to do with EA Sports releasing a game that is as near as perfect as you can get and is a must buy for anyone who likes the sport.
