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Madden NFL 11 - Source: ONE News -
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Platform: PS3, 360, PS2, Wii, PSP, Nintendo
3DS, iOS
Publisher: EA Sports
It's fair to say that American Football is not a popular sport here
in New Zealand. Although it is slowly growing in popularity, it's
unlikely to take off lest some natural disaster occurs such as not
winning the Rugby World Cup next year.
Having said that, EA's Madden series of games have always had a reasonably strong fan-base in this country and for good reason; the games are always jam packed with goodies.
Let's face it the franchise has been going for over 22 years, and developers aren't going to keep producing games that don't sell.
American Football is a complicated game to explain, it makes Rugby look like tiddly winks in comparison, however this version has taken a great deal of the complexity out of the equation.
In fact of all the versions I have played this one was the easiest to pick up and play. The game hasn't been dumbed down as such, but the tactical variations are displayed so that it is much easier to execute your choice.
I won't spend time explaining the rules to newcomers as there is a hefty tutorial available for that, instead I will talk about the new features.
The first feature I will look at is called GameFlow which makes the experience more accessible to new players who may find the game at times overwhelming.
Gameflow lets the AI offer up plays based on each situation in real time whilst acting as the coach so that you don't have to sift through the 300+ available gameplays.
The Gameflow feature also supports headset enabled audio advice on how to execute the various plays. The entire process is sped up, allowing you to get through each five minute quarter faster than ever before. I was able to complete a game in around 30 minutes whereas in the past it has taken an hour.
I found that the Gameflow feature was a real treat; there is still plenty to do, calls made on the fly are great and added to the sense of realism and decision control a quarterback would have to make.
If you're a hardcore Madden fan you may brush off this feature, and that's totally your call, but I recommend playing a couple games with it on.
The franchise mode copped a lot of criticism, not for changes it made but ones it didn't.
It is pretty much the same as previous editions with only minor cosmetic updates: tweaks to some of the draft classes, improvements to simulation statistics, contract variations and the salary caps.
But EA Tiburon failed to listen to the fans who were screaming for sweeping enhancements that we have seen in other EA sports titles.
The new "Online Team Play supports 3 vs 3 co-op play (split between Quarter-back, Running-back and Receiver) where attribute boosts are available as incentives. You can also play this mode with friends against the CPU.
A second change to the online mode is the "Madden Ultimate Team", which is a card game with the goal to create the ultimate team.
The cards are broken down into player, coach and playbook moves. You'll be able to run auctions, swaps etc as well as weekly specials as you build your pack. I didn't spend a great deal of time looking into this mode as it seemed to be one for the collectors out there.
There is also a new kick meter system that simplifies each punt; simply aim, then press once for power and again for accuracy.
General game enhancements include lighting improvements as well as the visuals. One of the more noticeable changes is the auto-sprint ability utilising the analogue controllers.
No longer do you need to hold down a 'sprint' button, the responsiveness of the controlled player will depend on their ability, agility, speed and momentum.
Gus Johnson has taken over the play calls (with over 10 000 lines of dialogue), replacing Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth returns as the commentator.
In Madden NFL 11 even President Barack Obama appears to shake the hand of the Super Bowls winning team's star player and present him with a team jersey.
As a first in the game series, fans were asked to vote for who should be on the cover- ultimately the winner was Drew Brees. Lastly, 7 of the Official NFL teams had their 'fight songs' incorporated into the game.
The overall experience of Madden NFL 11 in my view was a good one; I enjoyed the fact that I didn't need to spend hours going through the tutorials, and the 'Gameflow' enhancement allowed for quick fun play.
This version is one of, if not the best, of the series I have played. Hardcore fans may feel a little let down but there is plenty of challenge there for those that wish it.
Rating: 8.5/10
This review was brought to you by Gamefreaks
