Are You Ready For Some Football?

Author's Rating:

Pros: Same As Always, Free Online Play, New Special Abilities, Better Kicking

Cons: Same As Always, Less Mini-Games, No Ability To Have An Online League

The Bottom Line: 
This is your only option for NFL football. So if you are a football fan, you don't have much of a choice. Besides, the game remains fun, especially against humans.

Author's Review
I have just gotten the PS3 for the holidays. And not only that, but I also was given my favorite game, Madden.

Needless to say, I tried to play the game as soon as I had a free minute. But alas, the PS3 won’t play the game until you get several updates. So I had to go out and pick up a long enough cable to reach my router. Then I hooked it up, and after spending a good half hour waiting for all the updates to load, I was finally ready to play.

First thing I did was log in and played an online game. It was quickly obvious that the game has changed quiet a bit since I have played it last on Madden 2007 on the PS2. Although the basic things are the same, a lot of the buttons changed. Why EA feels the need to change buttons during each game I am not aware. However, a lot of things changed like the button you need to pull the ball down and scramble when you are a QB. Another one was the audible for an onside kick. Why oh why change this? Guess EA is just making sure that people feel like there is something new in the game.

However, there are real things that have changed. A big thing that is different is the kicking. To kick you now have to pull the right stick back and move it forward to stop, using the left stick to determine accuracy. Although it takes a couple of kicks to get the timing right, afterwards it quickly becomes a much better way to kick than the old way.

However, the biggest change is the different star players that all have special abilities. For instance, there are wide receivers whose specialty is spectacular receiving. This year’s Madden differentiates between a “normal” and an “aggressive” catch. You can decide which one you want to do by either tapping or holding down triangle. The specialty receiver whose ability is spectacular catching will have a bigger likelihood of coming up with amazing catches, thus making the player utilize the “aggressive” catch option. To counter these catches there is the big hitter specialty. These guys can hit the receiver hard enough to make him drop the ball no matter how good he is. Every single specialty (and there are 22 of them) has some benefits and a counter-specialty.

The game flow seems to be slightly different as well compared to previous versions. The game is fairly well-balanced forcing the player to utilize all his weapons, meaning it’s harder to just win a game by simply passing or by simply running the ball. One thing I like is the much more at the line options for the defense. No longer do you need to worry about your opponent throwing bombs down the field to the same player over and over again. Yes, they can still get away with it from time to time, but it is no longer the norm. This is partially due to the fact that you have the option to spotlight a receiver at the line, meaning that he will be paid special attention.

The six-axis controller give the user some extra abilities such as doing a hard snap count when you are on offense, controlling your lead blocker, jump the snap and lay a big hit. I do not use these often as you can do the same controls by using the r stick, and there are few advantages to using the six-axis.

This is my first year playing online so I can not make a comparison for this version as opposed to the others. It is nice that is free, and the rating system seems to be fine. You are allowed 5 pauses per half which are 30 seconds each. If your opponent (or you) decide to quit during a game, that gets recorded. If your did not finish percentage is too high a lot of players will not play with you. Another nice option is the mercy forfeit. This means that if you are beating someone by a certain amount of points (not sure the amount) they can offer their defeat and thus the game is considered over without giving them a did not finish on their record.

The mini-games are very different. They seem to have been made a little more two player enabled. The mini-games included are a bench press and 40 yard dash which are basically button mashers. There is also passing where you have to throw the ball to a receiver within a given amount of time, a running one where you have to run as a half-back, a wide receiver one where you have to beat the coverage, and a blocker one where you are a full-back trying to free up a route for your back. All these mini-games have a second component where you play the defense and your opponent is the offense.

I have not played a lot in franchise but superstar seems interesting and I think it is much easier to make your star anything you want to him to become. There are several backward steps in the game. You can no longer go to a barber or go to as many places in the city. Also, for some reason no matter how bad your player is, you are always at the top of the depth chart. It makes it easier to develop your player, but also makes the game much less realistic. The simulation for the parts of the game when you are not playing are done fairly accurately.

For The Madden Newbie

If you are completely new to Madden, this is for you. As you may have noticed on your nearest video game store shelf, Madden is the only option there is for an NFL licensed game. There is a reason for that. EA has paid a lot of money to have the exclusive license, which basically made the game improvements almost non-existent. It is both a good and a bad thing, as you will figure out if you start playing the game. It has changed very little in the many years it has been around. As a football game, Madden was great and still is. And the fact that old players can skip a year and pick up the controller and play a new year is great as well. But it’s bad to see that no real innovation has really been introduced.
You feel like a true coach (or player) as you can take your team to the Superbowl, draft players, train them, re-sign them, and deal with the hold outs that are ruining team comradely. The controls are great, allowing you to do almost anything you would see in football, even going so far as to allow challenges, spikes, and fake spikes. If you are a die-hard fan, you can even come up with your own playbook. The franchise mode allows you to have a team for a certain amount of years and seeing if you can beat the Patriots streak. The superstar mode allows you to take a player through a similar experience, although you can go to different teams, improve your skills, and do some other things not available in franchise mode. However, an annoyance I have with the superstar mode is the forced training that you have to do. It quickly gets repetitive for anyone that has any sort of a life.

Is this game worth buying? Yes, if for nothing else than just for the fact that it is the only licensed game out there. Are you going to play all the modes that it offers? Probably not. I play the game for the ability to play with other humans, since that is where the game is most interesting. Its ability to counteract almost any play allows you to outwit and out stick any opponent, if you are willing to put the time in to learn the moves and the plays. Good luck, and look for me on the Madden network when you purchase the game.