Madden 2010…. welcome to the next level.
In the last few days I’ve been hitting the pigskin that is Madden 2010 pretty hard. I’ve gone through an entire season with the Cleveland Browns (not many Browns fans these days can say that), built up a franchise and actually controlled my future after the season was over. On top of this, I have had my ass handed to me thoroughly online. There’s a lot to talk about with this new edition of Madden and to be honest I’ve been the most critical of the series the last few years.
What are my problems with the series? I felt in the last three years that the series really hasn’t had that leap that it needed. It felt like the game was going stale and that EA was just updating a game that had already been made. When it first hit the next generation consoles there was hope behind it that there were literally no limits. In 2008, Madden sprang forward with some new innovations, but there were still complaints about the look, the feel and the overall experience with EA’s prized franchise. Basically, outside of graphics, I never felt like EA sprang forward with innovation, with major improvements rather they seemed to produce the same game with gimmicks. Now it’s 2010 and the new Madden came out on Friday so how did EA do with this one?
The first thing I can tell you is that I’m excited again about Madden. EA has gone in and improved quite a few facets of the game that they seemed to be missing. Sure it might seem minor to you all, but the fact that I can see players collide and arms/hands not go through each other’s body is a huge plus. The contact in the game has been ramped up to the point where you will flinch when someone hits you head on or vice-versa. I hadn’t flinched in a Madden game since its introduction to the Playstation 2. It’s absolutely incredibly to see a defense gang tackle someone, or stop the run up the middle or even better scramble to pin someone behind the line of scrimmage. When you focus in on the play (using instant replay) it turns out to be amazing to see. I was talking with someone who wasn’t on the site the other day about this and it literally was brought up by the guy. He was excited to watch three O-line guys stop a blitzing defensive player and basically trap him in his spot. He also mentioned about how the contact just looks and feels real in the game (kudos Jason for bringing this up). It’s a little thing, but it’s something that EA looked at and perfected. It may not make no players happy, but it put a smile on this old player’s face. Before we leave this subject, I must give you an example of a specific contact incident in the game that I can’t seem to replicate. Picture this, Jamal Lewis is running to gain his 263 receiving yard (oh, just imagine it damn it!) and he’s got one-on-one coverage from an Eagles’ player. He catches the ball and speeds towards the end zone (which is 10 yards away). Before he can get the Browns seven more points (to make it over 60) the corner back jumps on his back. You would think at this point that Lewis is going to collapse on the field, but he literally keeps running, though slower now with someone on his back, towards the end zone. He is carrying a defensive man on his back into the end zone. I haven’t been able to do that again in the game, that’s why it’s so impressive to see. So, in long, the contact in the game is perfected and it’s something that I have to give EA major kudos.
Contact aside, the gameplay is pretty much what you would expect from Madden. I think this time around there is a little bit more balance on the offense and defense, with defense having the slight edge. Each year the game swings one way or another, but it certainly seemed closest to being balanced. The run is difficult to pull off, as you’ll have to perfect the juke and stiff-arm to truly see its benefits. For players who are advanced, and possibly qualified to coach the Raiders, they’ll find just a boatload of benefits from the run. For players who are novice to intermediate, you’ll probably be forced to throw more than run. Throwing isn’t a problem, but for someone who really appreciates the pigskin game you might be slightly turned off by this. As I played through my franchise’s season, I noticed that my passing plays were definitely more effective than my running. I wasn’t using too much of a variety of plays (I found four plays that were easily rotatable and always paid off), but my pass plays definitely outweighed my success with the run. I do understand that if the run doesn’t take off at the beginning that it will be more difficult to establish it later in the game, but still it was a huge turn off not establishing it quite enough as the pass. Jamal Lewis destroyed so many records as a receiving running back.
Now with offense/defense explained, let me complain just a smidge about something that is very much associated with them, the stats. I know that the stats from game to game are fine, but the levels associated with each team don’t fluctuate as the season progresses. If I’m weak at QB at the beginning of the season and my QB lights it up constantly the level for my QB doesn’t go up in comparison to other teams. I’m not sure if it’s the game or not, but the graphics that show the strengths and weaknesses of the teams (comparing them) during the loading sequences doesn’t change one bit regardless of how well or bad you do. I’m thinking that maybe it’s just a graphic, but for a non-reviewing type this is a bit disheartening considering the player can and more than likely will make progress as the season goes on. These graphics should reflect that and they should give the gamer more confidence as the season rolls on. I know it sounds stupid and meaningless, but as a player I want to be rewarded for doing well and I want to see it onscreen. I want my QB strength to go up and reflected. It’s a minor gripe, but Madden 2010could be improved by this one minor detail.
With this edition of Madden there were a few things added that need to be pointed out. There is more attention given to first downs than any other Madden games to date. If you get near or on a first down marker the game will stop and quickly give a measurement. While certainly cool it does get extremely repetitive and by the second game you pretty much realize that if you’re given a certain sequence animation it usually means X or Y. It does take suspense out of the process, but it’s neat to see this as it gives the game a little bit more realism. The second new feature is the refs discussing whether a player has made it into the end zone or not. I haven’t found these to be too repetitive as the three animations are pretty similar in nature. Regardless, these two things are great additions to the mix.
One innovation, which I absolutely detested because it simply didn’t work well, is the ‘fumble recovery’ button mashing fest. If your player (or their player) fumbles the ball, and there is a scramble for it, you have to quickly press your controller’s buttons to maintain possession. Neat, eh? In theory it’s a great idea. The execution is not impressive. Not only does the game require you to press a button repeatedly, but it changes buttons on you as you’re pressing your ass off on the controller. For example, you’ll get an onscreen indicator that will intensely suggest you press ‘x’ on the pad then as you’re jamming your finger and gaining arthritis it will quickly ask you to press another button and repeat the process one more time. Out of an entire season, which included at least six fumbles, I must have almost regained the ball once. It’s a frustrating feature and something that should have been improved before it was implemented. It has been the only thing to make me want to throw the controller through my window.
Speaking of button mashing, when you roll of your defender or roll around an offensive lineman, it’s fun. EA improved how you can spin your players around to get free. On the offensive side, if you’re hitting a wall of defenders, you can rotate the right thumbstick in a circular pattern to break free and roll out to open field. It’s so much fun to do that it makes me want to fire up Madden right now and have at it. It makes the defense work harder and smarter, especially if you’re going head-to-head with someone. In previous years it has been a one-hit and you’re down unless you stiff-arm and/or juke. Here it’s just a matter of keeping your player on their feet while you’re spinning the right thumbstick. Just like that is the ability to have a defensive lineman spin around an O-line (via Dwight Freeney) and perform the same action. That is equally as effective and fun. This is another thing that Jason (from above) mentioned to me when I was chatting it up with him about the game.
You might be wondering about the difficulty of Madden 2010. Well, know this…. EA finally got wise and set the default difficulty at its lowest for players. Why is this good? For first time players of Madden they won’t feel overwhelmed or intimidated by the game from the start. They also won’t feel like they have to dumb their game down to be good at Madden. An instant boost of confidence goes a long way with a first time football player, so it was worth mentioning. You still have the wonderful option of boosting it up going for broke, but you won’t feel like an idiot from the start.
With all this said, let’s move on to presentation and features….
The rise of the Farthammers
I know what that name sounds like and yes it actually does use the word ‘fart’. I’m not ashamed and I don’t feel like I’m 10 years old. The game allows you to create your own franchise and even allows you to change/design their helmets and jerseys. It’s something you would expect from Madden at this point of the series’ career, but there is more here than that. Not only do you get to establish a team, such as the Farthammers, but you get to help design a stadium for them to play in, relocate to a city of your choice (I hate you Louisville, but you’re all I got in Kentucky) and negotiate the terms of how the stadium is going to be paid for. Hell, this game is so damn complicated that you even pick your staff. It’s absolutely nuts how much you can do when it comes to creating and running your own franchise. It’s regretful that you can’t take the franchise online with you; although I can imagine the ESRB having to give a rating for online play at that point. I’ve never been interested in such stuff as franchise building, but Madden 2010 makes it so damn easy that you can’t help but enjoy this part of the game.
Quests to rule the world aside, the graphic presentation in Madden 2010 is probably the best I’ve seen. The fields/turfs look absolutely gorgeous. The grass doesn’t look like the pixilated crap that we’ve come to know in the past; it actually looks like grass. When the environments change your players react to them perfectly. For example, if you’re playing in snow the players leave footprints. Not just pre-rendered crappy trails, but marks in the snow that actually mimic how the player interacted with it. I had a browns player get tackled and slide a bit in the snow and the snow actually had a slide mark on it. Yes, EA went that crazy detailed with it. Aside from weather, the shadows on the field are incredible to say the least. Depending on where the sun is, there is an accurate representation of a shadow on the field. Hell, the sun itself can actually be distracting (and blinding) at times in the game. All of these things make up a nearly perfect environment for a football situation. My only complaint, though? I hate the fans. No one has ever corrected this annoyance, but repeating fans, pixilated fans make the experience crappy when you get close to them. I remember when the Dreamcast was announced and NFL 2K promised fans would get up and react independently from each other. That pipe dream never came to fruition and it hasn’t really improved since. Add that to the list, EA!
As for the character models, they all react differently (or seem to anyway). More detailed and less awkward, when you see a player on a team just know that is close to what the player looks like in real life. If you can imagine Brady Quinn’s enormous head and awkward donkey jaw it is reflected really well in the game. Now, it’s not perfect, but it’s close enough to be believable. Anyway, before Quinn’s crew gets mad at me, let’s move on. The players no longer seem to run and walk like they’ve burned their hands while riding a horse. They have very smooth motions on the field and react perfectly with each other. For example, when I sent Lewis on an outside run, he braced for the hit by the defense and put his head down like the real Lewis would. Unlike the real Lewis, the Madden Lewis would keep pumping his feet and twist his body while showing signs of a real struggle for that extra yard. Impressive animation, impressive models and impressive reaction. You won’t be disappointed with this aspect at all. Probably the best EA has done in some time in this area.
On field antics aside, our two announcers are fun to listen to, though not perfect. Chris Collinsworth and Tom Hammond man the commentary booth for this edition of Madden. I have never been a huge fan of Collinsworth, mainly because he tends to sound whiny at times, but he impressed me in this game. I was able to play a few games with a friend (Jordan don’t be embarrassed that I kicked your butt!) who was pleasantly mocked by Collinsworth the entire game. Collinsworth put a lot of effort into his commentary and much like Hammond it worked out real well. Now and then you might find Collinsworth contradicting himself (he says Brady Quinn is one of the most accurate passers and then later says that Quinn isn’t known for his accuracy), but he works out more than not. Anyway, they’re both great at doing commentary and I hope they return for next year’s Madden.
Online ass kicking
I so wish I could say that was I delivering it to them, but I’m clearly not seasoned enough with 2010 to take on the 10-year olds out there. My first experience with online Madden 2010 was a drubbing by someone called Callen1961 (I hope that was the year he/she was born); they killed me online 42-7. The biggest difference between online and offline play is that the online is certainly more accurate with actual team skills and it’s more about the offense than defense. I had a hard time playing defense online and it wasn’t for my lack of skills. There were a few times where I read the play, but couldn’t get to interrupt the pass fast enough. My first experience was harsh, but nonetheless fun. I wish the computer gave you a little bit more help online with defense, as I had almost picked off a few passes that I would normally pick off offline. It just seems too tough to get great defensive help, but it’s not about defense. Anyway, if you’re looking for a scoring fest then look no further.
The only real problem I had with online play was the franchise builder online. I’m not sure if I completely agree with the $9.99 charge for online franchise. I’m sure EA has its reasons, but once you purchase a $59.99 game you shouldn’t have to purchase something that is merely an add-on to the game immediately. That experience should come with the game and I can understand the griping that has already been issued about this. I won’t go into it any further it’s just something that seems a bit wrong. It’s not like DLC where you get an actually addition to a game (like what you would find in Fallout 3). Anyway, I’ll let you decide on that; his is just my opinion.
In the end, the 360 online play was smooth sailing. There’s a reason why you pay a fee for XBL and it shows when it comes to Madden 2010. Almost no lag and plenty of play, there’s not much to complain about when it comes to the overall online experience here. Football across broadband at its finest.