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Are they serious?
After Madden 2007's animation, animation, animation, fall over experience, I couldn't bring myself to buy 2008. I bought 2009 because a friend told me how much better it was. After all 2008's complaints about how easy offense was, they turned the DB's and LB's speed and jumping ability to ridiculous levels, causing there to be about 6 INT's per game. This knee-jerk reaction and thus, overcompensation each year to whatever the largest complaint was has always seemed par for the course when dealing with a Madden game. Whatever. I just want to play an NFL game.
So the Madden 10 demo came out and I was impressed by the game play. "Wow, it actually kind of looks like football," I said. So I did it. I dropped $60 more into the EA bucket just to have the privilege to play an NFL game. The game play this year IS, I uphold, the best, most realistic that the Madden franchise has ever made. Yes, they made the players slower, and it made a lot of fans mad, but it's realistic. Nobody runs 10 yards in 0.5 seconds. At any rate, kudos on the in-game experience.
However, I play sports games to play franchise mode. I like trades, free agency, and the draft. Unfortunately, due to EA's desire to become the most evil corporation ever, franchise mode is not, at ALL, an enjoyable experience. You see, the "Madden Shop" has been created, where you can buy "cheats," which are really just parts of the game that existed last year which were disabled so that EA can make more money.
-You want the ability to fully scout players? You can pay 99 cents for a scout at EACH POSITION. Awesome. I'd LOVE to throw down 10 more bucks just to have access to the rest of your game.
-You want players to progress faster? 99 cents per position.
-Superstar mode is the same. You can't train anymore. You can pay to improve.
-Pretty much anything you can think of... healing injuries faster, extra scouting reports, etc, you can pay 99 cents to improve.
Really, EA? Buying out the competition wasn't enough for you? This whole system seems like such a joke to me. Do they honestly think it's going to work? I guess the question is, are Madden fans really stupid enough to use the Madden Shop?
This will, I can say with confidence, be the last Madden game I purchase.
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It's hard to understand what happens on the Madden development team, because every year it seems like they change the game in new and completely unnecessary ways. This year, the menus have been changed for seemingly no reason. The new menus do not look as good as the menus in Madden 09 and are harder to use. Why change them? You'll ask yourself questions like that a lot with this version of the game if you played a lot of Madden 09.If the last few entries in the Madden series did not exist, then this version would probably impress me much more. As other reviewers have noted, it seems that almost nothing has changed in core gameplay except for a few mini-game button mashing sequences. The reason I am only giving this game 3 stars, though, is that other parts of the game that contributed to my enjoyment in past versions have been changed or stripped out without reason. The playcalling menus are now harder to use, particularly in terms of substitution packages. You no longer have the ability to train players, making the preseason almost completely pointless and taking a way a fun weekly activity in the game to keep the franchise mode moving forward. Little changes like this may mean nothing to some gamers, but for me make this game less fun and compelling than last year's version. On top of that the presentation has not improved the game feels rough around the edges, there are bugs, the play-by-play remains terrible, etc. I wish I could return it.
I should note that I do not play online, so this review is not intended as a reflection of that mode. As a single-player experience, Madden 10 is one step forward and three steps back for those who play every year. If you don't have anything to judge it against, it's probably a pretty satisfying football experience. If you own Madden 09 and play primarily single-player, this is a roster update at best. Very frustrating given the strong work that some of the other EA Sports development teams have done with their franchises.
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For me, my love/hate issue with Madden has been that it has never produced a game up the the quality presentation of the 2K5 game. I have always complained bitterly that they bought the NFL and ESPN licences and never used them properly. If yo don't believe me, then check my past Madden reviews. After almost 5 iterations on the 360, EA finally sees the light and has produced a good quality game.Control You play one Madden, you have played them all nothing new here.
Graphics Stadiums are rendered nicely as always with great lighting...a little more attention has been paid to the helmet reflections, however most of the faces on the players look busted as always.
Sound a big improvement on the overall crowd sound as now you can hear individual voices call out during the game....something 2K series has done for years. On the other hand the commentary from Hammond and Collinsworth still sounds (and uses lines) from last year with some of the phrases that repeats (especially the one about the WRs catching the balls in pitch black) but again, I will take this over ESPN radio any day!
PresentationKind of a mixed bag but I am liking it more than I hate it. While EA finally gave you a feel like you are watching the game with all of the nice cutaways to the crowd and facts...a few things still needed to be fixed in order for this to be the complete game that 2K5 is.
Halftime show improvements Ok ok...yeah we finally got one but how about doing a Chris Berman-esque voice over as the best plays are being replayed...worse yet how about all of the highlights are out of order?
The pregame show Thank you for putting it in!!! But guess what EA!! Another 2K5 steal that you dropped the ball on! When showing highlights from other games...SHOW.HIGHLIGHTS.FROM.OTHER.GAMES. if a 6 year old game can show you 1 or 2 plays from another game or even from my own, then you guys should be able to do it too! Also get rid of Alex...I am sure there are more people male or female that can act as if they are in the game better than her!
I do like the fact that the AI is more active in signing players and making sensible signings, nothing like going thru a whole season and seeing the free agency just be static.
Ahhh yeah!! before I forget, the tackling animations look a lot more realistic and so far I have seen 4 5 and 6 man tackles. Slightly glitchy in a few spots but otherwise it's a step forward.
Franchise mode has improved with team actually signing some players that were needed instead of going a whole season with many free agents just sitting static on the FA wire. Also you can't really rob the AI out of trades and draft picks as in earlier versions
Some of the little things that I have seen that makes the game a little more worthwhile:
the chain gang
refs getting run over
refs meeting and confirming the TD
players being carted off after an injury
so far 3 different crowd screens
coaches arguing with refs about penalties
players clowning around on the sidelines.
better crowd reaction to plays
** Added **
Gameplay
To ME...gameplay hasn't changed all that much as far as AI and skill, you are either good at this game or you suck...just my opinion
There are more varied player animations this time around and thankfully so far not a lot of repeat animations although as perviously mentioned you may get a really funky animation glitch but not so bad as to crash the game
Accuracy of the stats... it depends on how YOU play the game and the time that you set it for.
Is there a lot of gang tackling? NO...every tackle is NOT a gamg tackle but you do tend to see more defenders play towards whomever has the ball. It does look more realistic.
Fight for the Fumble...i have only had it occur exactly 2 times...cheap...and arcadey and I believe actually, you can turn it off.
In game ticker: Nothing makes you play a little harder than seeing how well other teams are doing throughout the course of your game...it's till not here EA...fix this!!!
So, really this isn't the year to be skeptical. It's improved a lot over the last 2 iterations but still has a few more steps now to go before it completely makes me forget about 2K5.
And actually, when all is said and done, it's really sad when you still can compare a new football game with a game that is 6 years old and last gen.
On a larger scale of 1 to 10 I would give this an 8.
Addenum: Buying cheats? EA...bad move...
Will I have to buy Michael Vick too?
Honest reviews on Madden NFL 10 - Xbox 360
but I did anyway. Every year the Madden hype machine gets to me and I go and buy the game. I loved it on the XBOX, and I kind of enjoyed Madden 2008 on the XBOX 360. Sure, Madden 2008 was full of glitches, but showed lots of promise and was lots of fun to play. I figured the 20th anniversary 2009 version was going to fix the major bugs and be the best Madden yet. Instead, there were even more bugs and major bugs from 2008 weren't even fixed.After a playing 2009 for a while and having played every Madden gaming since 1994, I finally realized that EA Sports was not focusing on the gameplay, but on adding snazy features and improving the graphics and animations. And not only were they no focusing on the gameplay, but they were totally neglecting it. The other day at work, we lost power and had a half day, so I figured that it was the perfect time to go get Madden 2010 even though I promised myself I wouldn't buy it. And wouldn't you know, the gameplay is even worse this year. They added fight for a fumlbe, which is idiotic, and lots of annoying cut scenes that can't be skipped. Hopefully I will remember this and not buy the Madden 2011 version because Madden is officially done.
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this is the first madden i've bought for three years, but i have played the other ones with friends. this is definitely the best Madden i've played.PROS:
Controls --Great controls, just needs 2 or 3 games to fully master
Presentation --the new pro-tak system is great, but it is kind of hard to understand how one running back could get by nine huge fullbacks shoving at him at the same time. new "fight for the fumble" mode is fun to use. the Animations are stellar, and the new lighting effects are great too, with shadows being projected onto other players.
"Everything you would see on sunday" --it really is cool,it feels like you're actually watching a sunday afternoon football game. the fans are much more into this game.
Co-op --a lot of fun to play with one of your buddies. My only complaint is that co-op can only hold two players. i do not think that "not wanting to screw up our first time doing this, we only added two player support for co-op" is a valid excuse, but it's still fun.
Gameplay --pretty much the same as Madden 09, a few tweaks here and there, it's still great. the hit stick only adds more and more fun as they add new things onto it.
CONS:
The Extra Point --a cool little feature, but doesn't really add onto the game.
Commentating --one of the worst things about this game. Chris Collinsworth at least tries to do well at commentating the game, but the other commentators are absolutely horrible. it sounds like EA brought in a version of Microsoft Sam and just used that as their commentator. the commentating has never been THAT great in any sports game, but it's never been this BAD either.
Do not expect this to blow your mind. it's still same old madden with a few changes, but it still has a lot of the same problems. they took away all those brand new things, like that little Madden 09 skills test you took at the beginning of the game. they went straight back to the basics. it's not so much a bad thing, but i'd like to see them take a risk but perform well with it.
now, you may be thinking "Hey, this review is baloney! he only had two complaints about it and he only gave it three stars!" but there is one thing that really, really, ticked me off about this game. EA has been bragging about their new online franchise mode and how great it is. i'm sure it would be pretty fun. too bad i haven't played it. do you want to know why? because it costs MONEY. it says on the back cover, talking about the new online franchise mode, and its not even an actual PART of the game until you buy it. that, quite frankly, is RIDICULOUS. i pay enough as it is to buy these games, but no, they have to add on an extra 10 bucks or so. EA must be losing a lot of money (which i believe they actually are). well, now they're going to start losing a lot more money this year with their new money buyout scheme. Online franchise isn't the only thing you have to buy. if you want your player or team to rank up quicker on a harder mode, you can buy an upgrade, a dollar PER PLAYER, to get your team or superstar to rank up quicker. that's, well, no comment.
this game is pretty fun, but, unless you have that extra 10-20 dollars, it won't be worth as much to you. overall, it was a big leg up from last year, but still not as good as it should be.
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