Madden NFL 11 - Xbox 360 Review

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $24.99
Sale Price: $13.87
Today's Bonus: 44% Off

I, like most, have been a huge Madden fan throughout the history of the game but I learned a very valuable lesson early on; NEVER BUY BACK TO BACK YEARS!! NEVER!! I did. And I'm sorry for it.

Madden 10 was pretty good, I thought NCAA 10 was better and after playing the demo for 11 I was hooked. I wanted the updated rosters, I wanted gameflow and I was really getting use to the new running scheme. What I figured out after I bought the game was how much the hype failed. Gameflow is ask Madden without pushing buttons. You can always go in and make custom game plans, which I think is a really cool idea, but this takes forever. You're just as good off using the playbook during game play, at least then you have every play you want without forming habits. No complaints with the running game, I think it's pretty solid. If I had a complaint it would be that it is far to easy. I'm no Madden God but this running game makes me feel like one. Passing is hit and miss. I LOVE receivers staying in bounds for the catch or dragging their feet, but that is IF they catch the ball. So many times I've thrown a ball (from a highly rated QB) to an open, slant route running receiver (also highly rated) just to watch the ball bounce in front of him. How about a one handed catch? How about a dive? Where is my coach "give me more effort!!!" button?? The D pad option is just horid. Whoever in game development had that brain storm of an idea should be beaten. On offense it's barely "ok" and I only say that because you can control the clock. On defense it's almost impossible. Just trying to change out of a play is cutting it close, let alone pushing a d pad to cover a certain receiver, ball snaps before I'm ready every time.

Defense goes a little something like this. Open Madden 10, select all, copy, paste to Madden 11....ad D pad frustration. If a developer is reading this....you're an idiot. We don't pay this much money for cut and paste options, and as soon as EA sports stops buying out NFL rights I will never buy another Madden game again. I love defense and I hate that EA hasn't made defense a priority in years. Superstar is another cut and paste job. That portion of the game could be so much better and I've waited for so long to see it evolve. EA sports, I hate you. Franchise is also cut and paste, also another game option that could be amazing through and through.

Online. First off, I never play online. I can understand why some do, I'm honestly not good enough to play against the big boys. But this doesn't stop EA sports from driving me crazy. Nope, this year you must pay for the privilege of playing online, after already paying for the privilege from x-box. Nicely done EA, I loath you. So even though I do not play online, if I want future roster updates I sure will have to pay for it. But that's not all....want dumb coins to buy fake football cards? Better buy those too. Want to have an edge on your franchise? Better buy those options as well. Games are expensive enough. I love game addons like the next game junkie but c'mon man! No other game on the market does this. Fable 3 isn't going to put out a new game every year, make you pay for all the cool stuff while at the same time pushing out a crap product. There would be anarchy on the streets!!!! Madden does it year after year.

The graphics are great, as always, and the Superbowl finally got a face lift. All in all I think it would be a good game if I had gone a few years without purchasing a new Madden. If that sounds like you, or you're waiting for something to push you over the homicidal edge, I bet you'll love the game. If you see a used Madden 11 game on Amazon for $12....that's me.

Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>

I admit, I'm a sucker for Madden games. Every year I go out and buy it so I can have updated rosters and a few new features. This year the game took a significant backwards step. The game plays well. Cool animations and the commentary is much improved. The graphics are still decent but seriously, how hard is it to make the crowd look realistic? The crowd looks like someone put a bunch of cardboard cutouts in the stand. It truly looks awful and it's a shame in the year 2010 the developers refuse to fix this issue. The gameplay is your typical madden. Your QB throws a crazy number of interceptions, the computer DB know what routes your WR are running thus you can NEVER throw a curl route without getting intercepted. On defense, your guys will blow a countless number of coverages as they let WR run all by themselves. The improved blocking is a nice addition, but how come my special teams players can't block. I watched 1 of my blockers watch a guy run past him then chase after him. How can you implement improved run blocking yet it can't translate to special teams? I'll get to the kicking aspect of special teams in a minute. The franchise mode is exactly the same. It's a disgrace to not even pay attention to the franchise mode or be a pro mode. There is nothing to do between games during a season. The franchise mode has been untouched for years and I just wonder if the developers have no clue what they can do to add to it. I garuntee if you ask Madden players for input, you will get more than enough suggestions.

Madden 2011 is Madden 2010 with a few new animations and completely dumbed down. Their gimmick this year is you can play a game in half the time with Gameflow which the computer will call plays for you. Was anyone really asking for that? If you want to play a game faster, lower the number of minutes in a quarter. 2nd of all, hardcore football fans and madden fans like to call their own plays. It's part of the strategy and you take pride in calling plays that work really well. The special teams has been dumbed down. Seriously, can you actually miss a kick this year?

Overall, Madden 2011 was made to help attract new gamers and spat in the face of hardcore madden fans. When will the loyal madden fans get a game that adds new features for them? Instead, it seems EA wanted to attract new people to make more money rather than please loyal fans. It's a shame.

Best Deals for Madden NFL 11 - Xbox 360

In today's tough economic times, Madden 11 is the latest release from a major corporation in the consumer goods sector to cross the line of absurdity. You would think that with a growing adult aged audience, increasing negative publicity via social networking, at the very least the love of football would motivate them to put together a product to be proud of. I do not have much to add to the reviews here. The game is simply not fun anymore. Still have my copy of 2005, would love for Microsoft to release the emulator so I could play it on my 360. Things I hate about this game:

Gameflowplay calling sucks at least ask madden I had three to choose from or could back out and choose my own play

Streamlined Menus/ Pre play controls (d pad) Just absurd, how is making selecting things and navigation more difficult "streamlining" You never have total control of a menu and pre-play takes too long is awkward 2005 was better at this

Fight for the Fumble How did this get green lighted for another year?

In 2005 I could save my game at any point of a game. Why the !! can't I do it 6 years later on a next gen console.

Gameplay Is boring, choppy

Franchise Mode Used to be what made this game addicting, Teams moving, expansion draft, sick draft picks, holdouts, players demanding trades, progression with otas. Every year this gets leaner and I find less of a reason to keep playing. Good Riddance I can find better things to do with my time and money. I would rather mow my lawn and mulch around my house.

Honest reviews on Madden NFL 11 - Xbox 360

I decided to give Madden a shot this year, and it was a huge mistake. In short, EA knows they have a cash cow and do everything very sloppy. There is no reason that NCAA Football come out a month earlier and always offers a more polished in game and out of game experience. This game has a shocking 2.5 star on Amazon, and more people need to get the word out to NOT BUY THIS GAME AND FORCE EA TO FIX THE FRANCHISE!!

First the short positives. The graphics are gorgeous, EA keeps perfecting and perfecting the look of real football and has this game looking fantastic. Also, the updated engine (a modified version of the FIFA engine) has the physics of the game looking much more believable and simulation-worthy. Last but not least is the 'locomotion' running game. The two stick running game is very intuitive and offers fantastic control whilst carrying the football. Unfortunately, my praise ends there.

Overall, Madden is a poor offering, and here's why. First of all, they haven't done anything with the franchise or superstar modes, both have been the same since virtually the PS2 era. The price is horrific for a yearly release title, and then to beat more money out of used game sales, they charge ten bucks if the online pass has to be used just to play online (or get roster updates). And while the physics are great, they still managed to pile on the legacy issues and unrealistic gameplay by 'warping' receivers making impossible catches, players dropping easy catches, and seemingly telegraphed picks/completions/runs, etc. My Madden 09 has the same problems and nothing has been done to correct them. The sloppy presentation is broken and illogical. Everything is very broken up on the commentary, there are slight robotic pauses in nearly everything Gus Johnson says. (i.e. they weren't willing to say 'first down', 'second down', and 'third down', but 'first', 'second', 'third', and 'down' and piece them together.) Also dumb comments like Kevin Kolb being one of the NFL's primere passers when he's barely played had me laughing. All-in-all the presentation and commentary is horrible, unless you like to listen to overly emphatic pitches for Old Spice (Be a man...MAN!). And also EA botched Ultimate Team badly. The mode that is great in FIFA and NHL is miserably handled in Madden, which just further shows the developers of Madden's laziness and carelessness. (i.e. they have a cash cow, so why bother?)

But my biggest beef with Madden is now that each game is just a pile of advertisements. Having sponsors of the game or ads on the field are fine, but every play of the game seems to have a sponsor. You're littered with ads from the stats, to the reviews, to the commentator. You really cannot get away from it. And now once you hit the two minute warning, it will take forever to get to the end. You've got to hear all about Verizon, Old Spice, Doritoes, Gatorade, and others. Every. Single. Game. It really hampers the fact you're playing a game and it's more like a chore to sift through advertisements.

All-in-all this year's Madden is bad. Really bad. The additions, sans the running game and engine, are handled poorly. The legacy issues are still there, so you should just play '08 or '09 where they still are there, but the advertisements are not completely running rampant.

But in all honesty, EA has no reason to fix this game. It will still be the best selling sports game in the US, so they'll remain complacent and not fix things that have needed to be fixed and continue adding in more ads year after year. The only way to get them to fix this heralded franchise is to hit them in the wallet and DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Madden NFL 11 - Xbox 360

These new changes to bring casual gamers in really hurt the game. None of the features added were requested at all but let me summarize the added features.

1. Gameflow(Ask Madden 2.0)-You press A and it picks a play for you good i guess if you can't do it yourself or dont care what play you do but is this really the main new feature added???

2. Improve Blocking and Catching Awesome ive been waiting for the good blocking and catching for a while.

3. Defense All i can say the hell happened? The defensive AI is worse than last year maybe even 09, playing online on all-pro the score has been over 40 points each game. I like scoring but this is ridiculous.

4. Online Ok so if you quit while playing a ranked before 1st half ends you get no penalty and your opponent gets no win, yea EA what the hell where you thinking on this one.

5. Franchise Mode, Superstar, Madden Moments The same as last year

Im sorry if you disagree but how can you rate this higher??Since I am a Madden fan I hope they fix the issues with a patch because this will have a short life span if they don't.

Update Online quitting is somewhat fixed helps improve ranked game play.