Ah Madden...how you come out every year. Madden has been the cornerstone of Electronic Arts for nearly 2 decades and has had a rabid hungry fan base for nearly the same amount of time. Every season the grid iron stars return and we as a country rejoice as the hitting, scoring and Chad OchoCinco returns with that wonderful jersey. While Madden is technically the same game every year (aside from graphic upgrades and roster updates usually) EA always tries to add something new to make the game...err....whats the word...better? Does Madden 11 stack up against its predecessors? Here's your review.
Gameplay
Madden 11 decided to include a new screw into the belt of its NFL franchise and they call it "game flow." Game flow basically takes away play calling duties from you and gives them to your "offensive coordinator" who then picks your plays thus speeding the game up. Some people have liked this...I am not one of them. I prefer to call my own play mostly because I don't like to be obvious as well as the occasional trick play or screen pass can really help especially on a 2nd and 3 or so. Game flow speeds the game up to where a full game can be played in a mere 15 minutes compared to the original 30 or 40 even without game flow. This innovation is in this writers opinion, another attempt at changing something that is not needed nor necessary. The last real good change as most Madden fans know was the Hit Stick in Madden 2005 that change made the game better and added harder more violent hits which as Americans...we need like vampires need blood.
Along with the new game flow they have changed audible and in game player movement and in a terrible terrible way. Your audible is 4 catigories: run, short pass, med pass, long pass still but if your playing with someone on the same TV they can see which you have picked. Along with that trying to move your line, linebackers, or secondary is a long and tedious process instead of Madden 10's easy 2 or 3 button process it involves more work than a play clock honestly will allow. On offense changing your WR's route is made more difficult as well and unnecessarily too, same problem as the defense.
Now to my biggest problem and while many will say, "get over it" I refuse, where is my turbo button? I don't want an excuse as to why you did away with it or how it is now innovated and outdated honestly, I don't even care but doing away with something that has been great for over a decade and that made the word turbo part of the gaming universe is something I cannot agree with. EA Sports always wants to make something new for their NFL game and a lot of these things are great but for every great add-on or innovation there is a quarterback vision try which ends terribly, in my opinion this is one of those innovations.
Visuals
The graphics are up to date and in great condition. Very realistic and as always on the top of the gaming world. Madden always has the best available graphics so there isn't much to talk about here.
Sound
The sounds are still strong in stadium as well as the players sounds. Much better commentary with Collinsworth added in and great celebration sounds when scoring happens as well as how quiet it gets when the opposing team scores.
Final Analysis
Madden 11 does the job of keeping NFL fans with their needed elixir of passes, runs and sacks. Where it makes the mark in strong in game play it misses in attempted new additions like game flow and the new in game player movement system. EA always wants to try to innovate football but I still ask why? Why innovate what is already lightly flawed at best? Why innovate something that people love and put in a positive light? I ask these questions simply because I love Madden and I love football and I want to know how FIFA is currently made better than football by EA?
The visuals and sounds are studs as always and the final product is playable but in my opinion I would rather play Madden 10 without the updated roster and with better gameplay. This is a product I feel was forced out and too much was attempted at changes and innovations and not enough just left as it was. I love Madden just not Madden 11.
UPDATE: EA has released a patch that has reverted the gameplay to the way Madden 10 was played. All the buttons including the turbo button has returned and no more of the game flow. Thus proving this, "innovation" was nothing more than a flashy waste of money.
This update makes my score for Madden a 9/10 without the patch it is still a 7/10.
"Madden 11" is on sale August 10, 2010 and is rated E. Sim. Developed by EA Tiburon. Published by EA Sports.
