Madden NFL 10 Review

The animations are fantastic - some of the best seen in a sports video game.

In fact the animations are, across the board, superb. Quarterbacks have their own individual stances and throwing styles. Receivers rise to catch balls realistically. One touch down I scored saw my New York Giants receiver rise to catch a ball just outside the end zone, only to be sent spinning in mid air by a tackle that sent him across the line for a score. The landing looked like bad news for his neck, but the most important thing was that it sent me into the lead.

Madden NFL 10 plays slower than previous iterations. Obviously EA’s trying to make the game more realistic – and it helps. You’ve got more time in the pocket, more time to spot the hole, more time to take everything that’s happening in, process it in your brain and somehow do something that won’t end up in crushing defeat.

The problem the Madden series has always had is that you don’t always feel in control of what’s happening. There’s so much going on during any play, so many players crashing into each other at the same time, that it’s feels impossible to keep track. It’s not so bad on offence, but on defence whether you stop first downs, intercept passes and sack the quarterback feels like pot luck. It won’t be this way for experts, of course, but for jokers like me, Madden takes the simulating the match day experience a tad too far.

Otherwise, it’s as you were for Madden. It’s largely the same game as before, despite the countless improvements and tweaks that have been made. Two player online co-op is featured for the first time ever. EA has implemented an online version of the engaging and massively complex Franchise Mode, which works well. It’s got live drafts, player transactions, league message boards, all of which you can manage from your console or the web. It allows you and your mates to play in persistent seasons, which lends the game more of an MMO feel.

Catch it!

The Franchise Mode itself has had a few bells and whistles added to make you feel more like you’re watching a game on television. Most of these additions are pointless, even annoying. You’ll see supporters milling about outside stadiums before the big match, buying hot dogs and merchandise. The first time it’s pretty cool. The second time you skip.

Some of the new features don’t quite work. EA’s employed an “Everything you see on Sunday, see it in Madden NFL” approach to the presentation, which has resulted in live action clips of presenters delivering half time reports and league round ups. This is a good idea in theory, but the dialogue is so wooden that it sounds ridiculous, almost funny. It’s almost like listening to that woman announce that you’re on the “109… too … Croydon Town Centre.” The commentary, as a whole, is awful. EA’s FIFA commentary is much better, which is a puzzling situation, given you’d imagine the company would trade tips on how it’s done.

Is Madden NFL 10 the best Madden game ever? Probably, although it seems like an impossible question to answer given the series has been running for at least 50 centuries. It’s no doubt the most authentic. The biggest problem is how inaccessible it is. As a Brit who understands how the sport works, and who played Madden back in 2000, the game can still be a mind-bending, frustrating exercise in trial and error. We often complain that games hold our hands a little too much. An optional tutorial here wouldn’t have gone amiss.