With the addition of online franchise, we finally get a good new feature in Madden. Other than that, this is '09 again.
And no, I don't mean the crappy online leagues of last year. This is the first time we actually get a semi-fully fledged franchise mode to play online. Does it work? Since this is EA Sports, it's not as simple as a "yes" or "no" kind of answer. "Yes" in that online franchise mode works, shows A LOT of promise of what they will do in upcoming years and is way better than the bare-bones, crappy online leagues. It carries over a lot of what the offline franchise mode does, which is nice. The "No"? It is missing some VERY key features that I am shocked they left out.
There is no salary cap, for instance. In fact, there are no salaries at all! This makes free agency a joke. So if you have a player on your team, he isn't leaving unless he retires, gets cut, or gets traded. The college draft won't let you import your NCAA rosters and there is barely any scouting involved, other than going by the pre-rankings of the players. And don't even get me started on the omission of any CPU trade logic, which means you could pull off Manning for 'insert scrub back-up player name here' trades all day. And the excellent idea (which should have happened earlier) of lowering the overall speed of the game down a notch, like it is in regular online games, is not available in the online franchise mode. I wouldn't think it would be that hart to implement. Why isn't it there? Simple.......it's EA.
There are several more things that they should have had in the game, but I think you get the point. Don't get me wrong, it is still a fun mode. I recently moved to another state and I regularly play a buddy from my home state online and it is a good time. It's just disappointing that I see the potential of this mode and EA messed it up a bit. This series used to be about providing the best football sim on the market. Now it's about getting the game out the door by a definite release date and certain aspects are left on the cutting room floor that should be essential.
I will admit, that I am happy with the online franchise mode in general. Maybe it's just because I am shocked that EA actually delivered a fun, new feature for once. But either way, I am happy it's here. How does the rest of the game fare?
Well, you might feel like you are still stuck in '09 because not much has changed. Let's start with the presentation. The game does look pretty good, as usual. Yes everyone in the league still looks like they have been to the Barry Bonds school of weightlifting, but the players move very realistically. The stadiums look great and everything about the visual presentation is top notch. Some of the broadcast elements of the game are very good and will somewhat make you feel like it's Sunday and you are watching a game. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about the audio.
Can we get a petition going to kick Tom Hammond off the Madden franchise? Ok, he is better than that HORRID radio announcer guy from a couple years ago. That's about the best I can say for him. He shows zero emotion and is just terrible overall. Like last year, Collinsworth fares better. He is actually insightful at times and if he was paired with a better partner I may not play with the 'mute' option on my TV so much. And is it just me or is the music in Madden getting worse every year? It used to be that I would even learn a good song or two while I played. Now it's recycled crap from last years game and most of the tunes aren't good to begin with. Another awful addition is the rampant product placement. I never want to eat Snickers again. And it gets worse when you play online as it adds little ads in boxes on the screen above the score line. It's ridiculous and insulting. I don't need Madden to tell me I want a 'McDouble'.
My biggest complaint with this series has been the reluctance of EA to revamp or improve the Franchise and Superstar modes. Personally, I think the Superstar mode should be scrapped entirely. It wasn't fun when it first came out and it's not fun now. I used to LOVE to play the franchise mode, but it has grown incredibly stale. What's new this year? A NFL Network pre-and-post game show. While this is better than that annoying Tony Bruno crap they used to shovel down our throats in past games, it's not as good as it sounds. As usual, the Superstar mode blows and the Franchise mode is as good as it has been for years.....for better or worse. Hopefully, EA will eventually figure out to give us more things to do in Franchise mode and actually put it in the game. Of course, the Browns have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl this year than that ever actually happening.
The game on the field hasn't changed too much, for better or worse. There is now a 'Fight For The Fumble' feature, which is nice but not really necessary. It's just a button-mashing mini-game when the two teams converge on a loose ball. The Pro-Tak tackling system is actually kinda cool. It's fun to use a running back like Adrian Peterson and watch as 5 guys try to gang tackle him. This little feature, like the fumble one, is a nice addition but doesn't really change the overall gameplay much.
Madden is still fun to play and most of the time I enjoying myself while playing it. But this series still has legacy problems that the developers just can't seem to get right. For instance, the blocking of your OL is still terrible. And somehow the game finds a way to have terrible coverage skills in your secondary.....but still get WAY too many interceptions. In fact, everything I complained about in my last year's review about these types of issues are still present and have been for years. You would think EA would figure this stuff out, but I guess not. They did give us a new one this year.......running backs who break 19 tackles on the way to the end zone. There is something wrong when a 'speedy' RB with hardly any 'strength' and 'trucking' breaks 5 tackles in one play to break lose and he is gone. Things like this are just examples of the many annoyances.
I could go on and on about what annoys me in this game, but I will stop wasting your time. I used to be a HUGE fan of Madden, but this series has been stale for some time. Madden '10 does add an excellent new feature that has a lot of potential (online franchises) and the game is still fun to play and is the best NFL game you can get. But because I have been such a fan of this series for so many years, I get frustrated by the lack of innovation and overall laziness of the developers. This game sells like crazy every year no matter what EA does. That, in itself, is a big problem. Once EA's exclusive license with the NFL runs out and another company can compete with Madden, we may actually get a GREAT Madden game again. Until then, I will be playing other games and only come back to Madden to play in an online franchise.