PS3 Review – Madden NFL 10
With the recent release of NCAA Football 10 last month, it’s time to review this year’s version of Madden NFL. During the staff’s time at E3 2009, I was able to get some hands-on time with the title and talk to several members of the development team, and what they emphasized was that they were trying to take the franchise back to basics. Accomplishing this would involve taking out the unnecessary stuff, and fine tuning the current features. As soon as I started playing, I could tell that it had been completely overhauled. And this was with the unfinished demo. Not only was it more realistic, the mechanics of the title had been perfected. For the first time in years, I was looking more forward to Madden than NCAA Football.
Fast forward to the completed title. The first thing I have to say is that player movement within the game has been slowed down dramatically. The reasoning behind this being that in prior installments the unnaturalistic speed of the players just didn’t translate well, giving the games an arcade-like feel. Though Madden NFL 10 has a much more realistic feel to it, those who are unhappy with the changes can still readjust movement speed within the options screen.
The defense does a better job of responding to the actions taken on offense as well. This includes reads, as well as reacting to the executions of the offense. Defense will also have gang tackles of up to around 9 players on one ball carrier, with offensive players jumping in to push the ball carrier forward. It seems that the movement of the pile, either forward or backward, depends on the strength of the players involved in the pile. Just as in NCAA Football, the defenders that are defending the pass actually look to locate the ball and react to it while it is in the air. This is just one of the many factors that adds to the overall believability of the game.
But one mode that is extremely lacking is Superstar Mode. To be honest, I’m not sure why EA Sports even implemented it in this year’s title; there’s just so few options to justify its existence, especially with the team’s motto of “going back to basics.” Superstar Mode feels bland and uninspired. There is so much they could have accomplished with this mode if they had actually put in the effort. There are even things missing that I know were in the past PS2 versions of this series.
15 Responses to “PS3 Review – Madden NFL 10”
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August 25th, 2009 at 9:03 AM
good review.
August 25th, 2009 at 9:59 AM
Great review. Glad to see EA stepping up their game on Madden.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:28 AM
So I think this year’s game is a huge improvement from previous versions. I agree the Superstar mode is lacking in depth, you can’t improve your player off the field at all, but the animations and graphics and overall environment that you get when you’re on the field with your Superstar is very impressive so I still have fun playing it. I was very excited for the online franchise mode until I found out you had to pay for it…I have yet to pay for the option and I very highly doubt that I will. I can’t see any justification for having to pay an extra $10 for a mode that should have been included in the game itself that I paid $60 for so I will be missing out on this mode until EA quits being so damn greedy.
08/25/2009 at 8:20 PM
You don’t have to pay for it. There is a code on the back of the booklet within the case to redeem that unlocks the feature.
August 25th, 2009 at 11:52 AM
It’s nice to see that they actually made some great improvements in the game. Haven’t picked this up yet, I saved my money for batman.
August 25th, 2009 at 12:49 PM
I can’t wait to get this once I can find it for $40.
August 25th, 2009 at 1:28 PM
@ giese095… if you bought the game new you dont have to pay for online franchise. theres a code on the back of the instruction manual, you put the code in and you have your online franchise. I also want to say that i couldn’t disagree more with this review, the madden series has been extremely flawed since next-gen (or should i say since EA got the rights to the NFL) 10 is better than 09 but thats not saying much. Its clear ea doesn’t care about hardcore football fans or the hardcore madden heads that have made the series so popular, but are catering to kids and people who just want to pick up the game and have an arcade style football game.
August 25th, 2009 at 4:56 PM
Cool , great Review.
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