Last year, Madden NFL 09 cover boy Brett Favre un-retired and came back with a different team being the New York Jets. No Super Bowl and he retired…only to pull a Michael Jordan and making another comeback, this time with the Vikings. Tom Brady has returned from a huge injury...so has Michael Vick but that’s another story. Yes, the 2009-2010 NFL regular season is upon us and there’s no better way to celebrate than getting the new version of Madden NFL to review. While last year’s effort was one of the best in the series, this year’s Madden has the difficult task to continue the trend of excellence and deliver one of the greatest football experiences to this day. Did EA Tiburon manage to pull it off?


Gameplay

If you’ve been playing the next-generations versions of the game since 2007, you saw the evolution of the franchise to a point where every tweak and addition brings it closer to the ultimate football experience. You may say to yourself that EA Tiburon could not have changed the game that much from last year. However with the constant evolution of the online gaming landscape, I would say that the focus to online had to come one day or another. This year, Madden NFL 10 puts the emphasis towards online play to please the more hardcore players and even get the attention of a few newcomers. Regardless of this, it doesn’t mean that the game does bring its share of gameplay refinements.

This year’s motto “Fight for Every Yard” clearly states what players should expect of the game. To bring the game to a more organic level of realism, Madden NFL 10 introduces “Pro-Tak”, an all-new animation system that can be experienced at various times of play whether you’re fighting against a tackle to get the additional yard or evading from a possible sack with your quarterback for the game-winning touchdown. “Pro-Tak” also puts a special attention to fumble fights and gang tackles. For example, when the ball is fumbled on a certain gameplay occasion, the game presents a series of buttons on the screen and each player needs to follow the instructions to determine who will get the ball back. “Pro-Tak” also lets you engage three-to nine-man gang tackles. To further accentuate the “Fight for Every Yard” theme, the A.I now feels much smarter than ever as they adjust to your plays and tendencies, forcing you to use your playbook and on-the-fly plays more often. Also, these tweaks brought to the A.I have seemed to affect positively the rest of the gameplay options. The running and juking systems, both already improved in last year’s version, are even more effective. The highlight stick control continues to shine since its inception in Madden 2007. The same could be said about the defensive systems even though there’s still a few minor discrepancies but at least, it’s getting better.


Modes such as the Superstar, Franchise, Mini-Games, Madden Moments, Practice and the very useful Virtual Trainer for the newcomers are all making a comeback but are discreetly presented as the menus have been re-worked so it doesn’t feel heavy. That was a huge complaint I had towards Madden NFL 09 and most of the Madden community thought the same as well. Glad to see a more efficient menu browsing system make its way to this year’s game. While most of the options are all worth checking out, I’ve spent more of my offline time building up my Franchise and trying out the Superstar mode, which has received a very welcomed face-lift. Finally, I could spend more time playing than training. I mean, training and practice is good but in a videogame, you need to play more in order to enjoy.

Franchise is as good as it was with a only a few changes only the most hardened Madden fan will truly enjoy such as a smarter free agency system and a deeper and detailed franchise management. Speaking of franchise management, Madden NFL 10 introduces a micro-transaction system to the Madden franchise that lets you buy boosts. We’re starting to see more of these micro-transactions in several EA games and frankly, seeing it happening to the most popular franchise in the EA stable does not surprise. Thankfully, these boosts cannot be used during online play a la Need for Speed, kudos to that.

As I said earlier, Madden NFL 10 does put the emphasis online play to please the hardcore fans thanks to the addition of two major components. First, Madden NFL 10 lets you play in co-op with a friend or a random player through Xbox Live & PSN against a CPU controlled team. While the system works very well with very few lags or random disconnections, I would suggest you playing with a friend if you truly want to enjoy the new gameplay mode because random players will often disconnect or never talk to you. If the co-op online mode doesn’t suffer from internet latencies, the camera view brings a problem. Each player has its own camera view set on the player they control, making it difficult and confusing to pull good plays, especially when you decide to switch players. Still, the online co-op mode is being offered for the first time and there’s no doubt that EA Tiburon will continue to exploit this mode in the next Madden iterations…like going against another human controlled co-op team.


Last but not least, Madden fans have been asking for Online Franchises and they were half pleased when Online Leagues were introduced last year. In Madden NFL 10, Online Franchises gives to 32 human players the possibility to join a league (either public or private) and battle their way through a maximum of ten seasons. The game also lets you draft, trade, cut and sign players. Most of the things you were able to do in an offline franchise are also possible online. Of course, since it’s the first time Online Franchises are being featured in a Madden game, many things had to be left aside such as salary caps, the lack of Import Draft Class support and player contracts. Madden fans are certainly the most demanding gamers when it comes down to features and changes and EA was well aware of that. Unhappy players have been flooding the game’s official forums to express their discontent. Folks, remember that everything has to begin somewhere. At least, the option to play a ten year franchise with your friends has been given to you. So why not giving EA Tiburon a chance to set the whole thing up?

Now, it’s very important to point out that if you were interested in joining an Online Franchise league, you have to buy a brand new copy of the game since it has a code printed on the back of the booklet. Just as in NBA Live 09 with the Live DNA Dynamic option, the one-time redeemable code unlocks the Online Franchise mode in your game and gives you the opportunity to play five different franchises at a time. If you were thinking of buying it used at a later time, the Online Franchise mode can be unlocked for $10.

Graphics and Sounds

Coming off strong from the work done last year, the visuals in Madden NFL 10 are simply stunning. The player animations engine continues to amaze us with its fluidity; the weather system continues to bring some of the greatest visual presentations in a football game and the stadiums are once again extremely well rendered and detailed. The rest of the visual presentation outside the game of football (like cut-scenes around stadiums or static players on the sidelines) isn’t very impressive. However, we’re glad to see that the in-game visuals continue to push the boundaries year after year.


Sadly, the in-game commentary doesn’t seem to get any better. If I complained about Tom Corso’s lack of seriousness in my review of NCAA Football 10, Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth are completely the opposite as they completely lack emotion. Plus, the same lines are being repeated over, over and over. The analysis continues to be a strong point in the in-game commentary but it lacks serious flavour. How about getting John Madden more involved? And don’t get me started on “The Extra Point” show, it’s even worst. Didn’t EA have the rights to use ESPN license? How about bringing a new team of anchors?

Value

EA may be releasing a new Madden NFL game every year but for the past three years, EA Tiburon has been added key gameplay additions to the franchise that every year becomes a must own title to any Madden fan. Casual football fans may not feel like this new title is worth spending $60 for it and I totally understand, especially if you don’t care about the online modes. The more it goes, the Madden NFL franchise targets even more the hardcore football gamer and to them, buying the new version isn’t an issue anymore. If you can recognize yourself in this paragraph, the question of buying or not can find its answer very quickly. Now, if you have never bought a Madden game since the franchise arrived on next-generation consoles (Madden NFL 06), maybe it’s time for you to check this one out. You won’t be disappointed.

Conclusion

There’s no such game as “Perfect” but Madden NFL 10 and the development team over at EA Tiburon continues to offer the greatest football experience year after year. The Online Franchise and the possibility to play with a friend online are welcomed additions and the overall product is a must have for any Madden hardcore fan out there. Matter of fact, if you consider yourself a “Madden Nut”, you have already bought your copy and have started your Online Franchise with your friends. Hope you’re having fun!