The Football Fan Spot

Madden '10 just recently came out on August 13th and you are probably wondering, if you haven't already bought it already, whether or not you should buy it. Maybe you've been a long time fan of the game, but aren't sure if 10 will be any different than 09. Maybe you are a football fan who has never bought a copy of the game and is wondering if you should. I'm not going to tell you if you should or should not buy it, but I will give you helpful information to aid in your decision.

Differences 

Custom control stick: Now the right analog stick not only allows you to juke and throw the ball away if you’re a quarterback. You can have it do whatever you want. Have a signature move, put it in here and with a simple flick of the stick, you can do your signature move. This really adds to the realism of the game because in real life, players have signature moves. Now, you can access your signature move more easily

Fight for the fumble: If you drop the ball on the ground, its no longer a matter of diving to get the ball, its more realistic now. It’s a fight for the ball. If the ball is on the ground, icons pop up on the screen corresponding to icons on your controller. Hit these icons when they appear on the screen and you better your chances to pick up the ball. However, if the ball is nowhere near you or close to you, you still retain the realistic chances to get the ball.

Ice the kicker: In clutch moments, you can call a timeout before the opponent kicks a field goal and it will decrease your opponents’ chance of making the field goal. However, the opponent can do the same to you. If they call a timeout before you kick a clutch field goal, ice appears on the kick stick making it harder to tell if you are kicking a good field goal and the field goal post appears farther away. The one thing I don’t like about this is that it makes no difference whether you call the timeout closer to the end of the time clock or right at the start of the time clock. In the NFL, it makes a huge difference. However, the feature adds to the realism of this game and it is better than no feature.

Individual momentum: Players’ ratings will go up midgame depending on how hot or cold they have been in recent plays, adding to the realism of the game.

Better graphics: Obviously this game has better graphics than ’09. It is the most realistic looking game in Madden history. My favorite part of the improved graphics is how realistic catches are. No more receivers dropping passes that hit them in the hands. No more receivers making random crazy catches. No more receivers hands going through defenders to catch balls.

Wildcat: The newest rage in the NFL is the wildcat and the wildcat is now part of Madden playbooks.

Issues

Soundtrack: Its not a major thing, but the soundtrack disappointed me. I expect better out of a Madden game in this department.

Non-updated rosters: This is always an issue, but the rosters are only accurate until about June. No Favre. No Vick. However, you can update this with an online update. There isn’t anything that Madden can do about this that they aren’t already doing.

Contracts: One suggestion for Madden is a greed rating or a team oriented/self oriented meter. It would not affect rating, but it would make players of the same rating ask for more money than others in franchise mode, one thing it does not do now. It would also make a player more or less likely to holdout for more money.

Bust rating: Also players should have a bust rating. It would be undiscoverable to a team drafting, but it would be the difference between drafting a Tom Brady and an Alex Smith. It happens in real life, but never in Madden.

Low ratings for rookies: Rookies’ ratings are lower than normal. This is slightly more realistic because it makes it so not all rookies have huge impacts in their rookie year. However, if you like playing multiple year franchises, rookies will not improve as much as they should making it harder to build a team from scratch. This is not a major issue for casual Madden players.

Overall: This is a great game and by far the most realistic Madden yet. You just don't get the same experience playing '09. If you've never played Madden before. Now is a great time to start. This is the best Madden ever. 

Want this game? Buy it now!