Did everyone give up on this franchise? Not that abandonment is unwarranted with something like Madden, but this honestly might be the best football game since ESPN NFL 2K5 (which, according to Madden reviews I read, is as good as it gets in terms of video game football. Glad to see I'm not the only one who has love for it). Plays unfold slower and more realistically; you're not going to have the pass rush come at you at light speed and any holes in the defense won't close up before you know it.
And the whole Pro-tak system, as retarded and markety as it sounds, is probably one of the best improvements to Madden in years. Tackles are made much more realistically with little to no clipping and you really feel like you earned it when your team stops the rush or when your back breaks a few tackles. It's tough to explain why this game is working for me when past iterations haven't (I haven't enjoyed any of the next-gen Maddens). I guess it's just the little things, like going back to the old play selection system where you press one of three buttons to choose a play, keeping your decision secret from your buddy sitting next to you.
There are far more improvements to the presentation; a bunch of new animations keep the game from getting stale. Some of them are player specific, so Ben Roethlisberger throws like Ben Roethlisberger. Nothing innovative, but again it's the little things. The camera angles occasionally mimic a real sports broadcast, but they rarely intrude gameplay (though one instance that it does which I actually like is sometimes the camera won't go to the "behind the line" cam if you kick a quick extra point. Instead, the camera will remain behind the uprights. Fuck it, extra points are easy.). And yeah, there's all the extra stuff like QB towels and team-specific equipment. The halftime show is pretty worthless, but it is a damn good feeling when the announcer calls one of your players as Player of the Week.
I don't really get into the nuts and bolts of the Franchise or Online, so the game may not please all. But if you got bit by the football bug as bad as I did (I've been watching preseason games with teams I don't care about), this year's Madden is pretty damn good.
And the whole Pro-tak system, as retarded and markety as it sounds, is probably one of the best improvements to Madden in years. Tackles are made much more realistically with little to no clipping and you really feel like you earned it when your team stops the rush or when your back breaks a few tackles. It's tough to explain why this game is working for me when past iterations haven't (I haven't enjoyed any of the next-gen Maddens). I guess it's just the little things, like going back to the old play selection system where you press one of three buttons to choose a play, keeping your decision secret from your buddy sitting next to you.
There are far more improvements to the presentation; a bunch of new animations keep the game from getting stale. Some of them are player specific, so Ben Roethlisberger throws like Ben Roethlisberger. Nothing innovative, but again it's the little things. The camera angles occasionally mimic a real sports broadcast, but they rarely intrude gameplay (though one instance that it does which I actually like is sometimes the camera won't go to the "behind the line" cam if you kick a quick extra point. Instead, the camera will remain behind the uprights. Fuck it, extra points are easy.). And yeah, there's all the extra stuff like QB towels and team-specific equipment. The halftime show is pretty worthless, but it is a damn good feeling when the announcer calls one of your players as Player of the Week.
I don't really get into the nuts and bolts of the Franchise or Online, so the game may not please all. But if you got bit by the football bug as bad as I did (I've been watching preseason games with teams I don't care about), this year's Madden is pretty damn good.
