Is Madden 12 The Best Football Game Ever?

September 9, 2011

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I know I asked the question, but I don’t even know that I can answer my own question. It’s very difficult to make an argument for anything being the “best ever”, but I do have to say that the makers of Madden made some SIGNIFICANT improvements in this year’s game.

Gameplay-wise, I think the biggest improvement is the all new collision system. The game is also “smart” enough to take the size of different players into consideration. If Darren Sproles gets hit by Brian Urlacher, chances are, he’s going to be hit backwards. The new system flows very well, using a players momentum in tackling. The days of 8 defenders suctioning onto a running back (or any offensive player for that matter) are over. Gang tackling, better and consecutive hits make the game much more realistic.

In previous versions of Madden, certain pass plays were always extremely easy. Slant across the middle, catch just about every time. Zone defenses seemed extremely easy to beat. Now, Madden has some enhancements that give defenders a clue on what their assignments should be, and it works! My first time playing the game, I immediately fell back on the same plays that I always use, and to my surprise, they weren’t bread and butter like usual. Good! Anything that makes the game more challenging.

Visually, the big change being promoted is 3D grass. Honestly, I can’t tell much of a difference. The graphics are indeed better this year than they have been in years past, but as far as being able to tell the grass is 3D…come on. Maybe it’s really there. But to me, that doesn’t matter. What does matter, is players kicking up grass, dirt, snow, etc, when running on the field. Actually seeing the elements is pretty cool, and you definitely can this year.

Play calling has been given a huge upgrade this year. Rather than cycling through every single play in your teams playbook, you can choose the game flow system, where a select few plays will be displayed and you can pick one. The plays to seem to line up pretty well with your teams situation (1st and 10, 3rd and 2, etc) from what I’ve noticed while playing. It does shed a few minutes off of your game time, meaning 1 game might take 45 minutes instead of an hour, but still pretty cool.

The Franchise Mode also received a big overhaul, adding in expanded rosters and also roster cuts during the pre-season, allowing you to trim your roster of bad contracts and obviously adding more realism. I haven’t made it to an off-season yet, but free agent bidding should now be much better than in the past. And maybe the coolest thing of all…if you’re in season 6 (or whatever season) of your franchise and you’re tired of your team, you can now switch to another team without needing to completely restart your franchise mode. I haven’t done this, but still seems very cool.

Overall, I love the game. On a scale of 1-10, I’d give it about a 9.5, simply because giving any game a full 10 is just hard to justify. But don’t let that deter you. This game is fantastic and I highly recommend it to any football fan.

Madden 12 / Big Brother

July 27, 2011

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Madden 12……It’s On!

Last month, I wrote about Madden 12 and how the NFL lockout would impact the release of this year’s game (read it here).

No, this won’t be yet another story on the NFL lockout, because over the last several months I know we’ve all gotten more than tired of reading about it.  This is much more important….with the announcement earlier this week that the lockout is now over, Madden 12 is back on!  The most recent announced date I’m seeing is Madden will become available August 30th this year, which is a little later than usual, but still not bad considering the work that Madden maker EA will have to put in to release the title.

I do have to say, in the world of receiving software updates over the internet, this fairly quick release date is much more manageable.  With teams not signing recent draftees and free agents until now, it would be nearly impossible for those events to happen AND for EA to get rosters updated, etc in time for the release.  With today’s technology, and being able to receive roster updates via the internet, us Madden lovers can get the game we’ve been waiting for since…..well, last August!

Big Brother – What are they Thinking??

Last week, when Jordan and Jeff had control of the house, and ultimately had a chance to back-door Brendon and Rachel at the veto ceremony, they should have!  It was the perfect chance to get rid of the duo that ultimately is their biggest competition.  However, they felt it was too early in the game to go against their alliance.  Partially true, but still may be the only chance they get. 

Of course, Rachel won the last HoH, and now she and Brendon have the chance to do exactly what could have been done to them.  There was a luxury competition, with Jordan winning the chance to take 3 other houseguests to the viewing of a new show on CBS (Same Name, CBS, 9pm/8pm CT).  Of course she picked Jeff, and then picked Kalia and Shelly?!?!  What are you thinking, Jordan?  Rachel already won the HoH, and of course she’s going to get upset that you didn’t pick her and Brendon.

Of course, what does this lead to, Rachel getting upset and then arguing with Brendon, like they always do.  And, of course, this led to the other houseguests trying to convince Rachel to back-door Jeff and Jordan at the veto ceremony.  She nominated Adam and Dominic for eviction, and the veto competition will be tomorrow night.  If Rachel and Brendon or Adam and Dominic win the veto competition, I fully expect that Rachel will back-door Jordan and Jeff….which means Jordan and Jeff HAVE to win the veto competition.   Yes, if you can’t already tell, I’m pulling for Jeff and Jordan to win it all!!

Madden 12 – Will It Happen?

June 15, 2011

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I was thinking the other day about how excited I was getting to get a new copy of the Madden 12 game when it comes out in early August (like it does every other year). But wait, will there be a Madden game this year with all of this NFL lockout nonsense? I’m not going to get into the gritty details of what’s going on with the lockout, because honestly I haven’t taken the time to figure it all out. I’m a huge NFL fan, and I enjoy playing sports games. This is simply the “sports game playing” side me saying JUST KNOCK IT OFF AND PLAY….preferably on time.

So, I started doing some research….and the first thing I find says the game won’t be released until August 30th this year. What?!?! August 30th. That’s almost THREE whole weeks we’re all going to have to wait to see the new game. Will this hurt sales? I really don’t think so. There is no other true NFL game on the market for any system, so it’s not like the competition is going to take advantage of the “late” release date. EA may not have the stellar sales that they’ve had in years past, but I personally don’t see the release date being a huge problem….just keeps guys like me waiting a few more weeks to play it!

I know that Madden 12 has been developed or is currently in development as several new features have been announced (I’ll save talking about those until I play the game). But if there ends up being no season in the NFL this year, what does that mean for the game? Some critics are saying that it could hurt the game’s sales by as much as 50%. Really? I get the correlation of NFL fans to the Madden game. But I don’t see millions of people not purchasing Madden because of the NFL lockout. Madden really has nothing to do with the lockout….it’s not like the game developers are on the same side as the owners, or the players for that matter.

I’m more worried about logistical things with the game. With the recent draftees not being able to sign contracts, will they all be free agents in the game? Or will they be on their team’s roster? If they’re on a roster, what will their salary be? With the impending lockout issues on the table, it’s hard to say, or to even guess. Maybe the lockout will be solved in time for EA Sports to get the game updated. Or, better yet, with today’s gaming world and online capabilities, an update can definitely be issues once everything with the lockout is figured out (it WILL be figured out, I mean, it’s a BILLION dollar “organization”).

I know for a fact that I don’t want the NFL to be delayed and I definitely don’t want to miss an entire season, and if either of those happens I probably will lose some interest in the league. But I KNOW that I will be getting a copy of Madden on August 30th (or whatever the dates turns out to be)! I’ve owned the game every year since its release in 1988 for whichever console I had at the time, and I’m not stopping now.

If you have thoughts, please share. If you are a Madden junkie but won’t by the game because of the lockout, why not?