Madden 12: Going Forward

Written by Scott Hemphill | 01 February 2011

The Super Bowl is less than a week away.  This is the time I usually write something to reflect on the current state of Madden football.  I'm opting against that this year, because any discussion of Madden 11 at this point would sound more like a posthumous review or critique.  So rather than go into all that, I wanted to discus the future of the product, and my hopes for Madden 12.

I've been a long time Madden gamer, dating back to the used copy of "Madden Football" I bought off of a friend for the Sega Genesis.  I also remember seeing the ad for Madden '92, and making sure I had a ride to "Babbages" game store in Mill Creek PA to pick Madden 92 up on the first day.  (Ah...my freshmen year at college.)  Twenty years later, I'm still an avid Madden gamer.  I've seen its many ups, occasional downs, and lots of in-betweens over those two decades.

I personally believe that the release of Madden 12 will be one of the most watched releases in this console generation.  Of course, with the Madden phenomenon being what it is, all Madden releases are "important", but this one might have alot more at stake than usual for EA and us, the fans.  For one thing, there's alot of uncertainty swirling around in the real NFL.  There very well may be a lockout if no new collective bargaining agreement is crafted.  The threat of a "No NFL Season" year looms large in the background, and I personally don't see many of the issues between owners and players being easily bridged.  (Especially the idiotic 18 game regular season idea, but that's a rant for another day.)

Legally, I don't know how that works.  Will EA be able to release a game with the players association and NFL license if there's no CBA?  Furthermore, if they can release a game, will many people buy a game based on an NFL regular season that....doesn't exist?  EA could be walking into uncharted territory.

Further complicating matters is the fact that 2K Sports released what many feel to be the most complete, well-done, feature rich sports game of this generation (so far) with NBA 2K11.  Not only was it a top notch current day hoops sim, but it also featured a career mode featuring Michael Jordan, as well as many classic teams and licensed classic players from the NBA's past rounding out those teams.

My Newfound Love/Hate Relationship with Madden 11

User Rating: / 2
PoorBest 

Written by Scott Hemphill | 14 October 2010

Many months ago, after reading some of the hype about NCAA 11 and some of the early hype about Madden 11's new "momentum engine", I found myself writing how I felt that this may be a banner year for some EA Sports franchises.   However, a week after publishing, EA announced the "Online Pass", and shortly thereafter, Madden's "big" features were revealed to be merely AI-suggested plays and online co-op.  And, oh by the way, the news then game that there no enhancements to online franchise, superstar, or much else.  Color me depressed and underwhelmed.

NCAA 11 turned out to be a quality release, and a very big step in the right direction for EA for a series who's quality was up and down over the current XBOX 360/PS3 cycle.   However, Madden 11 seemed to me to be an "iffy" purchase, at best.  The feature set did nothing for me, and I think I share that sentiment with other older repeat Madden buyers.  Madden 10 "wowed", while Madden 11's feature set...upon reading...could induce snores.

That said, my good friend Patrick and I have played at least one online game per week against one another using Madden football since Madden 03.  So, tradition- and low-level peer-pressure- won out.  I went to my local Gamestop and purchased Madden 11.  As usual, I played a few games against the AI, and I saw some things I didn't like.  Chief among those things were too many 3 on 1 broken tackles for TD by non-power backs.  Then, throw in the fact that there is no kick return blocking whatsoever, and Madden 11 was set aside pretty quickly.  (edit: Many of these issues have been patched to a varying degree since release.)

Still, I did play my one game a week with Patrick.  As with most sports games, if you know who you are playing against, it is much better than going against random cheeser from God-knows-where.  So those games were fun.  They kept my interest in the game, though not as much as Madden 10 did.

E3 2010- Madden 11 Co-Op (from IGN)

Written by Scott Hemphill | 14 June 2010

Lots of details about the new Madden Co-Op mode HERE from IGN.

Unfortunately, as discussed HERE, Online Franchise remains untouched, which flat out sucks.  If they thought online usage of Online Franchise was low, I can count on one finger how many guys I know in the community that care about co-op modes in football games.