DRob's Official Madden '11 Review

Don't mind the photo here of me dick-slapping the Buffalo Bills with the Patriots. Every game doesn't turn out like that. Buffalo just sucks. But anyway, I know you're all wondering how Madden '11 is in comparison to past issues. The biggest question for the average American man today is obvious. Do I take that $62 and buy some chips and beers in preparation for the start of preseason football? Or do I use it to buy this year's copy of Madden? My job in this review is to tell you which decision is the right one.

Madden is good. Very good. There aren't any massive changes to the game, but the changes are all positive in my opinion. The most notable difference is in playcalling. Madden '11 introduces a new style of calling the shots with the Gameflow feature. Basically, you have a coordinator calling your plays for you based on the situation. Using the Gameplan feature, you can choose a group of plays that your coordinator will pick from in every given situation -- from 1st and 10 to 4th and short to goal line plays and two-minute drills -- giving you the ability to control your plan of attack. You just press one button to use the coordinator's Gameflow play, or you can press another button to call up the playbook and select a play of your choice. Calling audibles is easier than in past games, and you just spend more time on the field overall than in the playbook. I think it's a positive change.

Another difference I notice is just the subtle animations in the style of running and contact. With the ground game, you have a much more all-inclusive control over your runner. Movements are more precise and plays seem more realistic most of the time. In the passing game, leading receivers on deep balls toward the end zone is improved in my opinion. You can toss that lob up to Randy Moss at the back of the end zone, and the receiver will make every effort to get his toes in bounds. In past games, receivers didn't make that same effort. Positive change there. The kicking game makes a simpler change as well. Instead of the erratic kicking system with the joystick that would often cause completely shanked punts and kicks, you set the direction of your arrow in '11 and use a timing meter to decide the power and accuracy. One of those things where you stop the bar by pressing the button when it is right in the correct zone of the meter. I think it's a more reliable way of kicking. Another positive change. Most of the in-game changes were simple and subtle, but I think they were all spot-on.

Except one thing. Plain and simply, some guys are WAY too fast. When I say some guys, I'm mainly referring to Chris Johnson. He's this year's embedded cheat code in Madden. Last year, Adrian Peterson was impossible to bring down. This year, CJ is impossible to even get a hand on. He literally gets around the outside and cannot be stopped. I mean, I love Johnson and I think he's the best back in the NFL. He's crazy fast. But in this game, it literally looks like he's in fast-forward while everyone else is in normal time. That is literally my only complaint about the game play. It is an otherwise fabulous game.

I haven't jumped into any modes except the franchise yet, but the structure of the franchise mode seems overwhelmingly unchanged. Don't fix what's not broken I guess, right? Franchise has always been a pretty good set up, and I think the Madden franchises are far superior to the other sports games' modes. One thing that I personally love about it is that you can restructure a contract with a player at any time -- in games like NHL, you can only extend the player once his contract is up. Doesn't make much sense that way. Madden has it right. They have it right about most things. And I think Madden '11 is just another step in the right direction for the series.

So, yes, I'm telling you that the best choice is to use that $62 to buy Madden '11 for your system of choice. Beg your friends for the booze and the chips, or just settle for what's in your fridge for a few weeks. Hell, you may not even need the snacks -- you might just skip the preseason games all together in the interest of playing your newest video game.