Madden NFL 12 Scores a B Grade After a Weekend of Play

Monday, August 29, 2011

EASports.com

By Daniel Wolf
Senior Writer

Madden NFL football is set to launch on Tuesday August 30 and EA Sports has produced a quality product for football fans who are the casual gamer, all the way up to the hardcore gamers too.

After spending a full weekend playing game after game, here is my review of Madden NFL 12.

I would like to start this review off by making it clear there will be no information of online play—I received an early copy from EA Sports for my XBox 360—since I do not have a Gold Membership. I am not a fan of online play because when I used to play online, I found myself getting frustrated more than having fun playing the game online. Yes, this means I am more of a casual gamer and not a hardcore one.

Moving on, let's examine the new features and my team of choice was the Cleveland Browns.


Playbooks & Gameplay

-All-new collision system. This is self-explanatory in that the tackling system has been improved and EA Sports added, "over 100 new tackle animations, including 40 gang tackles, to provide more impactful hits, stolen tackles and consecutive hit tackling." Seeing some of these new tackling features really improved the realism of the game and this is a great new addition. Score: 9/10


-Advanced defensive AI. This means you will get annoyed with the improved computer-controlled opponents, especially when the computer is playing defense. Keeping a successful passing attack rolling is difficult because the computer defenders kept running in front of my receivers and batting down passes. On the other side of the spectrum, I could not be stopped when running the ball on the ground. Maybe it was due to the fact Peyton Hillis is unstoppable in the game or perhaps due to the defensive AI not being as smart in stopping the run as it is with the pass. Score: 6/10


-Custom playbooks. Fans have been asking for this feature for a while now and the new custom playbook is very in-depth and time consuming. Not something I could fully dive into, because I would rather play the game instead of sit on my couch looking at play after play to create my own custom playbook. This feature is really for the hardcore gamer and hardcore football fans more than anything else. Score: 7/10


Presentation

-Broadcast refined. The new "broadcast-feel" is really impressive. EA Sports sought out the advice from real-life producers of football games and nailed the look and feel of "watching a game on television" experience. Camera angles are the real deal and "over 500 dynamic broadcast cameras authentic to every NFL stadium, innovative 'real' on-field cameras shot by expert NFL Films cameramen, and a network inspired new broadcast graphics package." Score: 10/10

-Unprecedented on-field authenticity. EA Sports' press release says it best. "Hundreds of visual improvements across all areas of the game including: new player equipment, helmet stickers, pylon and ball physics, a player degradation system that affects uniforms and helmets based on weather and field surface, 3D grass, and new player specific animations that showcase the personalities of each NFL player." Score: 10/10


Franchise & Superstar Modes

-Build a franchise. There are "over 100 new features." Expanded roster in the preseason, new preseason cuts, a scouting system is in place to scout future rookies, hot and cold streaks and much more are present in franchise mode. My favorite is easily the new free agent bidding system. Now you go up against 31 NFL teams in an attempt to "out-bid" them for a desired free agent in the offseason. I urge everyone to not bid right away, since that will drive up the price, and place your bid at the last moment. Kind of like bidding on EBay. Score: 9/10


-Be a superstar. This feature remains the same except now you can hear your position coach giving advice and coaching you to become a better player. Score: 7/10


Dynamic Player Performance

-By far the coolest new addition to the game this year. If you player is having a good game, he will become a better player as the game and season continues. If your player struggles in games, it will be a long year for him. Best example I can give is with Browns running back Hillis. The more I ran him, the stronger he became in games. Another example is with Browns quarterback Colt McCoy. Being that he is only a second-year player, he struggled early in the season, but as the season continued he seemed to gain more confidence and play much better later on. Simply put, this is just a cool feature that gives the game a "real feel" to it. Score: 10/10


Madden Ultimate Team

-Per EA Sports, "The perfect combination of Madden NFL Football, fantasy football and trading cards come to life in Madden NFL Ultimate Team. Earn, buy, auction and now trade players, to build your ultimate team of NFL stars." In other words, a team of superstars. Cool feature, not my thing, but it still gets a good score. Score: 8/10


That's it for all the newer features (sans anything about online play, as I said earlier) and now on to the standard scoring for the game.

Presentation - Great presentation with real-life camera angles and exterior shots of all stadiums moves this version of Madden above all of its past incarnations. Score: 10/10

Graphics - Look great with additional animations that are smooth and fluid. Score: 9/10

Sound - Commentary by Gus Johnson and Cris Collinsworth brings this score way down because you can hear the difference in volume during the commentary, when one pre-recorded sentence cuts into another. Also, name pronunciations were wrong at times and completely wrong names were said other times. Example: Johnson called Browns first round pick Phil Taylor, Ryan Taylor. Score: 4/10

Gameplay - Just as good as it has been in the past with nice fluidity and ease of use. Score: 8/10

Replay Value - When is it not fun to play game-after-game of Madden? Score: 9/10


Overall Score: 8.2 out of 10 


(Author's note: Overall score is achieved by adding up all the scores and dividing the total by the total number of actual scores.)

Click here to buy your copy of Madden NFL 12.


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