Madden 11 Mini Review (Thanks to EA and a Remachined Xbox 360)

Where to begin?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a console gamer. Of course I've played PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, whatever, but my weapon of choice has always been the

PC. I've always felt more in control of the game, be it using a mouse to snipe people versus a...controller or setting customized resolutions, playing in windowed mode, and basically throwing down a grand or so to build a box that plays...one game pretty well.

Well, here's to new things for me. My friend at EA sports mentioned the other day that Madden 11 was coming out. Normally I wouldn't care. I know Madden is THE football game to play, but I've got other things to do.

That was until a used Xbox 360

walked through my door on trade towards a used laptop. Along with 4 games and a wireless controller, I'd be a fool not to take it.

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But then again, in the electronics business, even a fool knows that Xbox 360s are easily one of the worst non-recalled electronic products ever produced. The failure rate on these things is horrendous. They usually bake themselves to de

ath and give you that nice red light of death.

Somehow this one, which smelled like an ashtray, ran great. I played some Tekken 6 to burn it in (like it needed it) and it went off without a hitch.

So that's where I drop a line to my friend at EA that I just got a 360. This was after cracking jokes that I hadn't played Madden since 1996 (which really is kind of true). She went ahead and overnighted me a complimentary copy of Madden 11, to which I owe them a mini review. So here we go.

Upon firing it up, the HD resolution going over HDMI on my 42" Panasonic Plasma looked amazing. I've never played a game that looked so good on a TV before. The good ol "EA Sports" logo slams in your face, and you're ready for some football.

T

hen Drew Brees shows up and ruins the moment with his contrived speech. A little "This is New Orleans" BS and whatnot. It really was kind of a downer and made me like him a little less for selling out like this.

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Thankfully that's in the extended intro, and that sappy stuff isn't dripping all over the game, since AC/DC Thunderstruck kicked in as soon as I got to the main menu.

Speaking of, where the heck is John Madden? His face is in the game sometimes, but you don't ever hear him talk. It's like he's dead or something, or locked up in solitary. It's kind of weird.

The new version of the game has GameFlow, which allows Madden to automatically pick a play based on where you are on the field and what down it is. That's pretty nice if I were 6 or if I was playing with someone who only knew football as soccer. I personally want control over my plays, but it does speed the game up for noobs and the play

calling is pretty logical.

Another weird thing about the game is that they took out speed burst. It's an automatic thing now, but how do you KNOW you're bursting and not just fat like Lendale White? It feels weird, but it does come into play when you bust through a hole or break to the outside...I just wish I could manually do it. You can enable it, but it should be on by default.

Gameplay is very smooth, and the game really requires you to wait for your receivers to hit their routes in order to complete passes. I'm a Tecmo Super Bowl guy (yeah, I'm that old) and I'm used to launching 70 yard passes and expect Henry Ellard to jump up and grab it over Deion Sanders' head. None of that is happening in Madden 11. If you try to float passes, you'll have every single one of them broken up or picked off. You need to have patience and really run a lot of crossing patterns and slant routes.

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Defense is actually fun to play. I've never felt as though I had the talent to be a defensive lineman and actually get a sack, or a cornerback and stick with my man without knocking him over and getting a penalty, so I play the nice easy role of middle linebacker. I have the ability to cover anywhere on the field or get in and stop the run.

You should ask the Steelers after I sacked Leftwhich about 8 times last night if he was going to play a few more quarters. I think the Lions are going to be a pretty good team this year (I picked a team randomly to start a season) as I smoked Pittsburgh 30-7. I yelled as I got a pick 6 and did a dive into the end zone all laid out posing for my football card. It was a great feeling.

I think Madden 11 is going to be a hit, and for someone who usually doesn't play console games, I was able to pick it up pretty fast (thanks for having a practice mode!). One final complaint is the constan

t reminder that the sponsor of the game is Verizon Wireless. OK, yes, I got it the first time Gus Johnson. You're more excited about that than my 30 unanswered points.

The minor issues with the game are definitely subdued by how amazing the game is. I'm glad I waited 14 years to play Madden again. However I do miss the 16 bit drunk sounding Madden and the hits and audio sounds like you were tackling a dog and not a person.

I have to give the game an A so far, but we'll see how generous I am if the Lions go 2-14!

I guess it was a good idea to keep his face off the game (1988 Apple II version):

-Nate

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