If you’ve never been near a video game console before then you might not be aware that Electronic Arts’ John Madden franchise has dominated the world of American Football games for many, many years. As another season of everybody’s favourite armoured pigskin possession sport lumbers into view, as ever, it is accompanied by the equally intimidating frame of another Madden NFL game.
The constantly evolving franchise now offers a whole year’s worth of improvements devised by the sport-loving boffins at EA. This time around they’ve excelled themselves. Your Quarterback is your team’s most important member, and the new QB Vision control allows you to use the right analogue stick to pick out receivers deep in enemy territory. Likewise the QB Precision Placement feature enables you to guide your forward players into a position to receive your killer forward pass. Basically, this system makes the Quarterback work more realistically than ever before – and you’ll no longer be able to snap out a quick long pass in a direction your man wasn’t even looking in. Quarterbacks have a defined cone which shows what they can see, and players with better vision stats have a wider cone. The precision passing feature gives you extra control over the throw, allowing you to choose whether it will reach him high or low, left or right, to enable you to keep it out of the reach of the defenders he’s up against.
Then there’s the Truck Stick Control, which allows you to run flat out and give big hits, breaking through the tackles of those who try to stop your man. And the Superstar mode allows you to create your own NFL superstar and guide his life on and off the field. You get to choose your own agent, and develop a persona as your superstar becomes the nation’s hero.
The game is presented in a more convincing broadcast style than ever before, and you get new camera angles and commentary, as well as cut-scenes that emulate the style of a TV football show. With some worthy new features making this Madden play more differently than the series has for some time, this edition of one of EA’s biggest and most popular franchises deserves praise.