Review: Madden NFL 10 (PS3/Xbox 360)

Author: Tigervamp | Date: August 26, 2009

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It is rare that I start a review by mentioning the soundtrack but that’s exactly what I’m going to do here.  The soundtrack in this game is fantastic with each song chosen for its ability to get your adrenaline pumping before that big match.  I can’t say that I dislike a single song in this game and this should come as little surprise because if EA are good at anything it’s putting together a great selection of music.  I can have no complaints when a soundtrack includes Sabotage from Beastie Boys, Paranoid from Black Sabbath, Aces High from Iron Maiden, Blind from Korn, Breed from Nirvana, Duality from Slipknot, Sugar from System of a Down, Walk from Pantera, and Guerilla Radio from Rage Against the Machine.  These songs are fit for any Guitar Hero or Rock Band but one thing I find disappointing is that we are treated to the profanity-free version of Guerilla Radio and this goes as far as removing the world “hell” from the lyrics which I find ridiculous.

The ‘Create a Superstar’ mode is what I was most interested in so I decided to start with that.  I created a Quarter-Back and in the attributes I focussed on Pace and Acceleration as well as Short, Medium, and Deep passing as I wanted to be as attack-minded as possible.  You have the regular  choices to make such as your Hometown and College and I chose Denver as I once lived there and Colorado State as I passed by that quite often.  Your first action in the opening season is to take an IQ test and this confused me as I’ve never thought of Footballers as being the most intelligent guys around but I took the test and answered 90% of the questions correctly.

Next up is the NFL drafts  and I’m not sure how your team are chosen but I ended up being signed to play for the Oakland Raiders which was a nice coincidence as I happened to support the LA Raiders as a kid.  It was time for my first training and this consists of a series of plays which you can practice until you feel you can move onto the next.  I personally don’t find these sessions to be very useful as I much prefer trying things in the heat of the moment during a game so I decided to skip past all future camps.

My first game of the season was at home but it was going to be tough as we were up against the Cowboys.  My team began on the defensive after losing the coin toss so I simulated everything until my created player was introduced and thankfully my team-mates had held Dallas to 0-0.  That didn’t matter though as my first opportunity proved useless and the next time I took to the field the score was 7-0 to Dallas and things were already looking bad.

The frustrating side to creating a superstar hit me as I didn’t have an option to choose the plays and I was further annoyed when the first two were rushing plays.  My big moment came at 3rd & 1 and I took the bold decision to run with the ball but fell just short of the line.  Next time I had a chance it was 10-0 to Dallas and yet again another rushing move was called but this time my team-mate took me to 2nd & 3.  I went for a huge throw but the receiver missed the ball and then he missed the ball again after that.  This was a miserable first game.  I lost my place until the final 2 minutes of the fourth and when I took to the field things were already hopeless and the game ended 33-14 to Dallas.

The frustration doesn’t stop there.  I should have won the next game against the 49ers but the plays being called were rushing ones which weren’t effective and I was then wrongly punished for the incompetence of my team-mates and coach by being benched for the second half.  The next game was away against the Saints proved to be a very different story as my team won 28-7 and I even managed to rush 10 yards and score a Touchdown myself.  I came to appreciate how little you can rely on your team-mates and how important each second is when you have that ball in your hands.  After that I actually went on a run of victories, at times the idea of losing was a thing of the past, and I can’t be sure if this was down to a natural learning curve or just getting to grips with the controls.

The regular game of Madden is as good as ever and as with all sport games adding another human to the mix will increase your enjoyment.  It was strange for me to return to the regular game of Madden after spending so much time on the created superstar mode as it felt like I had taken one huge leap from being a team-player to being very selfish and doing it all on my own.  For that reason, and despite the fact that it can be frustrating when your team-mates make a mess of things, I prefer to control my created superstar and try my best to make as much of an impact on each game as possible.

This is a pretty polished game with the graphics looking great when played on an HDTV.  Having said that, as far as graphics are concerned, I was confused when creating my superstar as I couldn’t seem to find any way of using the photographs I uploaded to the EA Sports site.  It’s possible that my eagerness to jump into the game resulted in my eyes skimming past the option to use my uploaded photographs but if not, and if EA have chosen to not make use of this, it seems a very strange decision to leave out a feature which proved to be pretty effective in Fight Night Round 4.

As is the case with any sport, if you have an interest in American Football then you’ll almost certainly enjoy this title.  On the other hand, those who have absolutely no interest in this sport will already be looking elsewhere so you’re probably reading this for one reason, you want to know if this is any good, and I can tell you now that I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

8.5/10

It is rare that I start a review by mentioning the soundtrack but that’s exactly what I’m going to do here.  The soundtrack in this game is fantastic with each song chosen for its ability to get your adrenaline pumping before that big match.  I can’t say that I dislike a single song in this game and this should come as little surprise because if EA are good at anything it’s putting together a great selection of music.  I can have no complaints when a soundtrack includes Sabotage from Beastie Boys, Paranoid from Black Sabbath, Aces High from Iron Maiden, Blind from Korn, Breed from Nirvana, Duality from Slipknot, Sugar from System of a Down, Walk from Pantera, and Guerilla Radio from Rage Against the Machine.  These songs are fit for any Guitar Hero or Rock Band but one thing I find disappointing is that we are treated to the profanity-free version of Guerilla Radio and this goes as far as removing the world “hell” from the lyrics which I find ridiculous.
The ‘Create a Superstar’ mode is what I was most interested in so I decided to start with that.  I created a Quarter-Back and in the attributes I focussed on Pace and Acceleration as well as Short, Medium, and Deep passing as I wanted to be as attack-minded as possible.  You have the regular  choices to make such as your Hometown and College and I chose Denver as I once lived there and Colorado State as I passed by that quite often.  Your first action in the opening season is to take an IQ test and this confused me as I’ve never thought of Footballers as being the most intelligent guys around but I took the test and answered 90% of the questions correctly.  Next up is the NFL drafts  and I’m not sure how your team are chosen but I ended up being signed to play for the Oakland Raiders which was a nice coincidence as I happened to support the LA Raiders as a kid.  It was time for my first training and this consists of a series of plays which you can practice until you feel you can move onto the next.  I personally don’t find these sessions to be very useful as I much prefer trying things in the heat of the moment during a game so I decided to skip past all future camps.
My first game of the season was at home but it was going to be tough as we were up against the Cowboys.  My team began on the defensive after losing the coin toss so I simulated everything until my created player was introduced and thankfully my team-mates had held Dallas to 0-0.  That didn’t matter though as my first opportunity proved useless and the next time I took to the field the score was 7-0 to Dallas and things were already looking bad.  The frustrating side to creating a superstar hit me as I didn’t have an option to choose the plays and I was frustrated when the first two were rushing plays.  My big moment came at 3rd & 1 and I took the bold decision to run with the ball but fell just short of the line.  Next time I had a chance it was 10-0 to Dallas and yet again another rushing move was called but this time my team-mate took me to 2nd & 3.  I went for a huge throw but the receiver missed the ball and then he missed the ball again after that.  This was a miserable first game.  I lost my place until the final 2 minutes of the fourth and when I took to the field things were already hopeless and the game ended 33-14 to Dallas.  The frustration doesn’t stop there.  I should have won the next game against the 49ers but the plays being called were rushing ones which weren’t effective and I was then wrongly punished for the incompetence of my team-mates and coach by being benched for the second half.  The next game was away against the Saints proved to be a very different story as my team won 28-7 and I even managed to rush 10 yards and score a Touchdown myself.  I came to appreciate how little you can rely on your team-mates and how important each second is when you have that ball in your hands.  After that I actually went on a run of victories, at times the idea of losing was a thing of the past, and I can’t be sure if this was down to a natural learning curve or just getting to grips with the controls.
The regular game of Madden is as good as ever and as with all sport games adding another human to the mix will increase your enjoyment.  It was strange for me to return to the regular game of Madden after spending so much time on the created superstar mode as it felt like I had taken one huge leap from being a team-player to being very selfish and doing it all on my own.  For that reason, and despite the fact that it can be frustrating when your team-mates make a mess of things, I prefer to control my created superstar and try my best to make as much of an impact on each game as possible.  This is a pretty polished game with the graphics looking great when played on an HDTV.  Having said that, as far as graphics are concerned, I was confused when creating my superstar as I couldn’t seem to find any way of using the photographs I uploaded to the EA Sports site.  It’s possible that my eagerness to jump into the game resulted in my eyes skimming past the option to use my uploaded photographs but if not, and if EA have chosen to not make use of this, it seems a very strange decision to leave out a feature which proved to be pretty effective in Fight Night Round 4.
As is the case with any sport, if you have an interest in American Football then you’ll almost certainly enjoy this title.  On the other hand, those who have absolutely no interest in this sport will already be looking elsewhere so you’re probably reading this for one reason, you want to know if this is any good, and I can tell you now that I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
8.5/10

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1 Comment »

Comment by EricFuxwell
2009-09-24 19:39:38

You know, as a QB you can audible. Although you only have 2 or 3 passing plays available. That is the only position you can do it though, obviously.

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