Madden 11: a roster update for the masses

Today is Madden day! We explore what has been added to make this year's game unique: a quicker method to select plays, as well as expanded co-op. Beyond that, it looks mostly like another roster update.

<a href='http://meincmagazine.com/gaming/news/2010/08/madden-11-a-roster-update-for-the-masses.ars'>Read the whole story</a>

 

[Control Group]

Madden 10 was a perfectly serviceable game. Unfortunately, with the exception of GameFlow, Madden 11 seems to be little more than a roster update.

That's too bad. I had high hopes for actually having a football game I might want to buy after Frank's tweet yesterday. I should have known better.

Edited to include the actual tweet, once I found it:

@FrankyCaron[/url]":3hi46569]Wow. Madden 11 sounds like a huge paradigm shift for the series. Even I'm interested, and I hate football.

 

[Demani]

Gameflow is just a progression...eventually they will streamline the playing right out. I see the development schedule going like this:
'12: There will be off-field conduct mini-games.
'13: the addition of QBiQ will let the QB's handle the passing more realistically for you, so you can focus on being a lineman.
'14: The gameplay will be restricted to Sundays, and adding Saturdays and Thursdays later in the season.
'15: actual gameplay will be removed- you just select which matchup you want to see.
'16: the matchups will match the NFL schedule, and you will be able to watch both in PiP.
'17: The sum total of gameplay will be choosing which channel to watch. The commentary will be actual commentary from the game, as the game itself will so perfectly replicate the play calling that it will be identical.
'18: EA Sports and the NFL merge, and now everyone must pay EA for the privilege of watching games every year. This will be called a Personal Viewing License, and every house member will need to be licensed. All licenses are assigned to the 3D glasses you'll need to watch the game.

 

[thekaj]

'15: actual gameplay will be removed- you just select which matchup you want to see.

This is what I was thinking when I first started reading about GameFlow. Actually calling plays is too much work. Next it'll just be pressing a button to start the play. Then it'll come down to just picking what camera angle you want to view the automatic play from.

 

[Dandenoth]

Hmmm.... GameFlow sounds interesting, but I have a feeling it'd be picking too many passing plays for my tastes. Although it seems today's NFL is all about the QB and the passing game, when playing a game, I prefer to use almost a pure running game outside of a few "Hail Mary's" on 3rd and long.

 

[D_Homerick]

GameFlow sounds a bit like Governors in the Civilization series. Automate some of the choices that are either repetitive or just not that fun, while still giving the player the ability to customize those choices at a higher level. Assuming that people who enjoy the play-picking aspect can still play in that mode, it sounds like a pretty nice improvement.

 

[Toleraen]

Madden 11 hopes to entice casual fans with a game mode

Crap. I had high hopes they'd just plain make the controls simpler for us ultra-noobs. I picked up 09 used for ~$5 and after going through some of those tutorials I jumped in. Got absolutely smoked, and play-calling wasn't the issue. Was a whole lot more complicated than the version I had for my ps2. Is there a true noob mode I don't know about?

 

[MonkeyKnifeFight]

i like the right analog stick change, gameflow i could have lived without.

other than that i welcome the roster and graphics update.

 

[BigLeagueJammer]

'12: There will be off-field conduct mini-games.

Reminds of the South Park episode where they parodied Tiger Woods '10 by making it all about his off-field troubles, fighting with his wife, etc and no actual golf in it.

 

[cmacd]

'15: actual gameplay will be removed- you just select which matchup you want to see.

This is what I was thinking when I first started reading about GameFlow. Actually calling plays is too much work. Next it'll just be pressing a button to start the play. Then it'll come down to just picking what camera angle you want to view the automatic play from.

Makes me think of Final Fantasy XIII.

Hopefully it's something that can be turned off. Personally I'd prefer if they just beefed up the "Ask Madden" option, where I at least still get to choose from a "short list."

Hmmm.... GameFlow sounds interesting, but I have a feeling it'd be picking too many passing plays for my tastes. Although it seems today's NFL is all about the QB and the passing game, when playing a game, I prefer to use almost a pure running game outside of a few "Hail Mary's" on 3rd and long.

Bah, it's all about the short pass. Use running plays to keep them guessing, combine with short passes to work down the field.

 

[nitsujmai]

Last year Madden 10 introduced online co-op play; in Madden 11 the concept has been taken to the next level with "Team Play," which allows for three players on each team.

Heh. Going from 2 player co-op to 3 player is 'taking it to the next level'?

I guess, literally, you are correct.

 

[Josh A.K.A CLF]

Madden 11 hopes to entice casual fans with a game mode

Crap. I had high hopes they'd just plain make the controls simpler for us ultra-noobs. I picked up 09 used for ~$5 and after going through some of those tutorials I jumped in. Got absolutely smoked, and play-calling wasn't the issue. Was a whole lot more complicated than the version I had for my ps2. Is there a true noob mode I don't know about?

You can set the skill level of the game to make it easier for you to complete: Rookie, Pro, All-Pro, All-Madden. I think the game defaults to Pro ...

 

[Josh A.K.A CLF]

I'm disappointed in this game. I'm disappointed that I purchased it. I did not buy the game last year, for the first time in years ... but somehow I got snookered into Pre-Ordering Madden, so I figured I'd go pick it up and not let my $5 go to waste.

First off - I'm not big into online gaming. I don't have a single soul in my friends list. I mainly like Madden for the offline Franchise experience. I like to take a team, and build/rebuild and keep the franchise going for years. But I've got to tell you - Franchise mode has absolutely SUCKED on the next-gen platforms. It's pretty telling when the best Madden I've ever played was 07 for the PS2 ... there are still features (both gameplay and franchise mode) of that game that have never made it onto the PS3/XBox360 versions, and I think it stinks.

What the hell will it take for EA/Tiburon to expand the team rosters? It seriously can't be that difficult, can it? How about the 8 man practice squad? How about giving me an extra roster slot when a player is IR'd. Why have Restricted Free Agency and Exclusive Free Agency not been implemented into this game? It CAN'T be that difficult to code, seriously.

Why does EA/Tiburon do stupid shit like REMOVE features from the game that were already there? Why in the hell have they removed the custom sliders, making it impossible for me to tune the game play to give myself what I think is the most enjoyable/realistic experience? Why in the hell have they taken away training camp and the ability to train my players to make them better?

Seriously - I can't believe I got duped into buying this POS. This thing is going back to Game Stop, and is going to be traded for something that I will actually enjoy playing.

~signed~
Disgrunted "former" Madden Fan.

 

[MrPippy]

Man, look at the poly count on Rex Ryan's giant-potato-double-chin. Definitely worth another 60 bucks.

ESPN NFL 2K5--possibly the best $20 I ever spent.

 

[Josh A.K.A CLF]

Oh yeah ... the thing that REALLY annoys the hell out of me. No custom packages, and no global substitutions. Hell, you can't even make NON-global substitutions any more - so the value of the special teamer is completely lost - it just brings in guys based on your depth chart. Not to mention the special teams packages are completely screwed up, anyway.

Seriously ... the franchise mode of this game is (once again) a major disappointment. I'm pretty annoyed that I spent my $60 on this tripe, and I'm sure I can't take it back and get a refund. But at least I can piss EA off by reselling my copy of this to the same Gamestop I purchased it from and cutting EA out of the secondary/used games profits.

 

[dbeardsley]

I like to take a team, and build/rebuild and keep the franchise going for years. But I've got to tell you - Franchise mode has absolutely SUCKED on the next-gen platforms. It's pretty telling when the best Madden I've ever played was 07 for the PS2 ... there are still features (both gameplay and franchise mode) of that game that have never made it onto the PS3/XBox360 versions, and I think it stinks.

I agree regarding franchise mode. The fact that you can't even use a custom playbook in franchise, and this is basically the only football game, sucks. But, apparently the market has spoken, and they can sell plenty of copies without a good franchise feature set.

I'm glad they've trimmed some features out over the years, because they've created some clunkers in failed attempts to be innovative.

At first I was skeptical of GameFlow, but now I think it is a good idea. It just needs to be smarter (i.e. if you're up by 28 run more) and customizable enough. When I've played with friends the main problem is navigating the playbook quickly, and the Madden recommendations are poor (enough with the draws already).

 

[eprankfort]

But, apparently the market has spoken, and they can sell plenty of copies without a good franchise feature set.

NO! Wrong! The market has not spoken and that is the problem. Madden gained an exclusive contract with the player's association for a license to all of the NFL player names. That is what killed off all of the competition. Other football games have tried, but without the players, the games are not attractive.

And without the competition, neither is Madden. Since gaining exclusive rights, the Madden franchise has gotten worse with each release. They have added and removed more useless menial features in the last 5 years of this game's development than you could ever dream possible, all while increasing the bugs by what seem like tenfold.

The game's AI has gone to shit, the programmers forgot to reset stats as far as the commentary is concerned during a new season (It's great hearing that I just got my 60th catch of the season on the first play of week one. Very realistic. Not that they even bothered to record new soundbytes for last year's version anyway.), last year's game decided to take camera angles that were at times under the stadium seating resulting in the screen displaying nothing but black as the inside of the wood holding up the stands was displayed, and often the referee action did not coincide with the decision

No. This is not the result of the market. This poor excuse for a roster update is the result of an exclusive contract. THIS is the result of a monopoly.

 

[Schpyder]

ESPN NFL 2K5--possibly the best $20 I ever spent.

Still the single best football game ever created.

And probably always will be.

 

[cmacd]

No. This is not the result of the market. This poor excuse for a roster update is the result of an exclusive contract. THIS is the result of a monopoly.

Well, I would argue that gamers are free to...well...not buy the game. If people actually said enough was enough and just plain skipped a year, they'd either have to fix the problems or consider selling off/releasing the contract.

But unfortunately the market has spoken and it has said that the gaming populace is so starved for authentic NFL football action that they'll play a piece of shit if that's all that's available.

I'll agree that the exclusive contract is bad, but the fact that they continue to profit off it is still to some extent a product of the market.

EDIT: I bought Madden 2010 after a four or five year hiatus in buying them (for various reasons)...I had finally gotten around to picking up a 360 and joining the current generation, and remembered Madden somewhat fondly. That copy was sold shortly thereafter, and I won't buy another Madden game period. Until the NFL allows other publishers into the game, the only NFL action I'll get will be during the season, if you know what I mean.

 

[shturmovik]

Is it sad that I still long for the Sega NFL 2K series? You did good 2K sports you did good...

 

[oluseyi]

Patrick Hruby at ESPN had a very interesting feature on Madden that points to the awkward position EA Sports inhabits with regard to Madden:

And, like any popular institution -- the federal government, for instance, or "American Idol" -- "Madden" belongs to anyone who expects something of it.

Which is to say, it belongs to just about everyone: an NFL that insists on protecting its brand; corporate suits who feel obligated to meddle with EA's signature title; a mass audience that expects each iteration of the game to be revolutionary, not evolutionary.

...

[Mike] Young: "The perception among some people is that the game doesn't change every year. But I'm here working 16-hour days and sleeping in the office. That perception hurts."

...

Yet while the game itself grows ever more complex -- in-game playbooks that once came from Cooney's collected assistant-coach scribbles are now based on actual NFL coaching film -- finding a happy medium remains more art than science. Online data mining can tell Cummings that Madden gamers threw more than 7 million interceptions while playing as Favre. But stat tracking can't tell him whether those same gamers had a thrilling time doing so.

For "Madden NFL '06," EA Tiburon introduced the first major change to in-game passing since Hilleman's button-to-receiver mapping on the Genesis. They called it the passing cone. When gamers dropped back to throw the ball, they had to use an analog stick to steer an on-screen cone -- imagine light from a flashlight -- toward the receiver they wanted to target. The cone was intended to approximate the real-life difference between great quarterbacks and lousy ones: Peyton Manning's cone was nearly as wide as the entire field, Rex Grossman's as narrow as a laser beam. The system worked: The cone made playing QB hard. Gamers hated it, and it was gone by "Madden '09."

Sounds like GameFlow is the new passing cone, from the comments here.

Me, I don't play Madden (or any football game; I'll play a little FIFA, though) so I don't much care. My game's basketball, and I'm curious as to how NBA Elite 11 shapes up.

 

[dml337ira]

I'm playing madden 08 in an offline league and it looks like I will keep playing 08 for years to come. Keep an eye on the discount bin for more copies. My dream solution to this problem requires tons of money unfortunately.

1) First; get loads of money.

2) Second; license the madden 10 or 11 game engine and produce a football game based on custom teams and leagues.

3) Third; put in all the features that us hard core Madden players like. including the ability to setup your own online league servers AKA madden 2002. (hopefully with fewer bugs)

I think it would sell well and still make EA money as private individuals will start hosting custom leagues in cities all over the country. If EA feels it would threaten madden sales no problem, We'll license the madden 08 engine. As long as we can put in the features we want. (Custom playbooks in head to head play, Custom and global packages, Online leagues that the end user can control.)

PS. Regarding sliders and users ability to modify game play. I had a discussion with a game developer about that once. apparently many developers feel the game should be played the way they designed it. Users should be locked into how the game was supposed to be played. What a bunch of crock! Then why have levels of difficulty? Why is there an all madden skill level. Some game developers just don't get it. I think EA hired all of them.

 

[Josh A.K.A CLF]

PS. Regarding sliders and users ability to modify game play. I had a discussion with a game developer about that once. apparently many developers feel the game should be played the way they designed it. Users should be locked into how the game was supposed to be played. What a bunch of crock! Then why have levels of difficulty? Why is there an all madden skill level. Some game developers just don't get it. I think EA hired all of them.

Yeah well, they should learn how football is supposed to be played, then. Suction blocking, and the CPU passing 50 times a game because the CPU controlled running back only averages 1.2 YPC stinks. Hell, most of the slider tweaks people at maddenmania or operationsports put out were with the intent to MAKE THE CPU RUN THE BALL EFFECTIVELY. There was an entire freaking MADDEN MANIFESTO, and BEND DON'T BREAK guides put out at Maddenmania by Madden enthusiasts which went into the details of how to manipulate the sliders to make the damn game play like an actual fucking NFL game instead of a 45-37 slingfest.

And I could give a shit about that guys 16 hour days ... if he's not putting something into the game that I enjoy, and is instead taking features OUT ... he might as well be spending 16 MINUTES in the office every day. I could give a fuck if it hurts his feelings - EA/Tiburon has been slowly ruining my Madden experience for the last four years running. What the fuck are they doing in the office for 16 hours a day? Deciding which Franchise mode features to remove from the game?

 

[darkowl]

They should just charge a monthly subscription and offer game updates and roster updates for free. That's what they seem to be heading towards, anyway.

 

[GOATGamer]

lol at this post. i love madden, it's one of the best games on xbox. the only better football game ive ever played was nfl blitz

 

[robotic_tourist]

Hopefully some of the advances make their way to a rugby videogame. The right analog stick changes sound interesting.

 

[nomendil]

Roster update? So tell me - does Favre play?

 

[Gerino]

I don't even have a clue what the hell is going on in this review - a positive side of being European and havig absolutely no interest in that game (live AND virtual).

Oh, and BTW: handegg, not football.

And I think I will either pick up FIFA10 later this week or wait till September for 11 ^^

 

[Gerino]

I don't even have a clue what the hell is going on in this review - a positive side of being European and havig absolutely no interest in that game (live AND virtual).

Oh, and BTW: handegg, not football.

And I think I will either pick up FIFA10 later this week or wait till September for 11 ^^

 

[DryvBy]

Reason I would never buy it: after a year, sports game makers have their servers shut down without anyway to play friends online. I'll start buying games outside of the 2K series when I'm able to play them anytime I want.

Plus, Madden 10 is like $5 online right now. Might just get that. It's not like I watch football anymore anyway. Is John Elway still on the Broncos?

 

[DeerSteak]

Minor correction - Gus Johnson replaced Tom Hammond, not Madden. Madden hasn't been in the booth at all this console generation - though I guess his reanimated corpse is still in the PS2 version, or was for Madden 10.

 

[DeerSteak]

Is it sad that I still long for the Sega NFL 2K series? You did good 2K sports you did good...

This is why the last football game I've bought was All Pro 2k8. I love it, as the rosters are timeless and the gameplay is legendary. A couple of exploits here and there, though. I'd love to see this updated for a sequel, but it didn't sell very well so I doubt anybody but me is still playing.

 

[Shudder]

"the release of EA Sports' most up-to-date Madden game"

This year's version is more up to date than the one that came out nearly a year ago? Well hell I'm sold!

Although I have to admit Gameflow sounds cool since I don't know crap about calling plays.

 

[Manic Miner]

So how good is the iphone version?

Madden peaked for me on the megadrive.

 

[max4677]

The last Madden I bought new was '94 for the SNES. I have '02 for the cube and '08 for the PS2 (both used). I will be picking up Madden 10 at some point (likely used or as a gift) primarily for the team represented on the cover.

I have to admit the influx of free Saints themed stuff in to my basement has been a very pleasant side effect of Madden this year.

On to the game itself. I've only played the demo, and it seemed pretty loose in Pro mode. I was able to run up the score on my first try with the demo. I am intrigued with the Gameflow option. Setting up your play preferences ahead of time and letting the computer pick plays appropriate to the situation does help somewhat. That said having a good set of audible at hand to override with is good. The Gameflow only comes into effect on a per play basis, either you elect to pick a play yourself or hit A and the CPU will do it for you. You aren't stuck with it the whole game which is nice.

I doubt this will break my addiction to Quickhit though. Damn you , Ben!!!

 

[RyricKrael]

As I started reading gameflow I was thinking it would narrow your choices, no reason to included the goalline formation unless that is something you typically use on 2nd and 10 from the 35. Or even better it would learn your selection to a degree to offer recommendations on what you typically do in a given situation...

I admit at times to asking madden what he recommends and then flipping through the formation and play he picks to find another one in that formation I prefer.

any case wii's madden is for <12 crowd and no PC version so meh.

 

[Josh A.K.A CLF]

Hopefully some of the advances make their way to a rugby videogame. The right analog stick changes sound interesting.

They aren't, really. The only difference in the right analog stick this year is that you can use it to perform a spin move - the other functions are exactly the same as they've always been. Juke right, juke left, power through ... oh wait - they DID cHanJed the back-analog function mapping to "high-step" instead of whatever that retarded animation was that looked like your player just got shot in the ass with a pellet gun. It never worked anyway ... I suspect the current function will be just as useless. And to be honest, I actually preferred it when the juke functions were mapped to the shoulder buttons.

 

[sliver7]

Gee, thanks EA for continuing to ignore the PC gamer market.

I want to give you money, but I'm not buying a console for just that. At least 2K Sports gives me baseball.

 

[Harbinger]

in playing the demo, I found that the gameflow was pretty good in calling plays on defense for the Colts, but on offense? It called waaaaay too many running plays, and in odd situations. if I have the ball with under two minutes to half, and I'm driving for the goal-line, I'm not running. well, not running on every play as gameflow had me doing. It was like it was just trying to kill clock.

as to the running game (again from the demo), the blockers seemed to be pretty much as ineffective on outside runs as in previous maddens. I would get the ball and be instantly swarmed by tacklers on the outside, every time. Run up the middle, no problem. Run outside? prepare for death.

I dunno. I liked the demo more than previous versions of madden I played, but I can't see paying full price for this. Probably just going to wait until it gets cheaper.

 

[flintcsci]

People still play Madden games? Wow.

I haven't played Madden since Madden '95 on the Genesis.