NOTE - This is a review for players who are not experts within the Madden Series / American Football

So after watching a bit on the internet and viewing the recent history of my new team (The Patriots only because they have England in the title) I decided to venture into the world of Madden. This wasn't my first journey in as I have owned the 2007 360 version but couldn't really remember why I didn't like it apart from the huge selection of available plays and the complexity of it. This time I promised myself to actually learn how to play the game before I judge it.

I will make it clear now that after 48 hours I have sold the game on as I utterly despised it in its entirety.

First off the graphics are good as all the Maddens have been and the movement of the players are good.

Now the rant begins. I knew a little bit about the game yet still was lost with the game and the numerous options for every single action. as a beginner you can get John Madden to select… more »

NOTE - This is a review for players who are not experts within the Madden Series / American Football

So after watching a bit on the internet and viewing the recent history of my new team (The Patriots only because they have England in the title) I decided to venture into the world of Madden. This wasn't my first journey in as I have owned the 2007 360 version but couldn't really remember why I didn't like it apart from the huge selection of available plays and the complexity of it. This time I promised myself to actually learn how to play the game before I judge it.

I will make it clear now that after 48 hours I have sold the game on as I utterly despised it in its entirety.

First off the graphics are good as all the Maddens have been and the movement of the players are good.

Now the rant begins. I knew a little bit about the game yet still was lost with the game and the numerous options for every single action. as a beginner you can get John Madden to select your plays for you which does work well for beginners. The expert mode would be ideal if you did know everything about Maddens and was a bit of a fan boy. The problems are in the middle. The progression from beginner to expert seems a non-starter. Madden does let you choose between 4 different plays each in three different sections and a little bit of time spent on the game shows the player what works best for him. What annoyed me was that there was no advice given for what section to use when. Run, Pass or Special plays are the options but no advice is given over which one to use when in possession. If this was added it would be possible to learn the game no doubt but EA have nothing there to help.

This year Madden has raved about the IQ test available in-game which personalizes the difficulty of the game in relation to your performances. What a load of crap! After never playing the game before I pass with an IQ of over 500 which put me in the top difficulty bracket. After the first quarter of the first game I was 24 - 0 down. This gave me negative view of the game before I even got too far into it.

I understand this game is more of a sim than an arcade still game but surely EA can do a better job to cater for both types of players within one game. The difficulty of the "Franchise" career mode was also rock.

Another pain in the behind was the time taken for each play. A team gets 40 seconds to decide how to set up their play and this works perfectly when in possession. When in defense the opponents really take the biscuit and often take over 30 seconds which slows down the game ridiculously. A simple "press X for instant play" would remove this problem totally but EA ignored this potential feature.

At the end of the day if you are a fan boy or an expert at the tactics involved with the NFL then I would say you will enjoy the game as it has been design for you. Tr the players wanting to learn the game or just wanting to give it ago I would strongly suggest you stay away as EA seem not to be interested in catering for you in the game.

Rating (for non NFL experts) 3 out of 10.