- Publisher: EA
- Developer: Tiburon
- Also On: PS3
- ESRB Rating: “E” For Everyone
- Genre: Football
- Pros: Nice presentation; realistic gameplay; plenty of modes; online franchise
- Cons: Definite difficulty bump; halftime show; All-Pro Achievements
Madden 10 has all of the features and modes we have come to expect. Quick Play, Franchise, Superstar, Practice, Mini-Games, and all of the roster adjustments and team/player creation and editing tools you could possibly want. New this year is the highly anticipated Online Franchise where you can organize and play a real season with up to 32 human-controlled teams. Very cool. As far as features go, Madden 10 is the most fully featured football game ever. There is no question of value here.
Rather than breaking down all of the features and the gameplay and all of that jazz, we’re just going to cut to the chase and give you the good and the bad and leave it at that. If you’re reading a Madden review you’re about 99% likely to already be a fan of the series and know about all of this stuff anyway, so I shouldn’t have to tell you how franchise mode works or discuss play calling strategy on 3rd and 7 when you’re up by 2 points midway through the fourth quarter. Instead I’ll talk about the specific good and bad of Madden 10.
The Good
The game is definitely harder to play, but if you have any understanding of real football it makes it more fun. You can’t count on money plays and actually have to use strategy and realistic play calling in order to be successful. I have never played a football game like this before that actually makes you earn every yard and fight and scrap for first downs. I also have to say I quite like the QTE-style fight for the fumble mini-game where you hammer buttons to try and gain control of a fumble. It is all just realistic and fun as hell.
The Bad
With all of that extra challenge comes a few problems, though. Even rookie difficulty is bumped up quite a bit, so casual football fans may find themselves completely overwhelmed. If you are looking for a fast, easy, arcadey game of football you won’t find it here. Well, that isn't 100% true as there is a slider to adjust the game speed, but “arcadey” is still definitely out of the question. Basically, this is the year Madden separates the men from the boys.Another complaint is that the stat tracking is pretty messed up when playing a single-player season or franchise. You might be playing 5 minute quarters and racking up appropriate stats, but the CPU is simming games with 15 minute quarters (apparently) because their stats are skewed way over the top. It’ll kind of piss you off after a great MVP-caliber season goes unrewarded.
One other (slight) issue is that the halftime and postgame show that EA seems so proud of, “The Extra Point”, is more annoying than anything. It definitely ups the presentation value and makes it more like a real TV broadcast with stuff like this, but I never had any interest in watching it. We found ourselves just hammering the A button to skip past it to get back to the game.
My final complaint, and it is pretty shallow, is that the achievements are all locked to All-Pro difficulty or above. If you want any gamerscore points you’d better learn how to play the game correctly and realistically. No easy 1000/1000 this year.
While we don’t like “The Extra Point” that much, the rest of the presentation is pretty darn amazing. The graphics are awesome and little touches like coach and referee cutscenes during games, actually having referees on the field, and the choices of camera angles really make the game look great. Weather and lighting are also really nice. It really is as fun to watch as it is to play.
Bottom Line
Ultimately, Madden NFL 10 is a great game of football that fans of the franchise are going to absolutely love. If you really love real football (as in you appreciate the work in the trenches as much as the flashy catch or a defender destroying stutter step) you will find a lot to like in Madden 10. It is incredibly realistic to play, looks completely amazing, and is just polished and well put together in nearly every aspect. Casual fans might not appreciate the definite lean in a more realistic and challenging direction (and the All-Pro difficulty exclusive achievements), and may prefer a previous version, but I would say that when a game looks and plays as good as Madden 10 learning to play the game the right way is a pretty darn worthwhile and rewarding experience. Madden NFL 10 is the best game of pro football on the Xbox 360 yet and I highly recommend it.
