Madden 12 – Review – XBox 360

It’s August, so that can only mean one thing, time for yet another installment of the sports gaming juggernaut Madden NFL Football. With the lockout looming over the NFL most of this year we have seen the date of the beloved franchise pushed back 2 weeks this year till the very last week of the month, but fear not for Madden has arrived with a new gameday specific entrance and many under the hood upgrades.

Story: STORY(!?) in Madden, I’m sure most of you are shaking your head, but fear not for there is a story if your willing to experience it. Superstar mode in Madden seems to go almost unnoticed but it is in this mode where the story lies. You can import your NCAA Football 12 road to glory athlete, create a player, or choose any of the incoming NFL rookies and play out his career in the NFL. During your superstar career you can skip all the plays that do not involve you and play full seasons in a matter of hours. Don’t like the team your NCAA RTG player was drafted to then demand a trade and try and start fresh somewhere new. In my opinion Superstar mode is fun, but it could use a full reworking to add some sort of storyline or career path.

Madden Ultimate Team also makes it return this year. Ultimate Team has very quickly become my favorite gameplay element of all the EA Sports titles that feature it (Madden, NHL, Fifa). Starting up this mode nets you a pack of trading cards in which you have the foundation of your team. Play some games and earn some coins to buy new packs of trading cards with new players, coaches, stadiums, jerseys, and playbooks, or take to the auction house and bid on your favorite NFL players. Trades are also possible, but at the time of the review there was not much up on the trading block.

Gameplay: This years Madden really shines through in the gameplay department, adding somewhere around 25 tweaks to an already tight gameplay engine really shows. The most noteable of these improvements are:

-All the new NFL rules, such as kickoff from the 35yrd line
-New QB throwing motions to make each digital QB throw like their live counterpart
-140 new tackle/gang tackle animations
-Custom playbooks where you can build a playbook from over 400 individual plays
-Dynamic Player Performance which is a hot and cold streak system based on how your players are playing, and can carry on to multiple weeks.
-Team specific run outs pregame, featuring star players and mascots
-Surprise Onside Kicks

Franchise mode also adds a few features which I feel have been missing in the series for years. FINALLY expanded rosters have made it in, so in pre-season you start with a 75 man roster and can make cuts based on how players perform. Another feature that many have clamored for is the ability to trade future draft picks. The last new franchise feature is free agency bidding, which places you up against all teams bidding on the player you want with a countdown timer so be prepared to have an offer and possibly a counter offer ready to go.

Multiplayer: The reason most of us football fans purchase Madden in the first place. Online Franchise or just some plain old Ranked Games Madden never disappoints online. Already in place for launch is a roster update to get everyone settled in after the lockout and free agent frenzy we all saw this year. Madden Ultimate Team also has a strong online presence as long as the EA servers are cooperating. I can’t imagine how much time I have spent on my ultimate team already just browsing and auctioning players.

Graphics/Audio: Madden has always been a strong game visually, and this year is no different. Other then the few new running and tackling animations there is not much to write home about in terms of new and groundbreaking visuals. Taking after it’s NCAA counterpart Madden has added 3d grass this year so no longer do you feel as if your playing on a flat textured board. In the audio department is where the game stumbles for me. Gus Johnson and Chris Collinsworth(less) kill the game, be it the over selling yell for just a simple 5 yard gain from Gus or the poor color analysis of Collinsworth, Madden could use a huge update in the booth. The commentary this year also suffers from being a tad behind the action on the field which gets old very fast.

Overall: Madden 12 is a strong contender for sports game of the year this year. I just wish they took a little more time with the commentary and superstar mode.

Pros:
> Great new features

>Much smoother animations

>Ultimate Team

Cons:
>COMMENTARY!!!

>Commentary

>New Franchise mode menu system

8.5 out of 10

Popularity: unranked [?]