Every July, NCAA comes out to wet our appetites for football and every August, Madden delivers the full featured thrill of the virtual gridiron.  In other words, NCAA is always the appetizer to the main course that is Madden.  Yet something strange has happened in 2010, NCAA ’11 stepped on the scene and was greeted with much praise from gamers and critics alike.  Everyone used the new NCAA game as a baseline for how great Madden would be this year, since for years NCAA has always been one step behind its big brother.   So it would’ve seemed to everyone that since NCAA was so good this year, that surely Madden would be the best iteration that we’ve had this generation.  Madden ’11 arrived a month later with a loud and thunderous…..thud.  What could have possibly gone wrong?  After all, the two games are both developed by Tiburon, albeit two different design teams, and sharing some of the same “new” technology/features (locomotion, run blocking, etc.) for the first time that I can remember.

NCAA ’11 is hands down the best NCAA game of this generation and possibly the best ever.  It’s not without its faults as with any game but what it does right more than makes up for the shortcomings.  First thing most people will notice is the new presentation from the opening menus all the way to the ESPN style presentation while in-game.  Everything has a professional look and doesn’t scream out that it’s a videogame immediately.  Brad Nessler and Kirk Herbstreit are again the commentators for the game but Lee Corso is missing in this year’s version, whether that’s a good or bad thing I’ll leave up to you.  If you’ve played the last couple of year’s games then don’t expect a lot in the way of new commentary because it’s pretty much the same although compared to Madden, it’s excellent.  The biggest change in the presentation is the ESPN overlays and screen wipes which makes it feel much more like a live telecast than a video game although the replays let you know that it’s a videogame from some of the weird angles shown.  There are a lot more cut scenes this year for pre-game, in game, and post game.  Fans celebrate a big play, players pout after a loss, and a number of teams even have their entrances in the game such as Notre Dame tapping the sign or Clemson rubbing their rock.  The college atmosphere is definitely brought to life this year even though the crowd noise still needs reworking.  (NBA 2k11 has set the bar high in this regard)

The on the field game play has vastly improved with every team running some semblance of the offense that they run in real life, from Georgia Tech’s triple option, Nevada’s pistol, to the spread offenses of Florida and Texas Tech.  Teams that run hurry up offenses will get to the line as quickly as possible after a play so you can’t change your defensive personnel.  The players will even line up and stop to look over at the sideline to get a play call.  All of this would be for naught if the AI wasn’t up to the task, thankfully it is.  The new locomotion along with the vastly improved run blocking makes the run game feel so much better than it has in previous games.  You can actually follow your blockers into holes or find a cut back lane if the D fills in the gaps.  Blockers will pull off of their block to get to the second level and receivers will also help pave the way downfield.  Taking an off tackle run to the house untouched is a thing of beauty.  There are still some quirks such as blockers occasionally missing their assignment or just letting a guy right by them but some of these things happen in real life too.  The passing game is very rewarding as well, after the title updates, since it’s now feasible to run curls, hooks, and outs without defensive backs magically running the route for the receiver.  Sideline catches are made more frequently with appropriate animations to match and the stupid flip in mid-air tackle when the defensive players battles with the receiver for the ball is thankfully absent this year.  Everything just seems to flow and seem more natural.  You’ll still see the occasional clairvoyant defensive player who makes a one handed INT with his back turned to the ball but it’s now few and far between.  The majority of the time you’ll be blaming yourself for making a poor throw or a bad read.   

The meat and potatoes of the game always has been Dynasty mode where you take your school of choice and try to build them into a perennial powerhouse or in some cases, maintain their success.  Recruiting has received an overhaul so that you are only able to commit up to an hour per recruit per week.   Each pitch takes up 10 minutes so you must choose wisely because every athlete has a different set of criteria that may or may not match up well with your school.  Also new this year is a difficulty setting for recruiting itself so that you make it as hard or as easy to build the next powerhouse as you want.  As coach you also have a contract with the school requiring you to meet certain criteria during the course of each season, succeed and you’ll be rewarding with a contract extension or offers from bigger, more prestigious schools.  You will also have opportunities to switch conferences if you so choose which will also be reflected on your field with the new conferences logo in your school’s colors.  The biggest update this year though is the online dynasty which is almost a carbon copy of the offline dynasty mode sans coaching contracts and conference invites.  The biggest difference between the two is being able to write stories online for your games as if you’re writing for the Associated Press following the game which is viewable by everyone along with photos and highlights you saved.   You’re also able to take care of recruiting through the web as well but it is buggy and sometimes you’ll lose some of your precious recruiting minutes due to an app error.  The dynasty player limit is still 12 so you’ll still be playing a majority of your games against CPU teams unless everyone plays in the same conference or the commish makes a fantasy league using custom conferences to put all of the human teams in to one conference.  This is one of the best offline and online career modes available in a sports game, which bring me to Madden. 

Madden ’10 showed lots of promise and it seemed that the development team was at least heading in the right direction but wow, what a difference a year makes or in this case, doesn’t make.  I normally defend yearly sports games as doing enough to not be called a glorified roster update whether it is great new features, new innovations to game play, or even complete graphical overhauls.  This year’s Madden had some new wrinkles for sure, but in the wake of NCAA’s makeover, it just seems like a step back.  Most of the game play changes are mirror images of NCAA so I’m not going to rehash those here as they work pretty much the same except out of the box; Madden’s difficulty levels are completely out of whack.   Playing as the Falcons in my first franchise game on All-Pro, I smoked the Pittsburgh Steelers 63-7.  Turner had over 200 yards rushing and Ryan had over 300 yards passing against the Steelers D.  It was big play after big play, horrible pursuit angles by the AI defense on run plays and in passing, specifically in zone coverage, there are times when the defender just stands there as the ball passes by.   Switch the difficulty to All-Madden and then the game just flat out cheats.  Defensive backs are running the routes BEFORE the receiver even makes the cut, defensive lineman can’t be blocked consistently, and linebackers make superhuman one handed interceptions.  I do have to say that if you’re going to play against human competition that unfortunately, All-Madden is the only way to go unless you just like playing shootout after shootout.

The presentation has largely been untouched this year with the exception of the commentary team which is now comprised of Gus Johnson and Cris Collinswoth.  Gus Johnson brings some much needed energy to the booth but is hampered by the script and the editing of the audio.  He gets excited when he doesn’t need to be and is rather mundane when he should be excited.  There isn’t any flow to the commentary and Collinsworth’s lines are the same as they were last year so there isn’t any sense that they are in the booth together.  Lines are broken up, “He catches the ball at…the…5…..yard line.”  I thought we were past that issue in the early 2000’s? Fans now have specific team chants but not all of them.  Every team does the same pregame chant using their team name.  The crowd still seems like it doesn’t change at all during the course of a game.  There is no difference between 4^th and goal at the 1 with a second left down by 6 or the same scenario up by 20.  It’s just so disappointing that they can’t improve this area of the game when other games, NBA 2k11 and MLB: The Show has shown that it can be done.

The most touted feature this year is Gameflow, or as I will call it the rest of this review, Ask Madden 2.0.  This seems like a great idea with the ability to be able to set up game plans so that you don’t have to scroll through play after play to find something to run.  It’s also a great idea for those of us who are strapped for time and just want to get through a game as quickly as possible before working on our honey to-do lists.  It’s a great idea, with bad execution.   You’ll find yourself with some puzzling play calls especially on the defensive side of the ball.  The game will call a 2-4-5 defense when the opponent is in a power run formation for instance.  Audibles are still limited to just a paltry selection of plays as well which makes checking out of bad call by the CPU much more frustrating than it should be. Ask Madden 2.0 also doesn’t take into account score differential which is a key element in any successful game plan.  If you have a headset, then you’ll have a “coordinator” tell you how to run the play but even that feels completely tacked on and just gets irritating after a while.  It’ll also work without the headset if you’re playing by yourself.  Ask Madden 2.0 is thankfully optional and can be turned off, unless you’re playing online franchise.

Online franchise is the same as it was last year and I mean exactly the same except you are able to scout players this year.  Apparently the development team had some stats and charts saying that the majority of players didn’t bother with the online franchise.  Did they ever stop to think that the reason that people didn’t use it is because it is broken?  Tie breakers aren’t done properly, so if you’re in a 3 way tie or more for a playoff spot, good luck. (Last year tie breakers went to the team in alphabetical order, I kid you not) You can’t use sliders in online franchise either so you’re stuck either playing the easy as pie All-Pro (which begs the question, how easy is beginner?) or the unforgiving All-Madden where almost every player plays like a superstar when the path finding AI isn’t falling flat on its face. There isn’t a free agent or trade system in place so commishes have to come up with their own ways to create free agency and implement fair trades since there isn’t a salary cap in place either.  It’s fun to play with a bunch of other people and for some this year, the camaraderie of playing with others is the only thing keeping them from selling the game.  For the life of me, I can’t figure out how the NCAA team was able to take their dynasty mode and make the online dynasty mode just like it but the Madden team can’t even do that even though they didn’t make any changes to the existing offline franchise mode either.  They’ve promised that the franchise mode would be their main focus for next year but only time will tell.

I really wish I had more nice things about Madden, I really do, but after the stellar NCAA game, I just can’t.  Madden can be enjoyable with some slider tweaks that fall somewhere in between All-Pro and All-Madden but it’s still riddled with head scratching AI even then.  Online, particularly online franchise, is only enjoyable when talking smack with others on the message board.

Madden Ultimate Team makes its return and is the same as last year, as is the Superstar mode.

If you only have one choice for a football game this year, go with NCAA unless you just absolutely have to play with NFL teams.

Opening day is finally here and I’ve put MLB 10: The Show through its spring training paces.  Is this the best baseball game ever or am I just happy it’s baseball season again?

The presentation and graphics of MLB 10 are some of the best the PS3 has to offer along with Uncharted 2 and God of War 3.  There’s not another sports game that comes close to the amount of detail found in this game.  All of the stadiums are beautifully rendered including the Twins new home, Target Field. Every scoreboard works as it should, you’ll see the current batter, his stats, and the pitchers pitch count up on the big screen in the stadium along with special animations when a significant play happens such as a homerun, walk, strikeout, etc.  In franchise or season mode, you’ll see the out of town scores updated as the game progresses.  They also have the details that make stadiums unique such as the Ivy at Wrigley doesn’t turn green until it gets warm, you can hit one out into McCovey Cove at AT&T Park which will update the splash counter in the stadium, and the Liberty Bell rings when the Phillies hit one out at Citizens Bank Park.  Last year’s big addition was the real time lighting transition when playing a game that started around dusk.  This year they’ve taken that idea a step further by having real time lighting in all games so that you’ll see the shadows creep across the field in a realistic manner as the game progresses and when it’s cloudy, you’ll see the shadows for those too.  The fans are really well done and while they still repeat, it’s not as apparent as it has been in years past.  You’ll see them stand to cheer, go for foul balls, and even lean over the rails for a ball if it comes close.  The authenticity of the ball parks and their unique quirks are only part of what make this game stand out. 

Player models, for the most part, look like their real life counterparts although it’s time for the MLB: The Show team to finally deliver the new player models that they’ve been working on the past couple of years.  The models haven’t had any significant upgrades since this series debuted on the PS3.  What makes the player models really stand out is the animation of the players since there is an absolute plethora of motion-captured animations for almost any situation.  You’ll see underhanded tosses to second to begin the double play, bare handed grab and throws, throws from the knees, outfielders round off realistically when approaching a ball on the ground, and also play balls off the wall fairly well.  You’ll see a great variety in batting stances and pitching motions as well.  There are some clipping issues on occasion, most notably on slides, where the player seems to go through a part of another player, and plays at the wall in certain stadiums where the collision detection is a bit off, but this is unfortunately a side effect of the old player models. 

Aurally, the game is pretty good at making you feel as if you’re at the ballpark.  The crack of the bat, the pop of the glove, crowd noise, umpires, stadium specific sounds, music, etc… are all really well done.  The commentary is still some of the best in the business but is growing quite stale for those of us who’ve been playing the series for a while.  I want the commentators to talk more about how my players/teams are doing in the season overall, not just how they are performing for that particular game.  Sure they bring up hitting streaks, milestones, but I’d like them to comment on things like how player x has fared against pitcher x the last time the two faced each other.  The sounds of the game feature is great for those who want to customize their experience by putting their own batter walkup music, reliever entrance music, home run music, and even custom cheers and jeers for players (this requires a mic connected to the PS3).  The music editor is pretty straightforward, allowing you to pick any song on your PS3 hard drive and setting up to 3 marks of where you want to start the song when it’s played in game.  Then all you do is go to the player(s) of your choice and edit them.

All of the aesthetics would mean nothing if the game play wasn’t great but thankfully, it is.  The pitching/batting is the meat and potatoes of any baseball game.  If a baseball game fails at this, than it is virtually unplayable in my opinion.  The Show has the most realistic video game representation of this showdown that I’ve ever played.  On the surface, the mechanics of it are fairly simple.  On the pitcher’s side, you pick a pitch with the corresponding button, set the location you desire with the left stick, and then, by default, use a golf swing type meter to determine the power and accuracy of the pitch. (A classic pitch control is available which I believe all you have to do is pick the pitch, aim, and push the button to throw letting the pitcher’s attributes handle the rest.) On the batter’s side, you can guess the pitch and location (optional, for me I turn this off), if you guess right then it indicates it on the screen and you get a ratings boost for that pitch. Also before the pitch you can influence the type of hit that you want by using the right stick, for example, if you have a runner on 3^rdwith less than two outs, then you would push up on the right stick to try and get a fly ball, but it isn’t automatic.  After the pitch is thrown, you aim your swing with the left stick and either take a power (square) swing or a contact (X) swing.  This all sounds really simple right?  Wrong.  This is where The Show’s learning curve is the steepest, particularly on the batting side of things but once you learn the intricacies, is very rewarding.  Adjusting to the speed of the pitches, the different types, determining what’s a ball or a strike in seconds, and learning to be patient at the plate instead of hacking at anything that comes near the plate are all things that you will have to learn in order to become a successful hitter in The Show.  I recommend for new players, playing on rookie mode which only requires you to press the X button and time the swing properly then once you’ve become used to that, step up the difficulty.  There are several different views and sliders for both hitting and pitching so find a set that suits you best.  On the harder levels, pitchers will work the corners and will also continue to test you if you keep chasing pitches outside of the zone and hitters (especially Ryan Howard, ugh) will punish you for hanging one over the plate.  You’ll also want to make use of the pickoff while pitching to keep runners on base honest.  Umpires, by default, are variable meaning that they each have their own definition of the strike zone and will make the occasional bad call or consistently call border line calls strikes or balls. The only real negative is that there are far too many passed balls, wild pitches, beaned  batters, and dropped third strikes even with the sliders tweaked (though a lot better with the tweaks). 

Once the ball is put in play, it becomes pretty standard video baseball game fare, with visual cues to show who you are controlling, where the ball is going to land if it’s in the air, and the ability to make diving and leaping catches with the push of a button.  Throwing isn’t much more complicated either as the buttons are mapped to the corresponding bases depending on the game mode and the view you are facing.  Hold down the corresponding button to determine the strength of the throw before the ball is in the glove to “pre-load” the throw.  The harder the throw, the higher chance for an error, so be careful.  Base running is easy once you get acquainted with the controls.  Hold down L1 to advance all of the runners and R1 to retreat all or if you’re looking to control one runner, use the left stick to highlight that player’s yellow circle on the diamond overlay and push the corresponding base button to tell the player which base to advance or retreat to. The presentation and animations already mentioned are what makes this part of the game so fun to watch unfold.

Online play still has its share of lag issues but it’s noticeably better than last year.  I’ve played a few games and haven’t had one yet that I considered unplayable.  For best performance, use a wired connection.  I have yet to play in a league yet since everyone is waiting on opening day rosters so I will not be going into much detail about the online play.  Although, I’m hopeful that they can get the lag issues addressed and give us a fully functional online franchise next year instead of a glorified season mode where trading is pretty much meaningless since prospects are worthless in a single season league.

Offline, you have a few different modes to play with.  The main ones being Franchise, Road to the Show, and the Home Run Derby mini-game.

Home Run Derby is a fun, albeit easy diversion.  Its set up just like the major league all star version as in you get 10 outs per round and every swing that isn’t a homer is considered an out.  Hitting in this mode is very easy and just requires you to aim and press a button to swing.  I can see this mode being a lot of fun with a few friends over but alone it gets pretty monotonous after a couple of rounds.

Franchise mode will let you control one team or all teams.  If you control all teams than you can also opt to control all injuries and trades to mimic the real life regular season should you choose to.  You’ll have 40-man, MLB, AAA, AA, and single A rosters at your disposal though you won’t be have the option to play single A games.  You’ll be able to trade, draft, claim players off waivers, designate players for assignment, offer arbitration, and vie for free agents’ attention.  There’s also a handy transaction handbook within the game to help explain the rules of drafting, free agency, contracts, waivers, etc.  As you might’ve known, franchise let’s you play through several seasons while trying to build or keep your team as a world series contender year in and year out.  The All-Star break in franchise now includes the futures game and the home run derby.  If you’ve played franchise mode in other sports games then this will be familiar territory as you’re given certain goals by your owner to meet over a certain period of time and have to accomplish or sim all of the offseason stuff between seasons which includes spring training.

Road to the Show is where you make a player and customize him to your liking before either being drafted or choosing the team that you want to start off with.  You start off in AA and try to work your way up to The Show by meeting goals set by your manager.  This mode has some very basic RPG elements to it as you gain points by accomplishing things in game, such as getting hits, walks, driving in runs, or as a pitcher, strikeouts, ERA, and hits allowed.  You then spend the points on attributes to improve your players ratings.  You will also be given a chance to improve these attributes periodically through drills that are offered to you by the team.  New this year is that if you choose to be a catcher than you will call the whole game from behind the plate.  This works pretty much the same as pitching sans the meter.  You pick the pitch and the location you want it in, the cpu handles the rest.  I played as the catcher once and the game lasted a little too long for my tastes since as a catcher, you aren’t going to be making too many plays in the field aside from the occasional steal attempt or pop foul ball.  Also new this year is the ability to choose how much of the game you watch.  You can choose to only show the plays that you take part in or you can watch the whole game from a bench perspective if you so choose or anywhere in between.  RttS is very fun and very addictive, though as a hitter it can be very frustrating when you’re going through a slump since you only get a few opportunities to prove yourself, especially early on in your career.

If you’re a baseball fan and you already own a PS3, this is the only game you should consider.  If you don’t have a PS3 and you can afford one, get one and you won’t be disappointed.  If you must suffer with MLB 2k10, then I genuinely feel for you since you’ll be missing out on possibly the best baseball game ever made (that’s a debate for another time, and only MVP or High Heat should even be mentioned).

Review By GamerHusbands Staff: Joe(JDsBlackBox), Bob(FullTil101), and Alfred(GHR Maverick)

We’re trying a different approach to the Madden 10 review. We all have different opinions and different likes and dis-likes. Make sure and leave a comment telling us what you think about this format. Click on the jump to read the full review.

-The GamerHusbands

Joe(JD) – Madden 10 is another improvement over it’s predecessor.  This year’s version is the best looking to date, as it should be.  Gameplay is vastly improved by having the game speed default to “slow”, compared to “normal” in previous versions.  The slower speed makes it easier to hit the hole, juke, etc.  It also means your WR’s take a little longer to develop their pass pattern, leaving you feel like your QB is about to get flattened.  (I’ve had three QB injuries in the 10 or so games I’ve played vs actual people.)  Another improvement I’ve noticed is in the ambience.  After you throw a pick, or miss a 3^rd down conversion, you’ll see you QB or coach yelling at another player, etc.  Crowd chatter is much improved, too.

Chatter that hasn’t improved however comes from the booth.  Collinsworth an his forgettable partner are just as nonsensical as ever, telling you how awesome you’re running game has been all game after only one carry.  I also noticed some graphical ‘screen tearing’ issues in certain stadiums that make it look like it’s raining at quick glance.  Some other minor nit-picks are no more “tournament’” style leagues where you only play against friends.  If there is a way to do that with the current online franchises, I haven’t found it.  And my biggest problem, once again, is NO SPECTATOR MODE.  How easy would it be?  Sure the replays and video sharing/website integration are nice, but sometimes I want to watch Tilt get demolished first hand. Get it in the game already, cause it ain’t.

Overall – the game is an improvement, but could have been much more.  Score - 7.8 / 10

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Bob(FullTilt) – This year is no different, I picked it up on Day 1 and started playing some games.  The thing I noticed first was how rusty I was.  I couldn’t throw down field without an incompletion or a pick.  After a bit I realized they completely changed the throwing mechanic.  If you listen to the experts of the game you’ll find out how much the game has really changed.  The throwing mechanic is different, the running backs are controlled off the right stick, a slew of things are different but it’s not as noticeable as you might think.  Madden is Madden and you can hop right back in and start playing with some friends.  That’s where Madden really shines, it is great competition between you and your friends.  It’s bragging rights and arguments.  It’s fun!

The graphics are better than 2009, the players have more detail to them and the animations are nicer on a whole.  They’ve improved the tackling mechanic and it looks more real than previous years.  Every year they seem to implement just enough to make a noticeable difference and once again I’m happy with the changes.

The one part of the game that is broken are the online leagues.  I had great hopes for this but EA let me down.  The biggest disappointment is that they make you play the NFL schedule.  You can’t have a league with just you and your 10 friends without playing mostly computer matchups.  That is not fun.  Last year they had leagues where only a few teams had to play.  This was a huge oversight and gives them something simple to add for next year.

I think the lack of competition has hurt Madden since they secured the NFL License.  The NFL 2K series pushed the boundaries every year and Madden was forced to stay on top of their game.  Now that they are the only game in town it’s easy for them to add a few things each year and pump out a less than perfect offering.  This was a great effort with lots of changes but the oversights make me think they hold back things (tournaments in addition to leagues is one glaring example) so they can list it as a new feature the following year.

Overall this is another great year with Madden.

Score: 9/10

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Favre has done the unthinkable. He has brought the curse out of retirement also. Did anyone see the Madden Curse on the private jet with Bret Favre as he stepped out of the plane in New York? It was also next to him at the press conference. As tradition stands, the Madden Curse is back for another season of despair. Will Brett Favre be like the other Madden cover-ites who suffered injuries and non-productive seasons. Marshall Faulk went down to an ankle injury. Donovan McNabb suffered a season ending Sports-Hernia. Eddie George had the downfall of his career in 2001 with a loss to the Ravens in a playoff game. Michael Vick was injured doing a preseason game, and missed the entire year. What will happen to Brett and the Jets? Maybe this year the curse will be reversed and the Jets will be a good team?