Madden 12 (XB360): Herk-a-Derk-derk-derk-derk FOOTBARR!!!

I hate Madden Football.

There, I said it. I have never enjoyed the game. I liked ESPN NFL 2k5.

I don't even know why I am doing a write up for this game. Who am I writing it for? You know who buys Madden? People who have bought it every year for the past 20 fucking years. I don't need to explain anything about it, because anyone who has played the game once probably knows more about the nuances of the game than I do. I shouldn't even be wasting time with this because I have Dead Island and Disgaea 4 right around the corner.

But the problem is, EA slipped up. Instead of taking someone who was a top performer to the NFL in the last season or a household name and face that people might recognize, they allowed the fans to vote for the coverboy of the 2012 edition of the game. They set up a brackets of 31 players from 32 teams (because the Seahawks are just awful) and let the fans vote over weeks. And the impossible happened: The player from my team, Peyton Hillis of the Cleveland Browns, was voted to be on the cover of Madden 2012.

So here I am, playing a game I never buy simply because I might never see a Brown on the cover again. This will more or less be a impressions of the one compared to the last one since I played that for a few days.

Madden NFL 2012: (XB360)

The first thing I noticed is how many mistakes this game makes with announcing.. The New York Titans? Is that a new expansion team I had never heard of??? I was just thinking that NY needed more friggen football teams in their state. In addition to that it gets many of the names wrong too. Browns drafted Phil Taylor, not Ryan Taylor. They also referred to Chad Ochocinco as Chad Johnson, but that's OK because he's only legally changed his name in 2008, so its not like that was breaking news. Perhaps its just a small gripe, but during a lot of play it just went to the create-a-character standbys for play calling: "THE RECEIVER makes the grab!", "THE QUARTERBACK, fires it over he middle!" I understand some of it can't be helped but EA has been making this for 20 years, and most of the time its a copy paste job. There shouldn't be that many mistakes.

Honestly, Simple mistake to make. Looks just like Johnson to me. 

There was a plus though, I did notice that the game seems to move a bit faster than the previous edition of the games. The tackling feels more fluid and realistic and there is a good emphasis on the hits. This does highlight one of my bigger issues though is that the they have never cleaned up running the ball. I don't how many times I have tried to run the ball and just watched my back hit a player and run in place till someone tackled him or the players moved out of the way. This is something that was addressed way back in the 2k5 game, so why hasn't the fluid running ever been incorporated here? It isn't as bad in this edition as it has in previous from where I stand, but its almost guaranteed to happen when I'm 4th and goal or inches.

Only EA's programming can keep this guy from the endzone....

There was always an annoying feature I would notice in madden that has been toned down in this one but is still there and many of the Madden veterans will know this one. I can't think of how many times I get a receiver who gets a beat on the defender and I launch a pass to see them magically close the gap from like 10 yards away at lightning speed for the interception. Its happened so often that I will flat out quit, even if its the first play of the drive. I don't play online for this reason too.

I will say that I was impressed by the detail that went into the presentation. Character Models for marquee players have looked better than I have ever seen. They have done an excellent job of producing camera angles you would commonly see if you were watching the game on Sunday. Most impressive to me, was actually the Pregame introduction. I've been to a number of Browns games at this point, so when the blimp shot ends in the game and it shows the armed forces holding out the gigantic Browns flag across the field I had to laugh. Ive seen that so many times live I was actually pretty happy they put in it (but where the heck is Chomps, guys? I'm sure the virtual me up in the family zone nosebleeds wants free subway too).

Now, as I'm sure some of you are reading this, you are thinking "I don't have any of the problems he has here.   You must just suck at the game." You are correct. I do suck at Madden. I have never been good at the game. I was playing with a co-worker and I picked up the game with like 5 minutes left and the Browns were up 24 to 0. My co-worker picked up the other controller, someone who picks up every version of madden for the past 10 years, and by the end of that 5 minutes the score was 30 to 24 his win.  I know I'm not good at it and that is my biggest complaint to EA. They are not building Madden for new players, they tried it with the Madden NFL 2009 All-Play and it was a complete flop. They don't include much instruction in the game, and even the in game manual isn't very explanatory. Most of the training and practice situations don't test you for multiple players on the field. Even something little as the fair catch which claims to be as simple as pressing Y, doesn't let you know you need to switch to that character first. Madden is for the audience that has been with it for years. I can practice every day for a year and will still get whipped soundly by someone who's bought it years ago. They handed out Madden Club cards and you didn't get one you aren't getting one.

So is the game bad? No, not at all. As far as this franchise goes it might be one of the most polished football games I've seen to date, as far as visuals are concerned. But then again, nobody is reading this on the fence if they are getting it or not. People who want to buy Madden probably already have it, are in their 8th franchise mode playthrough and have 21 Create a Legends in retirement. The bottom line is the same for people who like shooters, or JRPGS, or quirky puzzle date sim games. It comes down to interest. I love watching football but I don't play football games. Madden 12 didn't sell me on the franchise, and it probably never will but that's fine, because EA knows who they are selling it to and knows they'll get it. I'll probably pick one up used to support my teams coverboy later. Here's to a wild 2011-12 season. Go Browns.




Oh yeah, And in case you are wondering if I am as bad as I say? Here is proof, and I am ashamed to show it.

Brings me to about 3/897 total deep balls completed.